Review #055 – Under the Island

I was drawn to Under the Island by its Minish Cap adjacent visual style but stayed for its other various Legend of Zelda idiosyncrasies. It’s definitely not on the same level as a conventional Zelda game to be clear, but I think the team at Slime King Games did a pretty decent job replicating what is one of my favourite video game archetypes. 

The game features a laundry list of little twists on the Zelda formula, like using a hockey stick instead of a sword, or collecting golden coins instead of heart pieces. It even has dungeons with various puzzles and combat challenges—I can’t say they are giving Nintendo a run for their money or anything, but they’re fun for what they are.

While it is a cool game I do wish it had a little more scope. There’s only a few key items and not many of them are particularly interesting. Combat is also very basic, and there’s not much to do beyond its main story. It’s a cool little Zelda-like and I’m really happy to see more indie studios going for this type of game, but its lack of depth leaves a little to be desired.