The Merlies Review: A Cozy Switch Adventure With Real Craft

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A small bird adventure with a surprisingly important platform caveat

The Merlies arrives with a clear creative pitch and a fuzzier platform trail. Multiple sources place the game around a September 29, 2026 release: LadiesGamers lists it for Steam on Windows with Steam Deck verification, controller support, and a price of US $15.99, UK £14.20, and EU €15.99, while P-Nintendo lists The Merlies as available on Switch 2 from 29/09/2026. Pure Nintendo reviews it under Nintendo Switch, and Consoles-Fan says the game launched jointly on PC and Switch. For anyone searching for a The Merlies Switch review, that distinction matters. The supplied sources confirm Nintendo-family coverage, but they do not settle whether buyers should expect a standard Switch listing, a Switch 2 listing, or both in every region.

That uncertainty is the practical tension around an otherwise easy game to understand. The Merlies is a cozy, combat-free exploration game about a flock of small birds rebuilding after a storm destroys their nest and scatters their community. Pure Nintendo describes a non-linear, Metroidvania-style structure where new tools and rescued birds open previously inaccessible rooms. P-Nintendo calls it a French game co-produced by ARTE and Darjeeling, while LadiesGamers credits development to Darjeeling, Blue Ramen, and ARTE France, with publishing by ARTE France and GCORES PUBLISHING. Consoles-Fan also cites Darjeeling and Blue Ramen under ARTE France and GCORES Publishing, and notes an original idea by Cosmografik.

The game itself comes through these reports as modest in size but not thin in design. It is built for players who like gentle discovery, light puzzle-platforming, and the satisfaction of making a hub grow piece by piece. My recommendation is positive, with one caution: The Merlies has the charm and mechanical identity to stand out among smaller indie releases, but Switch buyers should verify the exact eShop version and platform compatibility before purchasing.

The flock is the mechanic, not a mascot

The Merlies works because its birds are tools, companions, and puzzle pieces at once. Pure Nintendo describes an opening with no tools and only three merlies, while P-Nintendo and The Punished Backlog frame the early adventure around a tiny group that grows as lost villagers are rescued. Across the sources, the central structure is consistent: you move through a 2D world, recover scattered Merlies, gain new abilities, and use the expanding flock to reach places that were out of reach earlier.

That gives The Merlies its Metroidvania shape without leaning on combat. Pure Nintendo states that there are no enemies to fight, and LadiesGamers likewise says there is no violence or sneaking. The resistance comes from geography, thorny paths, rocks, height, hidden passages, and environmental puzzles. Consoles-Fan describes the result as exploration in the style of a nonviolent Metroidvania, with difficulty coming from traps, terrain, brambles, and the risk of losing track of a bird in the environment.

The important distinction is that progression is physical rather than aggressive. You are not upgrading a weapon or optimizing damage. You are learning how to arrange a little labor crew. Pure Nintendo details the D-pad functions used to split from the flock, place birds at marked positions, stack them, throw the top bird upward, and whistle everyone back. This is where The Merlies earns its identity. The flock-following setup evokes Pikmin and Lemmings, as Consoles-Fan notes, but the side-scrolling structure and lack of cruelty give it a softer rhythm. The pleasure comes from looking at a ledge, a gap, or a heavy object and asking how many tiny bodies the solution needs.

For players who want twitchy platforming, The Merlies may feel restrained. For players who like mechanical coziness, where the challenge is spatial, readable, and low-stress, it has a clean hook. It is approachable without being empty, which is harder to achieve than it sounds.

Nest-building gives all that scavenging a reason

The rebuilding loop is the strongest argument that The Merlies has enough variety for indie players who are wary of small games that run out of ideas. The world is full of discarded human objects, and the Merlies turn them into the infrastructure of a new home. Pure Nintendo lists examples such as a sensu, a music box, and an empty water jug. LadiesGamers mentions scraps ranging from broken rulers to rusty music boxes, while Consoles-Fan highlights the upcycling gag more directly: an egg carton can become storage, a bedside lamp can become a dormitory, and an old slate can become a mini-map.

Collecting those objects is not automatic. Pure Nintendo explains that structures must be lifted with the flock placed so the weight is distributed correctly. Some jobs might require two birds, some three, and later layouts can ask for multiple Merlies on different sides and even one on top. That turns set dressing into small logistical puzzles. A giant object in the landscape is not only cute scale comedy. It is a test of whether you can position your birds properly and get the find back to the nest.

Once recovered, items return to the hub. Pure Nintendo says players can manage buildings at home and place discovered structures. It also notes that certain Merlies can be assigned to these structures in roles such as cartographer. LadiesGamers describes the Nest as a major goal, with buildings unlocked by secured items and even a lantern-launching place to guide other Merlies home. P-Nintendo adds useful world functions around the broader journey, including bird statues for saving and small camps that act as teleport points and respawn points.

This is the design choice that keeps The Merlies from being a pleasant walk with collectibles sprinkled around. The collectibles feed the hub, the hub supports exploration, and the flock expands the map. Pure Nintendo also notes that some areas are gated by the number of rescued Merlies, citing an area that requires 27 Merlies. That count-based gating can sound mechanical, but it fits the fiction: community is the upgrade path.

