Luma Island

I really struggled on whether I would click "recommend" or not, because there's a lot to recommend the game and the devs have been super attentive....but it does kind of wear out its welcome after a while. Pros: ------- Multiplayer: The multiplayer system is fun and convenient, allowing players to easily come and go from one another's games. The Lumas: The Lumas are visually distinct and adorable, with a luma for just about every preference type (or plain cats and dogs, for the less adventurously minded). Job Diversity: You have a total of eight professions to choose from, including some that you normally don't see in cozy games. (Shipwright, anyone?) Though...for the downside....see below. Art Style: The art style is adorable and nostalgic, it reminds me a little of the classic PC games, cleaned up for the modern era. Physics: The physics are satisfyingly jiggly, it makes it very enjoyable to use the farming mechanic. In general, the game's animations run smoothly, though see below for the downside of that. I think that the satisfaction of doing things as simple as cutting grass really carries the game through. No Inventory/Bedtime: As someone who often hates the inventory management system of most cozy games, the lack of one here is very welcome. The lack of a bedtime is also equally welcome, especially given that it can take a while to get back to the farm before you unlock the portal system. Guidance System: Since the last time I tried to play this, they added a guidance system that lets you go from location to location, so it's only a matter of getting to those places one time, then letting the system guide you. The fast travel system is also very useful -- I'd advise people to start building the various houses as early as possible to take advantage of it. Exploration Factor: Especially in the early game, it's very exciting to see how far an area goes, discover puzzles, and press forward into the unknown. The Forest area provided the first real experience of having that "wow" factor, and each subsequent biome does more and more with it. (Though I think that the Mountain, despite or even because of its difficulties, is probably the best.) With a variety of things to explore and find, you really have to check every nook and cranny to see if the crystal or book page you're looking for is right around the corner. Farming System: The farming system is surprisingly thoughtful, for a game where you can play the entirety of it without needing to farm a single item. Along with things like designing the layout of your crops, you also have to factor in things like animal sheds, as the animals can help with things like insects and weeds. Neutrals -------- Storyline: The story is....there. It exists. Though it's kind of thin, given that it feels more like an excuse to have you explore the different biomes than to actually act as an entertaining plotline in its own right. There's enough exposition that you're clued in on the final encounter, but the overall storyline feels like it was produced over the course of a single brainstorming session as a placeholder that someone said they would expand on in the future...and that never got expanded on in later meetings. Some elements, like the pirate expansion, aren't integrated into the final plotline, creating the feeling of an entirely separate game, while other elements, like Arianne's career path, promise to be part of the main plotline and then...keep promising without any resolution. Cons -------- NPCs: The NPCs felt pretty bland , with a few exceptions (Arianne). While the game informs you that you're friends with them after you finish a career, it feels a little lacklustre given that it's a "friendship" formed by making things for them, selling them to other people, and then presenting your showcase to them, sometimes in a couple of days, sometimes in a month in-game. It relies a lot on telling, rather than showing. The lack of a romance system is what people tend to discuss, but in general, the game seems to lack the chance to develop relationships of any kind. Repetitiveness: While the careers are distinct on the surface (see above), most of them follow a similar progression pattern of collect resources -- make things -- make more things -- hand it in -- get blueprints to make more things. As you're exploring the different biomes, you'll see the same puzzles pop up time after time and, after the Forest biome, I stopped solving them unless I needed some more chests for a given objective. Careers aren't really interesting after you finish their progression, and you earn enough by the end that I more or less stopped doing them. Dungeons: While they provide a happy bit of challenge to the game, I found them to be a little overtuned at times. The character movements have a nice bit of weight to them usually, but it makes it annoying when, if your character's toe brushes against a trap, you have to go back to the beginning. The archaeologist career is, admittedly, emphasized as being the hardest career, but everyone has to go through the dungeons to complete the main game, regardless of if they take that career (though at least you have unlimited attempts if you don't have it as a part of your career.) Grinding: The game feels like grinding for the sake of grinding. You're creating things so that you can get the blueprints to create MORE things, sometimes creating things in-between creating those things, as well as collecting things to upgrade your equipment so you can collect more things to create more things, rinse and repeat for each biome. And then, at the end, grinding for the sake of creating more things so that you can buy MORE things when you have already created everything. There comes a point where the payoff just isn't there, and I felt the fatigue setting in after the mountain region. Lagginess: I found that the game lagged a LOT on my computer, even without going out of my way to decorate my farm. This made it tricky to get through some areas, like the jungle area and the mountain area (the latter of which is already difficult to traverse). Replayability: On a personal level, while I enjoyed the game for the ~60 hours it takes to finish it + approach platinuming it (the hours that Steam shows include time I spent doing other things while the game sat idly in the background; I'd estimate you can shave off at least 30 hours from that), I've felt no particular desire to play through it again. It's fine for what it is, it has some fun challenges, but nothing that I think would be enjoyable going for a second or third round, especially once you know the solutions to the puzzles/know your way to the next location on the map. The lack of interactions with NPCs makes it so that I won't start a new save to romance a new NPC, and the lack of a really gripping plotline means that I'm not motivated to play it again for the plot. It's possible for a cozy game to have a strong plot without as much character relationship progression (Disney Dreamlight Valley) or strong character dynamics with a relatively weak plot (Stardew Valley), but a game needs one of the two to keep players playing. 60 hours is a good return on your investment, but if you want a game that you'll have ten playthroughs of, this isn't it. As soon as I finish the last few achievements, I intend to uninstall the game and probably not think about it again. I might return to see my farm and add a few decorations, but overall, I'm not feeling any desire to go through another playthrough. Overall grade: 6.5/10 Recommend For: If you're a longtime cozy gamer who isn't that interested in NPC dynamics or wants a game that you can play with your friends (+you preferably have a strong system). The game isn't BAD, and it's quite good, especially in the beginning...it's just not great. I'd recommend it at maybe $10-15 in its current form.