Cooler, more seasonable temps have finally arrived in Central City. It's my wish come true! That said, as we'll see in our next review for this month, some wishes can become corrupt. Well, that seems to just usually happen on the eponymous Isle of Reveries, and this here is the SuperPhillip Central review.
When you wish upon an isle, doesn't matter "hoot" you are.
The Legend of Zelda franchise celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and no doubt the series is a major inspiration to many developers, as we've seen many similar games of its vein released over the years. Even this year, I've covered games like Under the Island and Elementallis, for starters, each offering their own creative flavor and spin on the series's core tropes and gameplay loops.
Now, Isle of Reveries is the latest offering from an indie, delivering the hopes and dreams of another competent and enjoyable Zelda-like, this time with a Game Boy Color aesthetic to it. Does it do enough to make players want to give a hoot about it?
The titular Isle of Reveries is a skyward island, home to legends of being able to ask and get any wish granted. As the game begins, our owl protagonist Leif has started a pilgrimage of his own to the isle, in hopes of getting his own personal wish granted: to bring his deceased younger brother back to life. However, shortly upon touching foot--or talon, in this case--on the Isle of Reveries, a disturbing truth is revealed on how the isle manages to corrupt the wishes of those who have already made the grueling journey. With a new goal in mind, Leif sets off to assist saving the lost souls who have fallen victim to the island's curse.
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| A handful of hearts are available to Leif at the start of his adventure, but he can certainly earn more in true Zelda-like fashion. |
While the premise of the story is one that is intriguing, the overall narrative doesn't really provide too many twists and turns to excite. Instead, what did interest me was the quest itself, which the story does do an admirable job of setting up. And I think most of us can agree that the quest is the most important piece to a Zelda-style adventure.
Rather quickly into Leif's quest, he discovers a helpful fairy, one that serves as not just a means to chat to the various characters that Lief stumbles across on his adventure, but also takes on the role of a duplication entity. Many objects within Isle of Reveries can be duplicated by a press of a trigger: from rocks to blocks, braziers to boulders, and other miscellaneous goodies to aid in making progress for Leif and thus, players as well.
This mechanic lends itself well to more than exploration, but also the plethora of puzzles within Isle of Reveries six major dungeons. These house plentiful brain-teasers as you navigate halls, chambers, and other rooms full of enemies, other dangers, and obstacles in your path. Some puzzles are as simple as placing a duplicated item to hold down a pressure-sensitive plate to keep a door open, while others require more thinking and mental finesse.
Duplicating objects--only one can be "saved" at a time--is utilized with great use in combination with the multiple unique items and tools that Leif finds across his adventure. The Clawncher, for instance, offers the ability to grab objects from faraway and brings them to Leif, rather than bringing Leif to the objects as if he were using the Zelda series's Hookshot. The Clawncher can also pull weapons and armor from enemies to leave them defenseless, or conversely, to otherwise open them up to attacks. Many of these items are used in tandem with each other as well as the central duplication mechanic, and these, in turn, are used to solve puzzles within the game and its dungeons.
The dungeons themselves house plenty of secrets, key items, and of course challenges both physical and mental alike--such as enemies, hazards, and puzzles. The traditional aim to find treasure chests, secure keys, unlock doors, and make progress all the while solving puzzles and contending with enemies and traps is present and accounted for here, like any proper Zelda dungeon experience. What impressed me most was how well--even in the first dungeon--the puzzles were consistently complex and required some deep level of thinking to solve. Sometimes trial and error were necessary components, but for the most part, I usually was missing a key piece of insight, such as needing to utilize an item or duplication in a way I hadn't yet considered.
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| Leif launches the Clawncher at this foe within one of the later game dungeons. |
Not all is as excellently crafted with Isle of Reveries' dungeons. It's difficult not to compare to the game's clear inspiration, so permit me to take the Zelda series and its dungeons as a comparison. Most of the dungeons in Isle of Reveries do not have a logical flow to them. You're constantly backtracking and entering and re-entering rooms to try to discover a means for progression.
It's unlike most of the Zelda games, where dungeons lead you back to hub rooms or central chambers where items and keys you acquired that you didn't your first time through could this time be utilized. It's easy enough to know where you need to go without the game literally telling you where you need to go, and this is performed simply by how well the Zelda series' dungeons are designed. In Isle of Reveries' dungeons, I was aimlessly and repeatedly passing through well trodden territory and rooms in search of which door this key I just secured belonged, or what this key item I acquired was best suited for.
Dungeons conclude not just upon finding the boss key, opening the door for said key, and battling the boss lurking behind said door, but you also have to escape the dungeon afterwards in a post-boss scramble for a special door. The dungeon itself becomes corrupted and you must battle and platform your way through familiar yet also altered paths (and in a more dangerous form--like with poisonous waters permeating throughout the rooms) to your destination. Some of these paths are simple enough to follow, but others just made a frustrating trek even more so.
