Saturday Casual Gaming 216: Survival Island

Is it a cop-out if I'm reviewing a game for the second time, knowing more about both the game & developer, and having grown as a blogger since the first time I played it?

Regardless, that's what I'm up to, man. I loved Nicobit's Survival Island on Android & iOS the first time I tried it, but with a new phone and a new account, I get to start over from the beginning!

Behold: the logo for Survival Island

You're a charming little dude, shipwrecked after his cruise goes down in a storm (which, honestly, with the way his mom henpecks him, that might be a blessing in disguise). He wake's up on a deserted island with nothing but the clothes on his back and a modicum of cleverness. Your cleverness. You have to use an on-screen d-pad and two buttons (red for action, blue for menu) to help him learn, craft, build, eat, hunt, fish, etc. Eventually, you'll finally find a way to escape this deserted island!

I'm sorry, I couldn't find screenshots without text on them...

Your main island seems completely useless, at first. All you can do in the early game is go to one of the two bushes, the topmost tree, and the lower right hand of the beach. These areas will warp you to other parts of the island, allowing you to gather resources, which will trigger inspiration to make things! And when you make things, you get more ideas to make more things, and eventually, you will be able to escape.

I... I don't think I've ever found a key under that rock...

There is a day-night cycle, which is important because some animals or plants or even areas cannot be accessed during certain times of day. There's also a weather cycle, which I haven't seen whether that's important to anything but stamina, but it's definitely a stamina-sapper when it rains. When you get the raincoat, it's the best thing ever.

Exploration is highly rewarded in Survival Island. Everywhere you go, there's something to find. Bump into as many walls as you can, because you never know when you'll find a secret entrance! Also, everything you make is useful in some way - even mashed potatoes or jam! Cut everything, mash everything, break everything (once, at least), and try everything. If you get stuck, there's something you've missed!

Here, we see Survival Guy discovering a hidden passage in the cliffside forest!

You have to get food somehow, and while you can survive on berries & potatoes, you might want to get some proteins, just for the role-play value... and because you'll need the bones later. To kill an animal, simply stand in front of it and punch with the red button. This will take stamina, and very difficult animals (crabs, for instance) can sap your stamina in only a few punches, but the end result is very, very worth it.

Certain tools will also help you out - the knife will let you slice & dice food in your inventory; the mallet allows you to crush things, the mortar lets you grind them, and the ax lets you cut down trees for wood (there's a mini-game). The fishing pole, however, is a very, very fun mini game. Not only do you get tasty fish, but you can find useful items, too! Uh... you're just going to get a lot of plastic bags and garbage at first. Don't give up!

Eventually you, too, will find a screwdriver.

All in all, this is a fun, fine game from Nicobit (which I'm guessing is a Japanese, since sometimes they're called 2cobit...), and I strongly suggest you try it out!

And one last shout-out & thank you to Mr. Foldan over at Conifer Studios for his kind words about my review of his awesome game Pacifish!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC