Island Notes

About

Island Notes is a single player role playing game. It was developed by KangBaoGame and was released on August 21, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

After a yacht accident leaves you stranded on a mysterious island, you must survive using crafting, farming, fishing, and pet taming. Build relationships with intelligent NPCs who act independently and emotionally respond to you, enhancing your chances of survival. Explore a vast, resource-rich island filled with unique locations and challenges.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 55 reviews

character development1 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

The game features beautiful character modeling and immersive graphics, enhancing the overall experience.
The AI companions are interactive and helpful, adding a unique twist to the survival gameplay.
The game offers a decent variety of enemies and crafting components, making exploration and resource gathering engaging.

The game suffers from poor translations and a confusing UI, making it difficult for players to understand item descriptions and gameplay mechanics.
There are issues with NPC behavior, as they can be unhelpful or get stuck, leading to frustration during gameplay.
The game feels unpolished with bugs and performance issues, including crashes and stuttering, which detracts from the overall experience.

gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The gameplay is described as addictive, featuring survival and crafting mechanics reminiscent of "The Forest," though some players find the building mechanics lacking and repetitive. While the game offers a deep experience with a cute companion, the absence of transportation options and limited building flexibility can lead to boredom over time. Overall, the gameplay is engaging but could benefit from enhancements like Steam Workshop support.
- “This building game is seriously addictive—especially with that stealth gameplay twist and a cute companion tagging along.”
- “It gives me major The Forest vibes, what with all the survival and crafting mechanics being properly fleshed out.”
- “The graphics aren't the flashiest, but the gameplay's deep.”
- “There is a basic building mechanic of different tiers, only base blocks and simple constructions.”
- “Building mechanics suck.”
- “Although there are a lot of survival mechanics to keep you hooked, without a simple building concept of 'build anywhere', the game gets pretty boring pretty soon.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be significant, particularly in resource collection for crafting, which can feel tedious due to the limited variety of items. However, the presence of helpful NPCs and the engaging gameplay elements like exploration and character customization provide some relief from the grind. Overall, while the crafting system is enjoyable, it does require a considerable investment of time to gather materials.
- “Because there are not a lot of items, the game has quite a grindy craft.”
- “The crafting is good, though somewhat grindy collecting materials, but that is to be expected.”
story
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
The game's story centers on a classic stranded-on-a-desert-island theme, allowing players to choose from four characters and explore the island while advancing the plot, albeit with limited narrative depth typical of survival games. Players appreciate the focus on exploration, character customization, and combat, expressing hope for future content that could enhance the storyline.
- “I'm looking forward to more content being added and the story being expanded.”
- “The game essentially revolves around exploration, character customization, combat, and farming—a classic stranded-on-a-desert-island storyline.”
- “You can pick one or all four characters to 'survive' (which doesn't feel overpowered) as well as change a few difficulty options and then explore the island and advance the plot (if any). To be honest, most survival games don't have a strong narrative, so I'm cool with that because I'm an achievement hound anyway.”
graphics
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
The graphics are generally well-received for their visual appeal and interactive environments, enhancing the exploration experience. However, the movement and animations are criticized for being stiff and lacking fluidity, which detracts from the overall quality. While not the most impressive, the graphics serve the gameplay effectively.
- “Love how interactive and helpful the NPCs can be. Great visuals, and I like how exploring the island can be a fun yet challenging adventure.”
- “The graphics aren't the flashiest, but the gameplay is deep.”
- “The visuals feel outdated and lack the polish expected from modern games.”
- “Character models are poorly designed and animations are stiff, making the game feel unrefined.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
Players appreciate the rapid rollout of optimizations and quality-of-life updates, which enhances their confidence in the game's development roadmap.
- “Seeing optimizations and quality of life updates roll out at a fast pace makes me believe in their roadmap.”
- “The continuous improvements in optimization have significantly enhanced my gaming experience.”
- “I appreciate how the developers prioritize optimization, making the game run smoother and more enjoyable.”
- “The game is plagued by performance issues that make it nearly unplayable on lower-end systems.”
- “Despite the potential, the lack of proper optimization leads to frequent frame drops and stuttering.”
- “I was disappointed to find that even after several updates, the optimization problems still persist, affecting the overall experience.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, players report a generally stable experience with smooth gameplay and no major glitches; however, some users have noted the presence of bugs that can affect the experience.
- “Interesting concept, but it's a bit too buggy now.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is highlighted by the impressive design of female characters, which features intricate details that significantly enhance player immersion.
- “Additionally, the female character designs stand out as a notable strength, with well-crafted details that enhance immersion.”