As the years have gone by for The Legend of Zelda series, even with how much I loved my time with The Link’s Awakening remake and Echoes of Wisdom, it feels like Nintendo has taken the center stage away from the 2D games to focus more on the franchise’s 3D counterparts. Getting my hands on Under the Island, I immediately felt that developer Slime King Games brought back that feeling I got whenever I played any 2D Zelda game, which is honestly hard to ignore, but Under the Island has its moments when it stands on its own across my 15-20 hours with it.
Inspired by those very games of the past, Under the Island is an action-adventure game played from a top-down perspective, featuring a charming Saturday-morning cartoon art style and stunning modern pixel graphics that feel as if someone ripped them right out of the 90s. You play as Nia, a brash tomboy and new girl in town who has temporarily moved with her parents to Sea Shell Island, the game’s island setting. Annoyed about living on a tiny island outside the “real world” with no fun stuff to do, like concerts and parties to go to, her mom tells her to explore and make some friends.
While finding her bearings in her new home in Koala Village, Nia discovers the local shrine and runs into another girl, Avocado. After Nia messes with the shrine a bit, both girls fall into a hole where they discover ruins of those that came before Under the Island; title drop. Karasu, who seems to be the last survivor of the island’s lost civilization, tells the two children that the island is fated to sink into the ocean.
To stop it and save her new home, Nia has to find the game’s macguffin, four ancient gears scattered throughout the island. The setup pushes even more of that Saturday-morning feeling through not just its art style but also its story and gameplay, as Under the Island is definitely a game you could play with a child, with puzzles that are mostly pretty easy to solve. To help on Nia’s journey, players will find a chest with the hero’s weapon. Instead of the classic sword, you find a note saying that someone else already took that, but at least they left you a hockey stick.
With a Hockey Stick in Hand, Save Your New Home From Sinking
Although the game’s developers are German, using a hockey stick as a weapon feels unique, and it honestly brought out my inner Canadian spirit. As for the feel, Under the Island’s combat feels quick and responsive. Difficulty-wise, Under the Island is not a hard game, but I wouldn’t say it’s super easy either, as enemies can get lucky hits on you, and when you can stack up without healing yourself, it can be game over; even I died a couple of times.
As you go out to explore the island, you can vanquish enemies and shrubs with your sports equipment weapon, which can replenish your inventory, hearts, and earn you extra money to buy what you need in the shop. To help you along the way, the game lets you collect heart coins, and after gathering four, like pieces of hearts, you can gain a new heart by giving them to a local fit adult man, M. Uscle, in his home/personal gym; suspicious. With Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom being so open-world, I always kind of missed exploring traditional dungeons in The Legend of Zelda franchise.
Explore Dungeons in Under the Island
Seeing Under the Island return to those classic 2D Zelda roots made me realize how much I missed them, but only having four made me want more. While exploring as Nia, players will find the map and radar to find the multiple treasure chests scattered throughout the level, with one of them housing a new tool to help get to the boss room. Outside of the dungeons, these items can help you unlock new paths to help you explore more of Sea Shell Island.
That’s not the only thing you can unlock with the help of psychedelic Bear; the items you find can help upgrade your gear, including improving the strength of your hockey stick to the “master” level. Sea Shell Island is a tropical setting with beaches as you’d expect, but it has a lot more variety with multiple biomes to discover on your journey, including plains, forests, deserts, and snowy mountains.
While I did enjoy most of my time with Under the Island, the design of the game’s main map felt like it got in my way. How everything is laid out on the map felt more frustrating and antagonistic to me as a player, as I honestly struggled to reach every part of the game; the last optional area is still a head-scratcher. I don’t want to say Under the Island has bad map design, but I feel like there could have been a simpler approach in some areas.
Verdict
Under the Island wears its 2D Zelda inspiration proudly on its sleeve and pulls it off exceptionally well, with a great game and stunning modern pixel graphics that feel like Saturday-morning cartoons from the ’90s. The game’s Hockey stick-swinging combat is solid and fun, with puzzles to figure out and a sense of familiarity that stands on its own. Under the Island’s dungeon formula is great, but honestly, it left me wanting more to explore. The one negative is that the design of Under the Island’s overworld map was a tad frustrating, as it felt like it could have simplified exploration in some areas.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PC
