Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure Reviews

Nice and cozy adventure. Perfect for the Steam Deck.

I'm a variety streamer and I like to use Saturdays as a cozy casual day, having played and finished Earthlock recently, I was excited to find there was a cozy sim game!!!!!!!! This game does have it's annoyances, but that's because it's new and the team is VERY receptive to feedback and are working hard constantly to improve game play. Set in the universe of Earthlock, 4 kids get ship wrecked on a abandoned island. Guided by Frog Boy (the custodian from Earthlock) and a spirit, you must free captured wild life from the clutches of pirates, tame the wildlife to help you navigate the island, and restore the power of the shrines to return life to the island. There's combat, which is basically reminiscence of Zelda and stealth missions for invading pirate camps. Now, what I love most about this game, is if you have the game, friends can download the free "friend pass" and play on your save as one of the kids without having to buy a copy for themselves ((which if they want to play on their own they do need to buy the base game). I deff give this game 4/5 paws, even in it's current state its very, very playable. Feel free to check out my personal experience if you want to see the game in action. https://youtu.be/tAF8aggI6kE?si=ZFxrvQqGwmCVaZp0

As far as the many crafting games on Steam go, Ikonei Island is probably the most chill of the bunch where even getting thrashed by monsters just simply means you get respawned at home (and without losing any resources or progress). The art, design, and atmosphere is highly colorful and cute. I liked that it expanded on the world of Earthlock given that the original RPG game felt paradoxically as remarkably bland as it was colorful. The gameplay is relatively straightforward. There isn't anything complicated in how things are done - no special techniques you have to unlock, no bosses, no complex procedures to get things working. Even the fight with pirates is little more than a simple puzzle game. This is both the best and the least engaging aspect of the game: it's very easy to get into and it is extremely short for a crafting game, but it also always leaves much to be desired. There is a lot of potential to be had in this game, but like Earthlock, Ikonei Island tends to hold itself back. While the game is enjoying on its own merits, it does have some major flaws: 1) you can only have one main character active at any time while the others just simply stand around and twiddle their thumbs; 2) there's very little back story and no meaningful interaction between the four main characters (the NPC characters are frankly more interesting but they aren't given much to do either); 3) the quests are remarkably vague (whoever wrote these scenarios really needs to work on their communication skills); 4) the various annoying - albiet not game-breaking - glitches; and 5) the personality of Frogboy. Don't get me wrong - I like puns and it was cute the first time around, but Frogboy just simply gets annoying. Overall, I still would rate the game positively for anyone looking for a low-stakes escapist crafting game. Among the many crafting games out their Ikonei Island has remarkably beautiful visuals, fairly simple controls, and a very chill atmosphere that allows you to go at your own pace without any unnecessary pressure.