A post-human world drawn at bird height

The Merlies’ charm appears to come less from jokes and more from scale. LadiesGamers describes a cute post-apocalyptic world filled with remnants of a long-forgotten civilization, while Consoles-Fan reads the setting as a brighter solarpunk take on a human-empty Earth where nature has taken over and industrial waste becomes material for invention. That tone is important. The Merlies uses abandoned human objects as both environmental storytelling and practical resources, so the world feels large without needing grim exposition.

P-Nintendo praises the adventure as soft, adorable, and full of little birds with funny hats, but also stresses that the mechanics are carefully handled. Consoles-Fan describes a children’s illustration style with hand-painted 2D environments full of detail, emphasizing the contrast between tiny birds and giant relics such as power cables, screen carcasses, and rusty containers. This is a good fit for Switch handheld play in concept, because strong silhouettes and readable 2D scenes usually survive the smaller screen better than dense UI-heavy designs.

The audio side appears to support the bedtime-story tone. Consoles-Fan says the narration is delivered like a storyteller reading events, and LadiesGamers reports that the narrator is fully voiced while the Merlies communicate through chirps. LadiesGamers specifically liked the birds’ sounds, including the chirping used to gather them. That is exactly the kind of small sensory detail a game like this needs. If a player is going to spend hours calling birds, stacking birds, and rescuing birds, the flock has to be pleasant company.

The story itself is simple by the accounts provided: a storm destroys the old home, the Merlies scatter, and the surviving flock rebuilds. That simplicity is not a weakness for this scale of adventure. The emotional pull is in restoration rather than plot twists. You explore because someone is missing, you collect because home needs shape, and you build because the world has made room for small creatures to be resourceful.

Switch-friendly by design, with some flock friction

On paper, The Merlies is well suited to Nintendo play. It is 2D, readable, nonviolent, and organized around short exploration goals, making it easy to imagine in handheld sessions. The control concept also maps naturally to a controller. Pure Nintendo’s account of D-pad commands for splitting the flock and whistling birds back suggests a design built around quick group management rather than menu-heavy micromanagement. LadiesGamers confirms controller support on PC and says the game is Steam Deck Verified, which is a useful signal for handheld-friendly interface and performance on that platform, though Steam Deck verification is not proof of Switch performance.

The main caveat is companion handling. Consoles-Fan reports that the group AI shows limits, with a bird sometimes getting stuck behind a ledge or missing a jump, forcing the player to backtrack and reform the line. The same review says the physics are forgiving and the game generally pardons mistakes to preserve its chill feel. That balance matters. In a combat-free game, frustration tends to come from movement, pathfinding, or repetition, not from losing fights. If flock management becomes fussy, it can dull the warmth.

The sources do not provide hard Switch frame-rate data, resolution details, battery-life impressions, or loading comparisons between Switch and Switch 2. That absence is worth flagging in a The Merlies Nintendo Switch buying guide because the platform labeling itself is inconsistent across the supplied material. P-Nintendo specifically covers Switch 2 and awards 18/20. Pure Nintendo labels its review as Nintendo Switch. Consoles-Fan writes about Switch while discussing a PC and Switch launch. Without a confirmed storefront listing in the supplied sources, the safest advice is to check your regional Nintendo eShop page before buying, especially if you own only an original Switch.

As a design fit, though, The Merlies makes sense for Nintendo players. It does not depend on spectacle, online systems, or competitive precision. Its risks are smaller and more specific: occasional pathfinding annoyance, backtracking, and the possibility that its gentle difficulty will feel too light for players seeking sharper platforming.

Who should play The Merlies, and the GameLoop verdict

The Merlies is easiest to recommend to players who enjoy exploration games but bounce off combat-heavy Metroidvanias. If you like returning to earlier rooms with a new ability, watching a hub slowly fill with rescued characters, and solving small environmental puzzles through positioning rather than reflex pressure, this is the kind of indie release that can feel quietly special. The Punished Backlog notes that the game’s marketing uses the term “wholesomevania,” and that label is useful as long as players understand the tradeoff: the warmth is central, and the challenge is environmental rather than combative.

Players who should wait are easier to identify. If you need boss fights, deep combat, high-speed movement tech, or a complex narrative, The Merlies is unlikely to be your best September 2026 purchase. If you are buying specifically for Switch, wait long enough to confirm your local platform listing, since the supplied reviews and listings split between Switch, Switch 2, and PC language. If you are considering PC handheld play, LadiesGamers’ Steam Deck Verified note is the clearest compatibility signal in the source material.

As a buyer’s-guide verdict, The Merlies has enough charm, variety, and structure to recommend. Its best ideas are coherent: flock growth doubles as progression, trash becomes architecture, and a ruined world is made inviting through scale and craft. The reported companion AI hiccups and platform-label ambiguity keep it from being an effortless recommendation for every Switch owner, but the game’s identity is strong enough to stand above many cozy curios. For indie players seeking a smaller release with a real mechanical spine, The Merlies is worth putting on the nest.