D-topia review: Annapurna's AI utopia puzzler looks the part but pulls its punches

D-topia, the new narrative puzzle game from Marumittu Games published by Annapurna Interactive, is out now on Switch 2. It puts you in the role of a Facilitator — a human moral arbiter inside a meticulously AI-managed settlement — tasked with keeping residents happy and the system running.

The game frames genuinely thorny futurist questions: should clones have human rights? Should society exclude anyone who disrupts collective harmony? Players make choices that feed into this AI-run world, and the premise is stylish and intriguing. But both reviewers land in the same place — D-topia doesn't follow through. Polygon calls it too nuanced for its own good, arguing that heated debates about AI get softened into a meditative story that ultimately just suggests humanity will always adapt. Nintendo Life puts it more bluntly: the game has less to say than it lets on.

Annapurna Interactive has built a reputation for publishing thoughtful, artistically ambitious games, so D-topia fits the label's identity. Marumittu Games leans into cozy, manageable puzzle-solving rather than anything confrontational, which is part of the problem — the subject matter demands sharper edges than the gentle tone allows.

For players who want a low-stakes narrative puzzler with a sci-fi coat of paint, D-topia delivers a pleasant enough experience. Those hoping for a game that actually wrestles with AI ethics may come away wanting more.