Publisher Gameloft has announced that the modern revival of The Oregon Trail will be making its way to the Nintendo Switch after a period of exclusivity on Apple Arcade.
No firm release date has been set at the time of writing, but in a recent tweet, Gameloft stated that players will be able to play the "global phenomenon" by the end of November, so chances are the game will launch at some point in the next few weeks.
Here's a breakdown of The Oregon Trail from Gameloft:
"Experience The Oregon Trail like never before. A modern twist on the trials and tribulations of the road to Oregon, this official successor to the global phenomenon will immerse players in exhilarating journeys ranging from the historically accurate to the totally extreme. Players will pick their traveling party, stock the wagon with supplies, and embark on an adventure filled with tough choices, new dangers, and unexpected situations. Surviving blizzards, broken limbs, snakebites, exhaustion, starvation, and the dreaded dysentery is no small feat; all the while navigating an untamed frontier to get your party to their new life in Oregon before the winter. Track down a missing party in the aftermath of a fierce blizzard, transport volatile gunpowder through blistering desert heat, compete in challenging hunting mini-games, and meet a broad cast of historic figures. With procedurally selected random events where players’ choices affect their party and future game events, there’s always a new adventure on the horizon every time you play."
The Oregon Trail will cost $29.99 on the Nintendo eShop. As soon as we know the final release date, we'll be sure to let you know!
Is this one you'll be adding to your Switch collection? Pack your wagon and let us know in the comments below!
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 41
@Dom_31 The randomness was the whole thing though. And it was authentic to the Oregon Trail itself. What's even the challenge if they got rid of the randomness
@Kieroni did I miss where they said the randomness was gone.
Hmm I dunno, the original was traumatizing enough back in jr. high. Dysentery, broken limbs, frostbite, starvation… I never made it to Oregon once! But the rabbit and deer hunting was a fun little shoot em’up amidst the despair. It was the closest thing to a video game available at school!
<INSERT NAME HERE> has cholera.
This comment section has died of dysentery.
Can't wait to kill all the buffalo, but only take back 200 lbs of meat.
Only recently played the original for the first time. My first run went really well, it took a long while of being stuck but I finally managed to get going again and made it to the last bit. Then, RIGHT before the end (like literally) my 3 kids (who I named after my real kids) drowned as I bumped into the last stone.
I was gutted.
Good game!
For anyone curious about it, it's part of Apple Arcade.
It's also *****.
I’ve played a bit of this on Apple Arcade, it’s pretty good actually
Tried playing a modern version of Oregon Trail and the updated UI and graphics resulted in the game losing a lot of its charm. Arguably most remakes are able to maintain some of the feel of the original but didn’t get that here.
Guess I’ll just have to dust off the old Macintosh.
I just realized Oregon Trail is basically a Roguelike and I don’t know what to do with this information. I feel like I never heard the term until like 20 years after the original Oregon Trail came out.
@KoiTenchi A true roguelike even, as nothing carries over from your previous runs. Only problem is Rogue came out after Oregon Trail, so maybe Rogue is actually a Trail-like.
@Dom_31 thanks for saving me 30 bucks, absolutely no point to this game if they took out the randomness.
The modern remake is enjoyable. I got a trial for Apple Arcade to try it maybe a year ago. Now, the $30 pricetag though… that’s sort of ludicrous for what it is. It’d be day 1 for me at $15, but I’m waiting for that 50% off sale.
Give me a kind, hedonistic farmer for my long lonely journey any day.
Consider me intrigued. I grew up playing Oregon Trail II and III in school and was able to try both the original and Deluxe versions through Internet Archive's MS-DOS library a few years ago. Definitely a fun series despite randomly killing half your party on a whim.
...I also regret that both Derpette and Derp Jr. died in my last run.
Back in 1997, my elementary schools computer labs used to have those colorful Mac PCs. We'd log in during our PC day and for about an hour, all my classmates and I would see how long we'd last until we all died of dysentery.
I could be tempted with a physical release.
I only play this version because it has a “Walk the Trail” mode on Arcade, where it counts your steps and the more you walk, the more you get tidbits and facts of where you would be if you walked the Oregon Trail.
