During the Nintendo Direct Mini, the game Vigor was showcased briefly. It’s a survival simulator set in a post-war Norway being developed by Bohemia Interactive. Originally it was going to be an Xbox exclusive but they decided to port it over to the Nintendo Switch.

Ahead of the game’s launch on Switch they’re holding some closed beta tests, and sign-ups are currently live right now and will stay live up until April 2nd. The beta test will run from April 9th to April 16th.

If you’re interested in participating, you can sign up over on the official Vigor website.

It’s really weird that this is only being made for Xbox One and Switch, but whatever.

The trailer reeks of needless pandering but hopefully the gameplay itself is solid.

The core concept is very similar to Bohemia Interactive’s other very popular DayZ… or at least, formerly popular DayZ.

It looks like they learned enough from that experience and are experimenting with a new kind of survival-sim where you can scavenge for supplies and base-build, as well as engage in PvP or work with other players to survive.

One of the things they mention is that the Switch version is being handled by a separate team than the one currently mainlining the Xbox One version. The other team will attempt to optimize and get the Switch version running in tip top shape and bring it up to par to the Xbox One version as far as content parity and performance is concerned.

The game doesn’t look bad visually, and the weapon selection looks good, but it almost comes across as too little, too late.

If you want a survival sim with zombies why not just play DayZ? If you want a true sandbox sim where you can build anything and go anywhere, why not just play ARK: Survival Evolved or Rust? I guess if you had an absolute potato of a PC and only had a Switch as a gaming device I could see the appeal of Vigor, but otherwise if you have a decent enough PC you may as well check out Escape From Tarkov.

Anyway, the closed beta test sign-ups are live and so if you want to check out the game you can do so starting mid-April.