It feels like a lifetime ago that I started following Slime King Games’ Under The Island, a studio founded by two developers previously working on Daedalic Entertainment’s Pillars of the Earth adaptation and Deponia. Under The Island is a charming action-adventure game that is drowning in nostalgia for the 90s style of action-adventure with a hint of RPGs, albeit with real-time action rather than slower turn-based options. You play as Nia, a teenager whose parents have had to move to Seashell Island for work, not that Nia is happy about it. Seashell Island is remote, and three months out of the year, it is completely cut off from the rest of civilization.

Within minutes of getting to the town of Koala Village, you are thrust into the adventure. You see, Seashell Island isn’t just a remote island on the edge of civilization, but also the “Ark” for an ancient civilization tasked to protect the world. Indeed, typical save-the-world RPG McGuffin ideas. However, it is the character and saturation that Under The Island brings to the table that stand out, mostly created by art director Simone Grünewald, creating a bright and expressive world.

I could wax lyrical about Simone’s artwork, and I might. However, in total, it is a five-person effort by Simone and Johannes Grünewald, as well as composers Miyoko Takaoka (1995’s Terranigma), Eddie Marianukroh (2022’s Chained Echoes), and Robert Kilpatrick (2023’s Born of Bread). The latter three solidify that classic sound to bring Nia’s adventure for the ancient gears of the old civilization to life. Though the first coming only after speaking with Vida and her voluptuous watermelons also helps bring in that feeling too.

Indeed, something about Grasslands, Desert, Ocean, Jungle, Ice World, Fire World, and a boss, too. Under The Island does a lot of the tropes, which typically I’d bemoan for their lack of originality or interesting ideas. However, even though I didn’t grow up with Under The Island’s inspirations of Zelda and otherwise. It brings that sense of charm that sometimes games mimic-ing that Link’s Awakening era fail to grasp, either in philosophy or in actual design. Dungeons and dungeon rooms aren’t one-and-done. They are building your overall knowledge of how to progress.

That said, you also aren’t given way point markers on the map to tell you where you need to go next. Instead, you’re given general direction: “South West from here, not very far,” for example. Under The Island wants you to explore and find out where you can and can’t go, what areas are actually too difficult for you right now, and what areas you can get through if you’re smart. There is one area to the east where it is a map puzzle effectively, but the enemies are tougher than those around Koala Village. If you’re smart, combat isn’t needed.

Not that combat is too easy or too difficult, it is about using all the tools you have correctly. In the early introduction, as you’re given the quest to find the ancient cogs, you are told that there is a sword in that chest right over there, under the light, and in front of the statue. Yeah, that’s the one that the exposition character just directed you to. Turns out, someone stole it and left you a hockey stick instead. Indeed, there may be a heated rivalry between you and the bosses.

Nia’s hockey stick, however, isn’t an overly complex weapon. It is a three-hit combo with one-button combat, but as I say, Under The Island is about using all the tools. The first dungeon offers you a plant that spits fire, which is not only useful as a puzzle item but also a weapon in several cases. Same with the bombs, they open up or remove obstacles to get to new or hard-to-reach areas, but also provide an explosive ending for certain enemies, too. There is a sense of mechanical cohesion that some developers will often forget, getting lost in the many ideas they have.

However, you can’t just hit everything and win. Hockey stick-based combat has to be precise at times, which can be difficult in certain close quarters areas, and bosses or mini bosses within certain dungeons aren’t that easy either.

In fact, one of the only bugs I managed to run into was the Slime King boss, which (in the pre-launch build), if you load from a checkpoint, then the cutscene will play after you trigger it. However, as soon as you’re supposed to get back to gameplay, the boss disappears. Effectively a soft lock that requires a full reload and going through the Overcooked-style gameplay “dungeon puzzle.” Aside from one very minor laggy moment as I entered a new area, for some reason, everything else stayed locked at around 60 FPS.

Despite only going back to the likes of Link’s Awakening in retrospect, Under The Island brings that area of charm and character that others imitating that era fail to do. The art (did I mention how much I love it?) is wonderfully expressive and full of life, even with just a few pixels. The world itself is full of life, and there is always something new to explore around the corner, either in a dungeon or in a new section of the world. Additionally, the music always invites you to play more despite doing the typical looping thing.

If there were one little complaint I’d say, it would be overall accessibility in certain regards. I’ve spoken about it time and time again: Stylized, pixelated, or animated fonts, such as those found in the action-adventure games that Under The Island aims at and the game itself uses, can be difficult or frustrating to read as a dyslexic. It doesn’t ruin the experience or make it far worse, but it can make certain things more tiring than they need to be.

Ultimately, Under The Island is a form of nostalgia I can get behind, with a developer that understood the original to leave what still works, but not rely on that nostalgia too much, and improve where need be. The pacing is light and breezy; the whole experience is about exploration and discovering where you can and need to go. For fans of the handheld era of gaming, where RPGs and action-adventure dominated, Under The Island is a breath of fresh air with a sense of familiarity.

A PC review copy of Under The Island was provided by Top Hat Studios, Inc for this review.

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Under The Island

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Vibrant and expressive art.
• Great pacing through exploration gameplay.
• Mechanical cohesion.

Cons

• A soft-lock bug or two.
• Accessibility could be better.