As much as I appreciate most of the design decisions of Isle of Reveries, some did less than satisfy. For one, the simple act of needing to jump (performed with the R1 button on the PlayStation versions of the game) wasn't always conducive to the required platforming occasionally needed. Aggravating falls into water or pitfalls means you respawn from where you originally entered the room. Jumping just doesn't feel as precise as it could have been, and it's so easy to slip into pits and other hazards from errant leaps.
And while the items featured in Isle of Reveries are darn fun to use, especially a later game Rift Wand, that immediately exchanges your location with any small object or enemy the small ball of energy hits, each item uses an energy meter. While this meter refills over time after a relatively short cooldown, you're constantly having to use items and tools to solve puzzles as well as defeat enemies that your sword otherwise won't make a dent in (or a slice through, in this case) that this constantly resulted in me having to idle and wait for the cooldown to end and slowly replenish my gauge. This was just so I could use an item or tool again. When the game requires so much use of items, this energy meter and the need to refill it through time makes for an agonizing wait at times.
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| Hopefully all this rain doesn't ruffle Leif's feathers! |
That said, there is special equipment in the form of trinkets that can be found from planting special seeds in certain plots of land throughout the game's overworld map. A trio of trinkets can be equipped at a given time, and there are over 20 presenting different bonuses to Leif on his journey. These can make a special sound when he's in the same room as a specific goodie, whether that be the location of a plot of land, an Akedo Leaf (one of many collectibles within the game), a Goddess Petal (the Heart Pieces of Isle of Reverie), or something else. They also have other effects, too, such as limiting damage from falling into pits, nullifying Leif's slipping on ice, and having enemies drop more hearts in combat than usual.
Exploration is a common occurrence and claim to fame of Zelda-likes, and Isle of Reveries does this well, especially with its overworld map. There are eight unique, interconnected environments to explore, from marshlands to forests, as well as brutally cold mountains to quicksand-laden deserts. The world map is one that isn't overly expansive, instead serving a nice compact design to players. Eventually you can earn a special ukulele instrument that doubles as a fast travel device, further making exploration less tedious and more enjoyable.
The overworld map is constantly opening up new areas as key items from dungeons and other parts of the game are given to the player. Because the map is so compact, it was never a major challenge to remember where a place or corner of map I couldn't previously explore was situated. That way, I could take my newly found Draco Coil or aforementioned Clawncher and use them to chart new paths, find new secrets, as well as nab collectibles and goodies I previously couldn't reach and access. This aspect of Isle of Reveries definitely lends itself better to wandering the overworld, rather than the aimless variety I did within dungeons.
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| Meet characters of all types in Isle of Reveries. Look--I think Leif just mer-made a new friend! |
Speaking of, there is a lot of content to be discovered in Isle of Reveries, such as miniature dungeons containing optional upgrades to tools, a full trading sequence reminiscent of Link's Awakening for some sweet rewards, and even a miniature town builder, where many of the NPCs you rescue or interact with throughout Leif's journeys in Isle of Reveries return to, making a nice, little, cozy community of characters to ensemble in. It's really rewarding to start out with a barren area that is the Verdant Valley and eventually by the endgame see it brimming with life and bustling with characters.
Graphically, Isle of Reveries mostly looks the part of a Game Boy Color-styled game inspired by The Legend of Zelda. I say "mostly" because one issue that Isle of Reveries has that the Game Boy Color Zelda titles do not is that the former suffers from a lot of visual clutter on maps and in dungeons. It can be difficult to distinguish between what objects can be picked up, passed through, walked on, etc. The Thorny Thicket biome is especially troublesome in this regard. The beauty of games like Link's Awakening and the Oracle games was in their graphical simplicity. Objects were easy to distinguish between and the visual clutter just wasn't anywhere near as present like it is in Isle of Reveries.
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| Some game areas are more arduous to ascertain where you can and can't move than others. |
Isle of Reveries offers an overall worthwhile and well designed Zelda-like adventure. The game's starring duplication mechanic is a massive boon to making for some seriously challenging and engaging puzzles, as does the roster of wonderful tools and items. Although aspects like the quickly depleting energy gauge, lack of logical flow in otherwise cleverly designed dungeons, and some major clutter in the visuals do detract from the experience, all in all, Isle of Reveries is yet another Zelda-inspired indie game this year that "owl" probably return to in the future. It's one I also think you should give a "hoot" about, too.
[SPC Says: B-]
A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
This game was played via the PlayStation 5 version. Isle of Reveries is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series consoles, Xbox One, and PC.
