Review | Under The Island

A short review

Under The Island is a 2D action-adventure game that captures the feeling of childhood wonder and 90's Saturday morning cartoons. This game is made by a small group of people (Slime King Games), and let me tell you – I like it more than some of the bigger games. It works decently on the PS5, without issues except for one collectible bug and auto-save issues that I've encountered near the end. Nothing blocking, but maybe if you aim for 100% you can wait for some patches on the consoles.

If you're into puzzle adventures such as 2D Zelda games, this is probably the next in line in terms of similarity and approach.

Welcome, have a stick and save the island.

Story and the characters

We control Nia, our heroine, after she moves to Seashell Island with her parents. Soon she discovers the island's secrets and we are on a mission to save it from sinking. It's the same old premise, so nothing is new here, but the characters and the conversations feel natural, funny, and really lovely. I love the feel the game has, especially the calming music that goes really well alongside everything else.

I wouldn't call anything mind-blowing, but I would call it sweet and lovely. We are not here for the story anyway, right?

Loot leeks, beat fans, and cook food during duels. What is this all about anyway?

Game design, exploration

If you ever played top-down 2D Zelda games, you know the drill. You get to explore small towns where you gather quests and hints, and you get to solve puzzles, but looking for secrets is what makes this journey really interesting. I've loved listening to hints in conversations, just to find out that the hint was real and there is indeed a thief stealing food at night. After following him, there was a hidden hideout to be found, which led to some extra items and lore bits.

If you just want the main story, you can simply find four gears and beat the last boss. You can find secrets along the way, but most of the journey comes from trying to figure out how to pick up everything and find everything. You can find so much stuff hidden all around the game, and that is, in my opinion, the best the game has to offer. Do not miss out.

Main story dungeons are ok, boss fights are ok... Nothing really stands out, it's all decent, but when compared to Zelda, it lacks complexity in dungeons. The combat is also a bit stiff and weird, but nothing really bad. Without getting all accessories like bombs and a bird, you won't be able to get everything and everywhere – consider returning later (the fast-travel system is good, so no real issue with backtracking).

There are some puzzles that really made my brain think to solve them. No puzzles are hard, so just try and figure them out on your own.

Combat

Combat is basically mashing the stick combo and running around. The absence of a diagonal slash is what makes this part a bit disappointing for me, even frustrating, as some enemies like to kick you when you're just trying to avoid getting hit and slash back. Some locations have flying enemies that kill you fast, making this a spike in difficulty at times.

If you use fire and bombs to help you, you won't really benefit from them; they feel even worse. Of course, you can upgrade your arsenal, and the best way would be to upgrade your stick and find skill books to expand the moveset and reach. I crave more in this segment, but it works, just not on some higher level like some other games.

Boss fights are probably the best the combat has to offer, although they also lack some complexity and mechanics we've seen in other games.

Make sure to heal before some fights. If you don't save, you get to start all the way from the last save point. Ouch.

Side Content

Side content is most of the game. You need to think hard and keep your eyes open to find all secrets and solve all puzzles. I loved the cursed chicken side quest and the puzzle with digging. The rest of the content is also top notch, making you want to find just one more thing before you go to sleep, or even keep you awake for a couple of more hours. It's really addictive.

After beating the game, I had everything in my inventory, full heart containers – you name it. At the point of writing this review, two cassette tapes are missing because of a bug, but they will solve it in the next patch for consoles. The other issue is that sometimes the game doesn't save your progress for the last couple of minutes, which happened to me near the end. Weird.

I think the NPCs and the lore are fun enough to keep you interested while working on collecting stuff.

NieR 3 boss fight design.

Conclusion

Under The Island is a 10-hour-long Zelda 90's clone with its own soul. It definitely offers little things that made me smile, and for a game made by just a few people, it's awesome. It's a perfectly relaxing game to play and finish over the weekend.