Review: Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition (Switch 2)

When Nintendo unveiled the mouse controls for Switch 2, this is the game that first popped into my mind. Well, maybe not Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition specifically, but this type of game; the type clearly made for keyboard/mouse controls, not a gamepad. I took this review specifically to test out the Switch 2’s Joy-Con mouse functionality, and let me tell you, it makes a world of difference.

We reviewed Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening for Nintendo Switch in July of 2023. It did not score well with us, largely due to its severe complexity and lack of adequate guidance. Those issues remain, and they are what they are. The real-time empire management of a Nobunaga’s Ambition game is aimed squarely at those who like to pore over instruction manuals, data sheets, card decks, and maybe pewter playing pieces. It’s Risk with all the instructions in effect while everyone else is playing Sorry!

As Bill Stiteler stated in our earlier review:

The number of things you must keep track of is staggering. There are policies (which must have someone in charge of them), policy chiefs who oversee the kingdom (another retainer), diplomacy, covert actions, plans to develop towns, plans for castles, general territory goals, the labor available to accomplish all these, food, money, and trade.

That doesn’t even account for war, which, of course, is exceptionally important.

Nobunaga’s ambition—vaulting as it may be—is to unify Japan’s warring states. So, it’s not just a matter of developing a strategy to do so, it’s about funding the strategy. And staffing the strategy. And feeding the strategy. And training the strategy. And…you get the idea.

Back in my youth, it wasn’t uncommon for games to revel in these complexities. I used to play a flight sim that had a manual the size of a trade paperback. I recall placing game manuals inside my textbooks so I could read them during class (which partially explains why I had to take psychology three times). The key word here, of course, is “manual,” which Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition does not have in printed form. But there is an Internet, where KOEI TECMO has set up a rather helpful web manual.

Pulling this up on my iPad while I played certainly helped, but I found it even more useful to rely on fan-based strategy guides while finding my bearings early on.

Again, though, all of this was available when the game was first released for Switch in 2023. Do the mouse controls change things up that much? Before I answer that, consider that this version also includes six new scenarios, the previously released early purchase and pre-order bonus content, and Kou Shibusawa’s 40th Anniversary Commemorative Officer Data Set.

Players also get the best-looking graphics this franchise has delivered on a Nintendo device. Everything offers tremendous visual detail, from the animations to the character art to the maps and menus themselves. Working through this world is like tinkering with an HO scale train set (or N scale, in handheld mode, which I do not recommend at all).

Finally, the mouse controls are an absolute blessing. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition marks the first time I ever utilized a TV tray table to play on a gaming console, but the setup worked. The mouse functionality makes it much easier to precisely drill down through the game’s stacks of menu levels to access the details you need to reach. You’re not fumbling about with combos of buttons and sticks. This not only allows you to focus on the task at hand, but it makes it easier to explore your available options. Remaining focused is no longer a struggle.

I still would have preferred a keyboard to access command shortcuts, but that’s what the PC version is for. Considering there’s no Mac version, the Switch 2 is the best option many will have.

Everything Bill said in our previous review still stands. The early levels—and even the tutorials themselves—will be incredibly confusing to anyone who’s not already up to full speed with the series. If you’re going to dig in, prepare to do so for at least a couple dozen hours. But at least now you’re not stuck digging with a shovel. The mouse controls are your backhoe, providing a much more efficient method of getting to the options you need. That doesn’t mean you’ll know what to do with those options when you get to them, of course; prepare to seek plenty of online guidance and to figure out how to apply that guidance. But by removing that one major element of frustration, KOEI TECMO has greatly improved the overall experience. If you’re looking for a strategy game to which you can dedicate countless hours studying and playing, there’s less to get in the way.

Unfortunately, you can’t just upgrade to the Switch 2 version if you already paid for the Switch release of Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening. You also can’t transfer your save data if you do decide to double dip. So, if you want mouse control, you’ll have to start counting those countless hours all over again. I can’t imagine that’s sitting well with fans of the game.

But if you’re new to Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening—either because you’ve never tried it before or tried and left in humbling frustration—this is definitely the way to play it (short of a PC). Just don’t be afraid to seek the help that’s out there.