Under the Island Review

Under the Island is a top-down action RPG with self-proclaimed 90s charm and a “Saturday morning cartoons” vibe. The vibrant and detailed pixel art offers an updated retro experience that seems to say “imagine you’re playing a long forgotten Gameboy game… but better.” In the game you play as Nia, the new kid in town who has just moved to Seashell Island along with her archeologist parents. While they’re intent on researching the ancient mysteries of the island and its people, Nia is intent on not having the suckiest summer ever to suck, and quickly sets about exploring her new home.

Along with her new friend-slash-rival Avocado (a local girl and Seashell Island expert), Nia discovers the island is actually in grave danger from powerful forces known to the islands’ bygone civilizations. Armed with just a hockey stick and a whole lotta moxie, you must guide Nia through every dangerous and mysterious corner of the island to save its inhabitants. What follows is a delightful romp filled with wacky side characters, gorgeous landscapes filled with puzzles, collectibles and mysteries, and some surprisingly tender moments.

Under the Island in Action

Overall, Under the Island looks and feels great to play. This might just be my own personal taste coming through, as someone who is decidedly not a retro gamer, but in terms of both the art and gameplay, the nostalgia comes through so strongly in part because of the modern updates.

The pixel art in particular is firing on all cylinders to bring the world of Seashell Island to life. It’s beautiful, loaded with personality, and never leaves me asking myself “what exactly am I looking at here?” Maniacal breakfast cereal moguls, ghost chickens and onion men alike pop on the screen, with clever and expressive character designs. I’m neither a pixel art hater nor its apologist, and Under the Island’s visual style hits right in that sweet spot of the type of retro-inspired graphics that I love.

The one issue I encountered every so often is, in my experience, a classic struggle of top-down action games. Every once in a while it can be a little bit tricky to tell when and where collisions between characters, objects and the environment will occur (and when they won’t). For me this meant occasionally falling off a ledge and taking damage because I couldn’t tell how close to the edge of the platform I was, or thinking I’m going to land a hit on an enemy and instead totally whiffing it because I didn’t quite make contact with the hit box. It never felt overly frustrating and, if anything, felt like a nostalgic problem to have and didn’t impede me from exploring and succeeding in my mission to save Seashell Island.

Multitudes of surprises to discover at your own pace

Under the Island has achieved something that most open world games strive for, but never quite grasp, which is this very special and specific balance of containing multitudes of little quests, puzzles, and discoveries in every corner of the map, while not being overwhelming to the player. It’s one of the qualities that make The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom so special. You can boot up the game, set off in any direction, and you know that you’ll encounter something exciting, surprising, and wonderful. The secrets per square foot ratio in Under the Island is astronomical. Nearly 20 hours in and well past the main story, I continue to discover new caves, paths, and hidden items, even in sections of the map that I’ve walked through dozens of times already.

To illustrate this, when I finally beat the last boss and got to credits, I had only unlocked about 50% of the equipment and about 70% of the tools that are available in the game. But by no means did I feel underprepared for that final fight. Not to mention the many levels of upgrades I have yet to purchase for said tools and equipment, many more collectibles to find, and surely many more puzzles to uncover and solve. 

Under the Island Trailer

At the same time, the world doesn’t feel bloated or crammed too full of mysteries and items. Instead, the island feels big and spacious but cozy and familiar all at the same time. Kind of like returning to your old elementary school and discovering it’s somehow both bigger and smaller than the version that lives in your memories. The devs populated Seashell Island with just enough fast travel points that you don’t feel like you’re wasting time traversing the map, but you’re also forced to walk just enough to continue finding all the little secrets tucked away in the wilderness and along the paths. 

Too good to not pick back up again and again

The end result of this particular balance that Slime King Games managed to strike, creating a world that is big but approachable and filled with surprise and delight but not overwhelmingly so, is that I can’t stop coming back to Under the Island. This truly is the highest praise I can give a game that I’m reviewing. I’ve played many games that I vow to return to, or that occupy a special place in my heart that my mind returns to over and over again. Rarely do I actually make good on my hopes to pick a game back up, but I just can’t stop relaunching Under the Island.

In fact, one of my very few gripes is that the game doesn’t technically offer a way to keep playing after reaching credits. There’s no save state after the final boss fight, so instead I’ve jumped back in from my last checkpoint, right before that encounter. Which isn’t a bad experience per se, but there’s something extra satisfying about continuing to explore a world you know you’ve successfully saved from imminent peril. 

Ultimately, Under the Island succeeds at its goal to take me back to the days of my youth in the 90s, but not as they actually were. Slime King Games built a brighter, shinier, and more fleshed out world than any of the games I played back then, while evoking the same feelings of childlike wonder and discovery. In this Saturday-morning-cartoon-like experience, my Lucky Charms taste a little sweeter, my Lisa Frank dolphins jump a little higher, and my Under the Island gameplay feels a little smoother and pixel art pops a little more. I have a feeling I’ll continue to return to Seashell Island again and again to dip into this nostalgic paradise.

Emily was provided with a review key of Under the Island by Top Hat Studios

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No Small Games is an indie game recap and review podcast brought to you by hosts Kate and Emily! They became friends while streaming on Twitch and bonded over their love of indie video games. In each episode of No Small Games, the two will discuss an indie game they both played independently. They’ll compare their experiences: the good, the bad, their most memorable moments of their playthroughs.

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