Switchback is on Android.

When Switchback came out in August, the question I got asked most was “is it on Android?” The honest answer then was we will see. We saw. Switchback is on Google Play as of today, and it is the same game that has been on iPhone and iPad since launch: every park, the packs, the horses, the weather and the ride along.

If you only have three seconds: open Google Play and search Switchback: A Cozy Park Tycoon. It is free. Or tap the Google Play badge at the bottom of this post.

Same game, different name tag

On Google Play the game is called Switchback: A Cozy Park Tycoon. On the App Store it is still Switchback: A Cozy Hiking Game. It is the same game. Both stores give a title thirty characters, and Play weighs the title heavily when people search, so the Android name uses the words people type when they want something like this: cozy, park, tycoon. That last one is fair. Switchback started as “RollerCoaster Tycoon, but it is a national park”, and it still is.

What you get

• Free to download. Most parks open after one short ad that you choose to watch, and one purchase turns ads off everywhere. Same deal as on iPhone.
• The packs. Sonora and Horses & Stables are in the in-game store, just like on iOS, priced by Google Play in your own currency.
• Phones and tablets running Android 7.0 or later. It plays in landscape and full screen, with the status and navigation bars tucked out of the way.
• Controllers are picked up on their own. Pair one and the sticks move the camera and walk your hikee.
• Achievements through Google Play Games.
• It plays offline. No account, no sign-in, and your parks are saved on your device. You only need a connection to load an ad or buy something.

One thing that does not carry over

If you already play on an iPhone and you are switching to Android, or you have one of each: purchases do not cross between the stores. Anything bought from Apple restores on your Apple devices, and anything bought on Google Play restores on your Android ones, but neither store can see the other’s purchases. Parks stay on the device you built them on, too. I know that is annoying. Moving parks between devices is something I want to add.

One game, two stores

From here on, iPhone and Android are one release: the same version number, the same changes and the same notes in both stores, out as close to the same day as two review queues allow. Nobody should be waiting on the other platform to get the new thing.

What about Steam?

Same answer as in August: we will see. I want it. It is not announced.

How you can help

A brand-new store listing is a quiet place. Three things make a real difference:

• Leave a rating on Google Play. A listing with no reviews looks like a listing nobody has tried.
• Tell one person with an Android phone. Ideally one who has said “I miss Zoo Tycoon” in your presence. swanklabsgames.com/get sends them to the right store for whatever phone they are holding.
• Tell me what breaks. Android is a lot of different phones, and I have not held most of them. Write to support@swanklabsgames.com with your phone model and Android version, and I will look into it.

Go build a nice place. Put a bench in it.

— Kristian