Amber Isle

About

Amber Isle is a shop management and social simulation game where you run the only shop on a prehistoric animal-inhabited island. Gather, craft, and sell items to meet the needs of diverse Paleofolk customers, haggle for better deals, and customize your shop to attract more clients. With expanding floorspace, efficient layouts, and increasing popularity, bring Amber Isle back from the brink of extinction.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,190 reviews

story100 positive mentions

stability281 negative mentions

The art style is charming and colorful, making the game visually appealing.
The character creation system is extensive, allowing for a wide variety of dinosaur designs.
The gameplay loop of gathering resources, crafting items, and running a shop is engaging and satisfying.

The game is riddled with bugs, including soft locks and glitches that can hinder progress.
The camera controls are awkward, often leading to disorienting angles and difficulty navigating the environment.
The tutorial is lengthy and can feel overly hand-holding, which may frustrate some players.

story
574 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
78%
4%
The story in "Amber Isle" is generally described as charming and engaging, featuring a simple yet enjoyable narrative that revolves around befriending various paleofolk and completing quests to unlock new areas and upgrades. While the main storyline is considered predictable and short, the side quests add depth and character development, making the overall experience delightful despite some pacing issues and bugs that can disrupt gameplay. Players appreciate the cute art style and the lighthearted themes, although some express a desire for more complexity and depth in character interactions and story progression.
- “The story is cute and I love meeting the different personalities of the dinos they introduce in the game.”
- “I enjoyed my time greatly playing Amber Isle - the grind was sparing, the characters are cute and developed, and the customization + story was amazing.”
- “The quest lines were really fun and it really felt like the developers put a lot of thought into giving each character their own unique story and personality.”
- “Honestly, half the time I was on Google because it's easy to fumble what resident you're supposed to have and what quest to start in order to unlock tool upgrades/map expansion.”
- “The quest progression feels totally random and you can speed through a lot of things.”
- “The main overarching story meanwhile is... honestly the weak point of the game, but even this is only relative to the rest of the game.”
gameplay
541 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
61%
7%
The gameplay in this title revolves around a satisfying loop of gathering resources, crafting items, and managing a shop, reminiscent of games like Animal Crossing but with a unique twist. While many players find the mechanics engaging and the art style charming, there are significant concerns regarding bugs, clunky interfaces, and repetitive tasks that can detract from the overall experience. Despite these issues, the game has potential for improvement, and many players express hope for future updates to enhance gameplay stability and depth.
- “The gameplay loop is really simple but effective.”
- “I love interacting with all the various characters on the island and the general gameplay loop of gathering items, crafting them, and running the store is so incredibly satisfying.”
- “The core gameplay loop is incredibly satisfying.”
- “I knew I would get frustrated with the clunky gameplay, so I decided to pass on this one.”
- “So many bugs that make gameplay feel bad, so much so that this feels like an alpha build, not a full release.”
- “The main gameplay loop is serviceable, but the shop and building friendship with the characters becomes stale and hair-pullingly frustrating if you want to go for all achievements, which I do not recommend doing until the game gets heavily bug-fixed.”
stability
289 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
97%
The game has been widely criticized for its significant stability issues, with many players reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and soft-locks that hinder gameplay. While some users find the game enjoyable despite these problems, others deem it unplayable in its current state, suggesting that it feels more like an early access title than a polished release. Overall, while the developers are actively working on fixes, potential players are advised to wait for further updates before purchasing.
- “Runs great on my Legion Go.”
- “Runs great, full of fun but unobtrusive references, great variety of paleo life and designs.”
- “It doesn't feel like I've played this for only 3 hours honestly, I really enjoy running around and look forward to seeing how this ends up once it's bug free.”
- “The game initially launched at a state that was buggy to a pretty... unfortunate stage.”
- “Currently, there are a lot of game breaking bugs and quality of life glitches that makes the game feel unfinished and seem more like in a beta state than a fully released game.”
- “But it is currently so buggy that it is unplayable.”
graphics
