Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening makes great use of the Switch 2 mouse mode

Playing strategy games in handheld mode or with a Switch controller feels odd at times. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition contains lots of strategic elements that are hard to access with a joystick. With the Switch 2 bringing mouse mode to the Joy-Con 2s, developing your clan and uniting the country has never been easier. There is a slight learning curve as you adapt to the controls, but it almost feels like playing a strategy game on the PC.

The goal remains the same as before: uniting feudal Japan under your clan’s banner. Even though Oda Nobunaga inevitably rose to power and his retainers completed the unification of Japan, this is your chance to either prepare for the coming of Nobunaga or defy history by battling his forces for supremacy. There are also additional scenarios that cover hypothetical situations or battles taking place after historical events.

Conquest takes years of political navigating and slow preparation as you lay the foundation. There are many moving parts, from developing food and gold to allocating retainers to perform tasks. You are dealing with a lot of information, and you can’t easily take back your commands if you make mistakes. Your decisions take months, sometimes years, to carry out.

The Switch 2 runs the game smoothly, and this is important when you are processing every other clan’s decisions. Your maps can be humongous, and every clan is taking actions at the same time. I liked the smooth gameplay since other strategy games could lag on the first Switch. It doesn’t break gameplay or frustrate me because games were taking longer than I felt they should. It is seamless and easy, supporting large maps and data without issue.

Decisive Battles are a new addition to the game that function as a “winner-takes-all” approach. When two clans of significant size do battle, you have the opportunity to take all the territory that the losing clan owns. This speeds up battles and cuts down the time spent on large conflicts. Conquering a clan’s territory if you win significantly shortened battle times, and it made me more willing to try out new General Traits, now that I knew battles wouldn’t take forever.

A big advantage to the Switch 2 was the Joy-Con 2’s mouse mode. You can use both the left and right Joy-Con 2’s like computer mice, though only the right one moves the map. The left Joy-Con 2 controls how fast time progresses, as well as the ability to pause time. It takes some adjustment because it changes the selection layout entirely. Some icons appear in the top-right instead of being something you select and drag. There’s also no clear instruction manual on what the mouse mode does.

Thankfully, it’s much easier to make accurate selections using mouse mode. Unlike the original setup, it was easy to make mistakes when selecting something with your controller. With mouse mode, your selections are more precise, and that’s something you need in a large game. Controlling the flow of time with your left Mouse also makes it easier to make decisions once you are ready.

The only problem is that the lack of a tutorial with the mouse mode makes it hard to learn. It’s better to experiment within the in-game tutorial to ensure you aren’t making big mistakes in a real game. I enjoyed having some time to adapt to the mice. When the game finally opens up, that’s your cue to start putting your newfound precision to good use.

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition is not a new adventure by any means, but it gives you a great look at what the Switch 2 can do for strategy games. The precision offered by mouse mode really makes a difference, even if it does take some time to adapt. Once you do get used to it, it’s easy to figure out where everything is and how you will make your moves.

If the mouse mode makes gameplay easier here, it would be nice to see how that expands across other Switch 2 strategy games. Overall, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is a pleasure to play on Nintendo’s newest hardware.