Under the Island Review
There’ll Be No Accusations, Just Friendly Crustaceans
Top Hat Studios and Slime King Game’s Under the Island never tries too hard to move away from the template that has proven successful for top-down 2D adventure games throughout the decades. With solid puzzles and a charming setting, it ensures adventure fans and newcomers are decently catered to. While there are some annoyances, particularly with certain moments of progression, and a lack of any narrative chops, the game is nonetheless an enjoyable up-to-ten-hour experience, even if it might not stick particularly long in the memory.
Set in a 1990s world, Under the Island stars Nia, who moves to live on Seashell Island for the coming months while her parents conduct research there. While poking around the island, she and local girl Avocado learn that the island is doomed to sink under the waves very soon. In order to stave this fate off, they are tasked with collecting four gears currently scattered around the island. The adventure takes Nia all the way across Seashell Island, often returning back to Koala Village in the process, which acts as its primary hub.
Initially disappointed to be stuck on the island, Nia soon finds plenty of adventure.
There’s not really much to the game’s story. Nia is a likable protagonist, although the game could’ve done a lot more with her initial displeasure at coming to the island, but otherwise there’s little else to the cast and the game’s quickly-delivered premise is largely left alone to carry the day while the location of the next gear is made readily apparent. Outside of a few key moments, Under the Light is largely very lighthearted and, even if the characters are forgettable, the writing is at least enjoyable with a good amount of entertaining comments and moments throughout the game.
Nia uses a hockey stick as her primary weapon, swinging it with a three-hit combo to take down enemies. She also gains access to a number of tools — including bombs, a fire-spitting plant, and a bag of animal treats — that can be used for both puzzle-solving and combat. The controls are straightforward and work well with a simple and responsive UI that lets players access what they need to, such as changing Nia’s equipped tools, with minimal fuss. Bosses are good, but the general encounters are largely mediocre; enemies are different enough, but a lack of any defensive options other than trying to move out of the way makes some more annoying than others. They at least don’t come in abundant enough numbers to cause any prolonged issues.
The game features a good array of puzzles, even if finding the way forward can be a bit annoying.
Players get to explore a good mixture of environs including a forest, a beach, caves, and a cereal factory. Both puzzles and boss fights make welcome use of Nia’s toolset, with dungeons and other places requiring a good mixture. Some of the paths to progress can be annoyingly hidden away or unclear in the context of the environment, with boss fights often needing players to figure out the correct method to damage their foe. However, there’s also plenty of good satisfaction to be found in finding many of the treasures scattered around. Players can fast-travel between certain points in the map, provided they have unlocked them by finding and completing the requisite puzzle, though its placements are not ideal, particularly when players are having to traipse around searching for a path to progress that they might have missed.
Nia starts out with three hearts of health, though this increases throughout the game. In addition to hearts awards at certain milestones, she can also trade heart pieces for additional health. Meanwhile, her hockey stick and other tools can be upgraded by finding relevant ingredients from enemies and the environment throughout the island. The game is good at giving people small rewards for exploring and finding hidden puzzles or nooks, as well as giving players impetus to constantly hit bushes and the like to pick up extra money, health, and items. A small number of side quests and mini-games further help to freshen the gameplay every now and then.
Boss fights are good, though players will need to figure out each one’s particular gimmicks.
The game’s visuals are nice and vibrant, helping lend plenty of charm to the setting and overall feel of the game. The actual locations are pretty thematically and architecturally generic, but make up for it with solid layout designs that make them enjoyable to explore and figure out the paths forward. There are definitely some places where the game’s tile usage could be a bit clearer, with the Switch version played for review not helping with an odd bug that causes water tiles to not display properly and make it unclear which are accessible. The music is also solid throughout, with plenty of enjoyable tracks helping add to the overall charm.
Under the Island does the job it sets out to do: provide players with an enjoyable adventure with plenty of puzzle-solving along the way. The puzzle-solving elements — including the boss fights — are easily where the game is its strongest, but it never really steps out from the traditional top-down adventure template, and the lack of any substantial narrative and mediocre overall combat prevent it from distinguishing itself from the crowd. While it certainly has enough to satisfy players who pick it up, it doesn’t quite take the next step to fully stand out.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
Charming setting and music
Solid puzzle-solving elements
Finding way to progress can be annoying at times
Narrative is lacking
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