Petit Island Review

Game: Petit Island
Genre: Adventure, RPG
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows), Xbox X/S and PS5)
Developer | Publisher: Xelo Games | SOEDESCO
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $29.99 | UK £26.99 | EU € 29,99
Release Date: November 14th, 2024

A review code was used, with many thanks to SOEDESCO.

Petit Island is the second game for developers Xelo Games. Playing as a cute cat, Lily, you head off to Petit Island to capture some of the essence of the childhood home of Grandpaw Felix.

Will Petit Island land on all fours and be the purr-fect adventure?

Heading to Petit Island

Lily peering into a box, with a red journal in her hands. Published on: LadiesGamers — What has Lily found?

Petit Island starts with a short cut scene showing that poor Grandpaw Felix is starting to struggle to remember his stories of his childhood. Lily finds his old journal and decides to go to Petit Island to fill in some of the faded photos and experience the joys that Grandpaw has talked about. Maybe this might help his memory.

Customisation menu on the fur pattern tab. There are various patterns to select from, including: tortoise shell, tabby, and Siamese. Published on: LadiesGamers — Who’s Lily?

However, before Lily can embark on such a journey, she has to choose her look. You can select one of the nine dresses and bag styles, as well as a fur pattern for Lily. Whilst not extensive, there are enough choices to make Lily the kind of cat you want.

View of Petit Island, with a large volcano and lots of trees in the distance, with a yellow plane in the foreground. Published on: LadiesGamers — Petit Island

Continuing with another cut scene, Lily lands at Petit Island, ready for her adventure. Unfortunately, she discovers that she hasn’t got her phone or money, but that doesn’t deter her. By asking for and giving help, Lily believes she’ll still be able to update Grandpaw’s journal and uncover the wonders of Petit Island.

And so our adventure on Petit Island begins.

Grandpaw’s Journal

Map page of the journal, showing the island and legend. There are red and yellow explanation marks on the map, as well as a couple of white question marks. Published on: LadiesGamers — Where shall Lily go?

The map is found within Grandpaw’s journal. It shows all the key places and, importantly, where the next missions are. Red exclamation marks show main missions, while the yellow exclamation marks show side missions. White question marks show new side missions. The map also shows where the payphones are located, which is the method for saving the game.

Quest page of the journal, showing the tasks on the right-hand page. The left-hand page has photos and drawings relating to the tasks and down the side of page are tabs for the chapter headings. Published on: LadiesGamers — What’s next?

Petit Island does a great job of keeping track of all Lily’s tasks. By navigating around the page, you can view the chapters and side missions’ tasks, and activating a task will give you the details. Beautiful drawings or photos will appear as a reminder of the completed main tasks.

Inventory page of the journal. Five tabs are down the left side, referencing photos, tools, critters, furniture and transport. The tools tab is selected, with the shovel highlighted. Published on: LadiesGamers — What big pockets you have!

As Lily journeys around Petit Island running errands for the locals, she will acquire numerous items to help her in her missions. These are accessed via the inventory page of the journal. The tools will need to be equipped and unequipped from this page, although quest items will be automatically handed over.

Travelling Round Petit Island Doing Quests

Lily standing on the beach, with 3 items to collect. Each item has a large, red explanation mark above it. Published on: LadiesGamers — So that’s what Lily needs to pick up.

All of Lily’s main quests or tasks are clearly shown by large, red exclamation marks over the person, place or item. This means that little challenge or exploration is needed to find the next step. Initially, I was a little disappointed by this ‘hand-holding’, but it made for stress-free playing, which isn’t a bad thing. It also gives you the opportunity to enjoy just running or riding around Petit Island, admiring the scenery.

Lily standing in a street, surrounded by buildings. There is a red phone box and bicycle in the background. Someone is standing near a blue bench with a white question mark above their head. Published on: LadiesGamers — A person in need!

Occasionally, Lily will come across people who need help. These white question mark tasks are not critical to the main story but are fun to complete. Depending on the task, yellow exclamation marks guide you to the relevant place.

Lily riding on a bananallama. There are various market stalls in the background, selling fish and other food items. Published on: LadiesGamers — What a way to travel!

Definitely a highlight of Petit Island are the bananallamas. These adorable creatures allow quicker travel around the island. They can’t jump and are slightly awkward to control, but that is part of their charm.

The animal rental menu, listing the available animals on the right. The mangofallo is selected, showing a stylised buffalo on the left in bright yellowy orange colouring, saying “The undomesticated twin of the commonly seen kiwifallo”. Published on: LadiesGamers — Other travel options are available!

If bananas and llamas aren’t your favourite combination, maybe mangoes and buffaloes are? Four additional animals are available for purchase, each as adorable as the other!

Activities to Fill Your Day

The camera mode, with an image of the town statue in the centre of a large yellow square, imitating the back of a digital camera. The controls for the camera are given on the right-hand side. Published on: LadiesGamers — Smile please! Oh, it’s a statue!

Photography is one of the key activities in Petit Island, with many of the tasks requiring pictures to be taken. The camera is easy to use, and you can even take selfies.

At the old ruins, Lily, with a net in her hand, is creeping up to a black, beetle-like object on the ground. Published on: LadiesGamers — Carefully does it!

On Lily’s quest to find Mr Mizayaki (one of Petit Island most legendary fisherman), she will be given a net to catch insects. Insects appear as either black, beetle-like objects on the ground or bee-like creatures buzzing around plants, both of which will disappear unless you sneak up on them. One of the side quests is to find all the insect types on the island.

Lily is by a river, with a fishing rod in her hand. There is a gauge to the right of her, showing how far the line will be cast. Published on: LadiesGamers — How big will this fish be?

Mr Mizayaki will teach Lily to fish and in doing so, she gains a fishing rod. Fish appear as white outlines in any body of water, and once the line is cast, reeling them in is either done by either mashing or holding (choose within the options) the action button. Similarly there is a side quest to find all the fish types of Petit Island.

Along with photography, fishing, and bug catching, Lily can also dig for treasure, which is a great way to earn some coins.

The Trouble in Petit Island

Lily on her bananallama on top of a mountain, the main island of Petit Island is in the distance. Published on: LadiesGamers — What a view!

Unfortunately, my overall enjoyment of this wonderful game was marred by software crashes. I was able to complete the main story (around 12 hours), but I was unable to save any progress after I reached the last chapter, as each attempt caused the game to crash. Petit Island also crashed after the final cut scene, meaning I couldn’t return to complete the side missions.

This review is based predominantly on a pre-release version, v1.0.0. Since completing my playthrough, a subsequent version (v1.0.1) has been released, which resolved an issue with the Scout bulletin board. However, I still experienced issues with saving during the last chapter.

Gameplay

The controls are straightforward and intuitive. For the most part, Petit Island plays well in both docked and handheld modes. There are occasionally judders or draw distance issues, but nothing significantly impacts the gameplay. The text is clear and large enough for the small screen, which is great as there is a lot of conversation and narrative to read. However, there is no touchscreen functionality. There is also no time of day in Petit Island.

Unfortunately, as discussed above, the game becomes very unstable during the last chapter, with software crashes occurring when trying to save. Saving is mainly manual via the various payphones found on the island. There are key points when autosaving happens, but these are not frequent.

Conclusion

Petit Island is a charming story of friendship and hope. There are moments of sadness and joy as Lily ventures around the picturesque islands, with the music balancing the gameplay beautifully.

I would have liked Petit Island a lot if not for the software crashes during the final chapter, which spoilt my overall enjoyment. Hopefully, the developers will be able to rectify this quickly.

Final Verdict: I Like it