275 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
49%
2%
The graphics of Amber Isle are widely praised for their charming and cute art style, which enhances the overall cozy atmosphere of the game. Players appreciate the vibrant character designs and the whimsical environments, although some report issues with graphical bugs and limited customization options. While the visuals are generally appealing, the game suffers from performance issues that detract from the experience, suggesting a need for further polish.
- “The art style is charming, the characters are charming, and the story is immaculate, and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is a fan of cozy games.”
- “The graphics are adorable and stunning, and I love the animations and expressions on each of the NPC paleofolk.”
- “The art style is fantastic and lively, the characters are all so lovable.”
- “There's a complete lack of graphical settings though, just textures, vsync, and anti-aliasing, that's it.”
- “Within the first two hours of gameplay, I've seen very many graphical bugs and was even soft locked.”
- “I love the visuals but the game is also a fair bit buggy and honestly, this very much feels like an early access game to me, nowhere near full release.”
music
135 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
50%
2%
The music in the game is widely praised for its charm and suitability, described as "cutesy video game music" that enhances the overall ambiance. Players appreciate the soundtrack's ability to adapt to different biomes, creating a relaxing and immersive experience, although some note that it can occasionally disrupt the game's calming vibe. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal and enjoyment.
- “The soundtrack is wonderful and fits the theme of the game and changes to suit whichever environment you’re in.”
- “The music is very wonderful to listen to, and the way the biomes have their own variation of the same song is a very neat touch.”
- “The music is fantastic along with the ambiance.”
- “The music suffers from the same problem; it sounds like a jumble of whatever they liked the most.”
- “I found the music and sound effects serviceable, but after a while, I started listening to other stuff while playing.”
- “The sound design is very simple, but it works well for this type of game. The game depicts itself as a relaxing game; however, the music can be a bit bouncy at times, which can kill some of the relaxing vibes. I feel it might just need to be a touch softer.”
grinding
95 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
3%
94%
The grinding aspect of the game is a mixed bag; while some players find it engaging and rewarding, others describe it as tedious and time-consuming, particularly when it comes to resource gathering and crafting. Many appreciate the cozy gameplay loop and character interactions, but the lack of efficient item searching and the daily caps on certain activities can lead to frustration. Overall, the experience varies greatly depending on individual tolerance for grinding and preference for pacing in gameplay.
- “It's not grindy, and has an extremely rewarding gameplay loop.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “There is no farming/gardening, despite gardening and culinary items being primary branches of the craftable items.”
- “Once you're at a bit of an upper level with your game, it gets extremely grindy to get the bare minimum materials needed, and you may encounter several needing an already scarce item.”
- “And there's no way to search for an item in a menu, a la some survival games. If a quest needs to craft a wooden table, there's nowhere to search up 'wooden table', so you need to mouse over endlessly hoping to find an item, really tedious.”
- “Near the end of the game it can get a bit grindy trying to get everything you need for those big recipes, and often I would spend nearly 40 minutes just harvesting resources.”
character development
78 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
59%
4%
Character development in the game is highly praised for its adorable and diverse character designs, which include unique species of dinosaurs and extinct mammals. Players appreciate the extensive customization options for both their characters and NPCs, making each interaction feel fresh and engaging. Despite some technical issues, the overall charm and creativity of the character designs significantly enhance the gameplay experience.
- “The character designs are adorable and well thought out.”
- “The massive paleo-nerd in me adores all of the character designs and is especially charmed by how scientifically accurate they manage to be to their real-life counterparts even in this cartoony art style.”
- “Every object in the game is very creative, looks great, all the animations are fantastic, and the character designs are so good that I haven't met a single character that I haven't immediately loved.”
- “Definitely not one of those games that puts in all the character design effort into the NPCs and leaves players feeling not that special with their own characters.”
- “If you're not 100% into the janky and buggy character designer and its limitations, you will bounce off the intro before the word go.”
