Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure is another game thrown into the vast sea of a genre known for its relaxing and stress-free nature. Cozy and relaxing is the name of the game here where you can explore, craft and discover new things as you go at your own pace. You can pick it up, get a few things done and can easily get back to it whenever you feel like it without feeling lost. And it’s one that Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure tried to do, yet sadly, this island adventure felt a bit more detached from what it was trying to accomplish.
A cute story filled with equally cute characters
Here me out, I love games that don’t particularly follow convoluted and complex stories. Stories that take too much time out of you or stories that dive way too deep before putting me back into the helm of my exploration and path to discovery. Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure doesn’t do that which is a good sign.
It starts you off with introducing a group of friends that just so happened to spot a group of pirates selling off goods and animals that they felt the need to set free. However, said pirates came back to their ship only to find them in the middle of their little rescue mission which also prompted them to get away on a raft and it led them to an island where the game takes place.
I wanna be the very best that no one ever was…
The island is home to many creatures both aggressive and friendly. Many of these can be your companion throughout your little adventure which is where Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure find itself a place for being unique among its peers. I love how they tried to accomplish a sort of companionship with the island’s inhabitants and how they eventually transform, mature or in a Pokemon Master’s perspective, evolve.
The longhorn for example which is a type of boar grows its horns much larger and an extra one popping out in the middle of its face aside from its usual two off on the sides. This kind of creates a lot of excitement for me to see where the other animals would improve. However, these animals are like rainbows and princesses too, they get easily grumpy when you don’t tend to their needs and they require a lot of pampering to be able to take advantage of what they offer. So, it takes away a bit of your time on exploration as you try to feed, pet and bathe them from time to time.
It’s also an island with a lot of things to discover in bite-size pieces which is fairly good to see since you start off with your friends in tow with a lot of the areas locked down harder than Fort Knox. This puts a lot of emphasis on bite-sized exploration and discovery so you’d at least have some sort of idea on your next objective which the game fails to put into words most of the time.
I often feel lost trying to figure out what’s next or what to do but its somewhat progressive exploration alleviates that pain into finding materials and resources that I would need for further improvements on my settlement. I enjoyed how this all comes together on paper but after a while, it does try to get complex as the number of resources dwindle until a good night’s sleep and as my playground starts getting larger and larger.
It’s not bad… but isn’t particularly good either
Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure is not a particularly bad game. There are good moments from time to time especially when you’re moving forward on certain objectives like improvements in your tree house or other facilities that need specific items to be usable.
Progression isn’t exactly terrible or slow either, however, I feel like Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure feels too vast to keep going back and forth as you run out of storage space as quickly as you empty them which forces you to just take the long walk home every time. There are shrines that help as fast travels though, but not to the point that it forgives the amount of backtracking I’ve had to do every time I need something that I left behind in my home base’s storage.
And it just doesn’t help its cause when Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure feels awful to control. Whether I’m on a keyboard and mouse or on my controller, Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure just feels awkward when a lot of things are mapped on the same button like commanding your companion to do certain actions for example is also on the same key to pick up objects on the ground or to interact with your companion and this is something that changes depending on what is available to be used.
You can pick up resources if you’re near one or command your companion to do certain actions but being close to your companion would also just ruin that flow as you’d end up interacting with that companion instead of the other actions you would’ve wanted to do in the first place which is a bit frustrating.
Mesmerizing and beautiful…
Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure does have an extremely good art style though. This was one of the reasons I felt interested in Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure when I saw it. Despite being stuck in an isometric view for the entire time, the vibrant and eye-catching art style was well worth it. I fell in love with how Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure looks and feels especially as it is a game that boasts in its exploration more than it is about the crafting and its other elements.
The environment starts off dark and rainy, however, as you progress, it opens up to this beautiful view of a lush environment filled with grass swaying along the wind and the changing environment like the rocky terrains filled with minerals to the winding roads and slushing sounds of the flowing rivers.
Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure also offers multiplayer which is at this point, a must-have. This helps a lot in terms of progression to make it a lot better with more bodies to drag resources around from place to place. But where it really shines is just like “It Takes Two”, Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure also wouldn’t need everyone to own a copy of the game. A single copy would allow friends to download a friend pass and be able to play together regardless.
Conclusion
Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure is a mesmerizing game to look at but playing it is a whole different ball game. It has its moments of greatness with its mechanics however it just doesn’t deliver an equally great experience thanks to its design choices and awful controls. It felt like a drag to just go through Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure for the most part which is a huge shame to people playing it alone compared to being played alongside friends that help alleviate some of its mishaps. If you’re playing it with friends, then by all means, it will give you some form of fun but as a solo experience, it might not have that same effect.
Ikonei Island An Earthlock Adventure Review
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