But I have heard that this is a really good version of this game, both in a gameplay sense and understanding the history of the trail.
I like the concept, but nostalgia doesn't go quite far enough to make me want to pay $30 to get dysentery.
Switch really needs a port of Organ Trail! I had a blast with it on PS4.
I always thought it would be interesting to make a Oregon Trail game more like Red Dead. A third person action adventure.
If anyone wants a more zombie themed Oregon Trail on Switch, check out Death Road to Canada. It's a blast and way cheaper than this remake.
I used to torture my wagon crew so I do hope the game isn’t too easy.
Wow I'm old enough to remember playing Oregon trail on those old green screen dinosaur apple computers in school. I would always run out of food or kill most of my group before the end.
Since we are reviving this series why not a modern take on Carmen sandiego? I played the heck outta a those back in the day!
Wish this had the original as a bonus. $30 it should be included.
Oregon trail has been remade plenty of times, never as good as the original.
apple II compilation when?
Weird it switches between the 2.5D and then cartoony 3D, but having played on Apple II's as a kid and also Oregon Trail 2 on PC CD-ROM back in the day, I'm all for this on Switch...just wish it had some sorta online multiplayer Wagontrain mode
So this was on the Apple II and here 37 years later they want how much $$... Where does the money go, to all those who've died from disentary??
My all-time favorite PC choose and type game, finally they made a modern version of it.
This almost lost me on Gameloft, and I assumed it would be stuffed with IAP. But, maybe not? "With procedurally selected random events where players’ choices affect their party and future game events, there’s always a new adventure on the horizon every time you play." So, it's still subject to the RNG god. Whew. No point in playing if your whole party isn't going to get wiped out constantly from dysentery every. single. game. LOL
BUUUUT, wow, that price is pretty high. Hopefully they have some better checks so RNG isn't going to kill you on the whim.
@Bret oh wow, I never would have realized it outdates Rogue. I’d like to petition that we now call that genre “Oregon Trail Like”.
Taking the randomness out of this seems to defeat the point? I always thought it wasn’t meant to be a game you played to win or beat, it was meant to be an ‘edutainment’ game to demonstrate just how cruel and gruelling the Oregon Trail really was. You were just incredibly lucky if you got through.
Also, I know it has a sort of cult/meme status, but it feels an odd choice for a remake?
Hopping in with the crowd old enough to have played The Oregon Trail on an Apple II when I was an elementary school student in the 1980s. I've revisited it a couple of times as an adult, and been surprised by how poorly it has aged (for me, at least).
I was tempted to give this remake a try, but some of the comments here, and the price tag, have turned me off for now.
If the random elements really are removed, it's not much fun as there would be minimal challenge. The whole point of the original was to demonstrate just how unpredictable and life-threatening the trek across 19th Century America was for settlers.
That said, it obviously hasn't aged well either in terms of historicity and cultural sensitivity, with respect to the native peoples who were already here.
There was an Alamo game in the 80s as well. I forget the name. Text only. Holy crap what an impossible game to beat. As a youngster I spent over 300 hours getting massacred by Mexicans.
I expected more dysentery jokes from the comment section. My expectations have died from dysentery.
The DSiWare version was leagues better than this one. But then this one is better than the Wii/3DS version. But they all pail in comparison to the older version.
If Limited Run is listening I would purchase this one as a physical release though
@KoiTenchi Yup. The history of Oregon Trail is fascinating. The original predated screens, being created for a ticker-tape computer. The first version was made by a college student for history classes he was student-teaching in 1971. By 1975, that version started being distributed to other schools with similar systems.
So it didn't actually have a screen until 1978 when it was finally ported to Apple II computers, entitled OREGON at the time. Even that was an earlier version of what would eventually become The Oregon Trail, also for Apple II in 1985, the version that really took off. So it's hard to say if Rogue took direct inspiration, but the Trail's been around.
Motion Control hunting?
I played that game during Apple times and it was fun and challenging to see how fast you could get there with minimum survival. I did make many time and many times gave up as well. It would be good to see it as a Physical as well.
I didn't like being forced to play it in elementary, so I'll pass on a modern remake.
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