- “I love the character designs, the atmosphere, the art style-- but the level of jank feels on par with an early access title, not a full release.”
optimization
77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
58%
34%
The game's optimization has received mixed feedback, with many players experiencing significant performance issues, including stuttering, soft locks, and visual glitches, even on high-end systems. While some users report manageable performance at lower settings, others find the game unplayable on devices like the Steam Deck. Overall, it is clear that the game requires further optimization and bug fixes to enhance the player experience.
- “Cute, cozy, comfy, needs a few performance updates but otherwise a real good little game.”
- “I hope that I'll be able to jump back in after a few patches and that the performance/optimization improves.”
- “The development team has been hard at work with patches and is willing to listen to the fans with their own critiques.”
- “The game is in severe need of options and optimization.”
- “Don't get me wrong, it's a janky and buggy game, a stuttery mess with poor optimization... as per Unity and its issues.”
- “It's a very unoptimized game where the lag consumes much of the experience.”
humor
62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely praised for its charm and cleverness, featuring a mix of kid-friendly jokes and dry, adult humor that appeals to a broad audience. Players enjoy the quirky interactions with lovable characters, amusing glitches, and witty dialogue, which often leads to unexpected and funny situations, such as haggling mishaps and NPCs being launched into space. Overall, the game's lighthearted tone and comedic elements contribute significantly to its appeal, making it a delightful experience for players.
- “I absolutely loved this game, I still love it, the characters are sweet and made me laugh over and over, and while the shopkeeping is a little panicky at times, I adore the comments and little opinions you get to see from the islanders who visit!”
- “I love the old grump of a mayor, and found it hilarious when he sold me a basket and then proceeded to buy the basket back from me the following evening for more than he sold it for.”
- “+ Loveable cast of characters - the dialogue between the characters was some of the most wholesome and funny writing I've heard from just about any game I've played before.”
emotional
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is widely praised for its emotional warmth and charm, described as a "wholesome" experience that evokes nostalgia and joy. Players appreciate the engaging dialogue, lovable characters, and the cozy atmosphere reminiscent of titles like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Despite some technical issues, the overall sentiment highlights a heartwarming and relaxing gameplay experience that resonates with players of all ages.
- “The art is fantastic quality and the writing is charming and surprisingly mature despite remaining wholesome.”
- “An extremely wholesome game with loads of heart.”
- “After some initial bug workarounds, this game has made me feel like a kid again.”
atmosphere
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
54%
13%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its adorable and cozy charm, creating a relaxing environment that enhances the experience of running a shop for cute dinosaur characters. Players appreciate the unique character interactions and the heartwarming dialogue, although some note that technical issues detract from the overall experience. Overall, the atmosphere is described as comforting and enjoyable, making it a delightful escape from daily stress.
- “The game is so adorable and feeds into the cozy atmosphere of running a shop for cute dino friends!”
- “This is an excellent game that delivers a cute atmosphere with many unique characters and diverse interactions amongst each other.”
- “The atmosphere is very relaxing and feels perfect after a long and stressful day.”
- “However, while the game’s overall atmosphere is heartwarming and the characters have fantastic dialogue, there are one too many bugs that prevent it from being the experience I feel it could eventually be.”
- “I love the character designs, the atmosphere, the art style-- but the level of jank feels on par with an early access title, not a full release.”
- “Though I may be biased because I was a dinosaur kid and now am a dinosaur adult, even just the chill atmosphere and the personality of the characters will likely keep me playing this for quite a while to come.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
20%
Players express a desire for improved replayability, contingent on future bug fixes that would enhance the game's overall playability. Many suggest that an optional "sandbox" mode, allowing access to all features from the start, would significantly boost replay value. Overall, the current state of the game limits its replayability, but there is hope for future improvements.
- “An optional 'sandbox' start mode in which all the game features are available from the start instead of having to gradually unlock them tied to a storyline would be a very welcome feature for replayability.”