Forsaken Isle
- February 6, 2015
- Smoodlez
- 3h median play time
Get on SteamForsaken Isle is a sandbox survival game set on a mysterious island. Gather resources, craft tools, and build your own shelter to withstand the dangers of the wilderness. Uncover the island's secrets, solve puzzles, and ultimately escape, but beware of the supernatural forces that lurk in the shadows.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a charming pixel art style and engaging gameplay that combines elements of survival, crafting, and exploration.
- Players appreciate the variety of activities available, such as farming, building, and combat, which keeps the gameplay interesting.
- The developer has shown commitment to updating the game, with recent improvements and new content that enhance the overall experience.
- The crafting system can be confusing and lacks clear guidance, making it difficult for players to discover recipes without external help.
- Many players have expressed concerns about the game's stability and bugs, including crashes and issues with saving progress.
- Despite its potential, some reviews indicate that the game feels incomplete and repetitive, with a need for more content and variety in gameplay.
- graphics22 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by charming pixel art that evokes nostalgia, with many players appreciating the aesthetic and overall polish. While some users find the fixed resolution problematic, the visuals are generally described as cute and fun, contributing to an engaging gameplay experience. Overall, the art style is well-received, enhancing the exploration and survival elements of the game.
“What drew me to this game the most is the pixelated graphic and the survival, exploring and building aspects, living out your life on a forsaken isle surviving against things that wish you harm.”
“Altogether, forsaken isle, with its retro pixel art graphics, easy to learn aspects like farming and fighting, will quickly have you losing hours off your day.”
“Unlike some pixel art games that look like the developer was attempting to be lazy with the graphics, forsaken isle looks well polished and refined.”
“The layout is fixed to a certain resolution, so trying to run it at something lower just positions the graphics in odd locations, making them not scale correctly.”
“I am still not getting this recent 'love' for NES-era graphics.”
“Unlike some pixel art games that look like the developer was attempting to be lazy with the graphics, Forsaken Isle looks well polished and refined.”
- gameplay21 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
Overall, the gameplay is described as solid and enjoyable, with a charming art style and intuitive controls, though some players note it feels slightly outdated for 2023. While the game currently lacks extensive content and bosses, it shows great potential for future updates, and many find the gameplay addictive and relaxing despite some early access bugs. Players appreciate the familiar progression mechanics, but some express a desire for more depth and content to enhance the experience.
“The gameplay is pretty solid, though there is a bit of a learning curve.”
“Even though there isn't much of an endgame yet (I've only encountered 2 bosses so far), the gameplay is addictive and oddly relaxing at the same time.”
“There is a fantastic art direction here and the gameplay is incredibly polished.”
“Never got close to using magic in this game; it's really an 'end-game' mechanic unless you know the crafting recipes to begin with.”
“There isn't platforming, but rather strafing (mouse and keyboard); apart from that, much of the gameplay is similar.”
“It's worth waiting so that you don't get burned out on the gameplay before the game is expanded, but if you can't wait and decide to buy it now, it won't disappoint.”
- grinding14 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be enjoyable, particularly praising the farming and building mechanics as satisfying and easy to engage with. While some note that crafting can be tedious without external guidance, the overall experience is enhanced by the quick and rewarding nature of farming, which allows for substantial resource accumulation. The game appeals to fans of the survival and sandbox genres, offering a blend of activities that can keep players entertained for hours.
“This is just a small example of how cumbersome the crafting is - unless you spoil the crafting recipes on the wiki, the combinations will be far too tedious for the player to organically discover.”
“Farming is great, crops grow too fast though; by the end of a 3-hour run, I had a mass of carrots building up which pretty much kept me fed the entire game.”
“The farming in this game is absolutely fantastic and mesmerizing, easy to pick up and satisfying to do (also super quick, though I expect this to be tweaked later; currently it's way too easy to just farm up a few hundred loaves of bread and solve your hunger forever).”
- music7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the great atmosphere and relaxing pirate tunes, others find the lack of a musical soundtrack and repetitive ambient sounds disappointing. Additionally, the minimal sound effects and poor HUD design detract from the overall experience for some users.
“The music's great.”
“I really liked the atmosphere and music.”
“The pirate tune is very relaxing; I only use it when I'm trying to build an island or bridge.”
“Music needs to loop.”
“No music and terrible HUD design.”
“Minimal sound effects and virtually no music.”
- story7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is perceived as lacking depth, with some users noting the absence of a traditional narrative or quests, which contributes to a feeling of lifelessness. However, others appreciate the simplicity and focus on individual character development, suggesting that while the overarching story may be minimal, the gameplay experience can still be enjoyable. Overall, there is a mix of hope for future content and a desire for more engaging storytelling elements.
“Looking forward to future updates and additional content; this could become a comeback story!”
“I miss the challenge and the story a bit, but otherwise, it's a nice overall experience.”
“I haven't really found this to be an issue because I love just taking a few minutes to go into my isle and do some farming or build another room for my house, and having this long-running story where I'm focused on just one character.”
“Or former 'same old story' - stuff like this has me buying few/no EA games these days.”
“- No storyline or quests makes it seem a little lifeless.”
“I haven't really found this to be an issue because I love just taking a few minutes to go into my isle and do some farming or build another room for my house and having this long-running story where I'm focused on just one character.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its engaging music and distinctive art style, characterized as pixely and crunchy, which enhances the overall experience within the genre.
“I really liked the atmosphere and music.”
“The crafting, atmosphere, and overall art style is my favorite in this genre.”
“The atmosphere of the game is very pixelated and crunchy.”
“The atmosphere of the game is very pixely and crunchy.”
- stability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users report a generally stable experience with few glitches; however, some players experience freezing issues during manual and autosave processes, which can be concerning due to the lack of notifications indicating that the game is saving.
“Also, and this could be a problem personal to me, but when I save the game, it freezes and doesn't give me any notification that it is actually saving.”
“It does the same thing when it autosaves - it just freezes the game for a few seconds.”
