Nintendo Switch 2 Has Serious Untapped Potential For Strategy Games

It's been just over one month since the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, and I have a lot of feelings about the new system. Yes, it doesn’t feel like the drastic leap the first Switch was, but Mario Kart World has made it abundantly clear how Switch 2 can enhance Nintendo’s design ethos, and there’s a lot of refinement to the system that could yield potential for years. But more than anything, I absolutely adore the new Joy-Cons. But it’s not just because they feel so much weightier and satisfying to use, but because of the Switch 2’s most understated new feature, mouse mode. The handful of games I’ve played have made me realize that the Nintendo Switch 2 could be a crucial platform for strategy games.

Over my first month with the Switch 2, I’ve played quite a lot of Mario Kart World, Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut, Cyberpunk 2077, and some older titles like Pokémon Scarlet. But more than any of those games, the single title that’s impressed me most is Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess — and not just because it’s a phenomenal game.

Kunitsu-Gami is, by far, the best use of the Switch 2’s mouse mode that’s currently available on the platform, and that’s because of its action-strategy hybrid format. In Kunitsu-Gami, you control a character named Soh, using sword combos to fight off demonic enemies called the Seethe, as you protect the Maiden Yoshiro. But the key twist is the strategy layer, letting you assign jobs to villagers and place them around the field in a kind of Tower Defense format.

That’s where the mouse mode on Switch 2 comes in, seamlessly letting you see-saw between the game’s action and strategy elements — and the entire thing genuinely feels smoother than playing on a standard controller. After putting in another dozen hours on Switch 2, I’m a bit surprised that it’s actually my favorite way to play the game, and more than that, has my mind bristling with opportunities for other strategy games.

It’s remarkable how smooth and responsive the mouse controls feel on Switch 2, even when you aren’t playing on a flat surface — like if the only thing you have in your vicinity is your own pants. The Joy-Cons feel almost beat-for-beat like a mouse itself, which makes me think real-time strategy games might finally have a system where they can thrive.

It’s no secret that the rise of console gaming has inversely worked against real-time strategy games, as the genre really struggled to find a way to translate the experience onto a controller. Turn-based tactics games and 4X strategy haven’t suffered the same fate because of their more deliberate gameplay, versus the snappier reaction times of real-time. While games like Halo Wars and Age of Mythology Retold have found novel ways to make the games playable on a controller, using a mouse is still the best method.

But with the Switch 2, that lack of a mouse “drawback” simply doesn’t exist, and strategy games can fully embrace a mouse-centric strategy mode. It could be a pure way to experience strategy games, of all stripes, on a console.

But past that, there’s also a ton of potential for use in the strategy-heavy computer-RPGs as well. Games like Baldur’s Gate 3 often create an entirely new control scheme and even camera angle for the console version, instead of the top-down isometric style that’s standard in CRPGs. A Switch 2 version, however, makes those isometric options much more feasible through mouse controls. Even more than that, it provides an opportunity for the Switch 2 version of games to be unique — imagine having Baldur’s Gate 3 and being able to use that controller-centric view, but seamlessly being able to switch to a mouse-control mode.

While having those two options would be a boon, the caveat is that studios putting strategy games on the Switch 2 would likely have to develop two modes — not everyone is going to instantly be okay with using the mouse mode. That, in turn, would require more resources and development time, and that’s absolutely something to take note of.

But the potential for strategy games to thrive is tantalizing, to be sure. I’ll likely always prefer strategy on a PC, but having an alternative is something I’d love to have — a reason to play more strategy games on my couch, or when I’m travelling. This is a chance that simply hasn’t ever existed for the strategy genre at large — a console that doesn’t directly require concessions in terms of the core design of strategy-centric games. Even more than that, though, it feels like there could be entire strategy games deliberately designed around this system specifically. I’m already hoping Nintendo can set the standard there with some kind of new entry for Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, or Battalion Wars.

That’s a feature that I hope developers can capitalize on, and just one of the reasons I feel like the mouse functionality might be the sleeper hit of the Switch 2.

We’re already seeing games like Kunitsu-Gami and Civilization VII take advantage of it, and how successfully those games use the Joy-Con’s mouse should be proof for others to do the same thing.