Spirit of the Island Review

Game: Spirit of the Island
Genre: Adventure, Simulation
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows), PS4&5, Xbox One, X|S)
Developer|Publisher: 1M Bits Horde | Plug in Digital
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US E10+
Price: US $24.99 | UK £22.49 | EU € 24,99
Release Date: October 19th, 2023

Review code used, with many thanks to PID Games.

Spirit of the Island started life as a Kickstarter campaign back in 2021 and, after funding, found its way onto Steam in Early Access in 2022. Now, last October, the consoles followed, and I had the opportunity to whisk away to the island for this review. If you are a regular to LadiesGamers, you will know I love a good simulation game, so I was curious if Spirit of the Island would do everything the Kickstarter campaign had promised.

Back to the Place of Birth

After a short intro story told in drawn slides, little YvoCaro was sent to a tropical archipelago to make a new life on a derelict plot. The islands used to be a hot tourist spot, and one of YvoCaro’s tasks was to bring the tourists back. Plus, of course, she has to unravel the mystery of her birth. She has found out that her parents are her adopted mom and dad and that she was actually born on the islands.

YvoCaro’s new home isn’t really all that awful…it looks kinda lush, and aside from some broken fences, piles of brick and broken furniture in your home, it’s not really roughing it. The tutorial is fed in bits and pieces whenever you encounter something new. And there is a lot of ‘new’ for you to discover! Pop-up text boxes tell you what you need to know; There is a lot to take in at first, you have to pay attention. This information is later added in a shortened version to everything you build, craft and in your inventory, but it would have been nicer to find it in a guide of sorts.

A colourful scene with different coloured trees. The little protagonist is overlooking the landscape and see her cottage in the distance. — YvoCaro’s domain, Polgar. Doesn’t it look lovely?

There is a lot to do in Spirit of the Island. There’s farming, crafting, taking care of animals, mining, fishing, socializing and, best of all, exploring. If I had to pinpoint one of the most important activities, I’d say it’s exploring. After all, it’s not just the one island that you live on: you get to explore a lot of islands dotted around.

Energy and Health Bars Aplenty

A couple of things are important to get a grip on the life of YvoCaro in-game. Several bars and meters tell me what I need to know about her health. There’s a health bar that takes a hit when prickly branches ensnare her or if enemies attack. This can only be replenished to full by drinking a potion, though by sleeping, the bar does fill up slowly. There’s a meter depicted by a little boot, showing actions you take in foraging. Forgive me, but I have no idea what it does, as it never depletes.

There’s also an energy circle that only seems full after many hours of sleep and depletes within a few hours. There’s a circle showing that you have to eat something and one that shows you have to drink. When you get stung by bees or encounter anything poisonous, a circle shows with climbing poison levels.

The farm with the faming plots in the front and several chests for storage. You see the various bars and meters you have to keep an eye on. — See the health bar and the motion bar. And the circles surrounding it, for food, drink, sleep and energy.

I think it’s the survival angle to Spirit of the Island, which requires there to be so many meters to keep an eye on. They can be remedied one way or the other, but there’s one that’s most annoying: the sleep circle. It builds up during the day, and after it’s full, there’s nothing for it but to go to sleep. No matter what time it is, YvoCaro slows down to a crawl. It is a good thing that you can also choose to nap for a minimum of two hours.

It’s a good idea to think about your goal in the game and stick to it. There is so much to do that it’s tempting to run left and right doing all kinds of stuff, but the sleep meter will soon pull you up short. Going into town? Prepare and set off, and don’t plan on doing much else early on in the game. Spend the day mining or fishing? No worries, go for it. It’s when you try to use the day to do as much as the hours in the day allow that you’ll get frustrated.

A boat docked at a pier with YvoCaro getting off to explore a new island — Do you like YvoCaro’s boat? It isn’t much, but it does bring her to new islands.

A Few Annoyances

In Spirit of the Island, there’s a very extensive menu of things to build. The first order of business is a crafting table to be able to build several storage chests, as storage is at a premium. This is different from the usual farming simulations, where you depend on the shops in town to buy a bigger backpack, buy your chicken or have your barn built. In this game, you build almost everything yourself, and you can use the same menu to buy the chicken as well.

The building menu with several tabs for items and structures to build. We see the tab for essentials, with the recipe for a small chest highlighted. — This is the Builder menu under the ZR button. Sadly, it isn’t connected with the stock that is stored in chests.

There are several kinds of crafting and cooking tables to make, and fortunately, they access the storage automatically. Not so for the builder’s menu, which requires that you have all materials in your pocket. Another thing that quickly gets annoying is the lack of a good user interface for the quick bar. You have to go to your inventory and assign things to the quick bar constantly.

YvoCaro really walks very slow, even when she’s not short on zzz’s. There is no way to speed her up, but you can craft a garage and then craft a bicycle or even a scooter later on. I must admit it made me impatient as coupled with the sleep meter; it meant I couldn’t accomplish much in a day.

Little YvoCaro stands before her garage, which now houses a real bike. On the foreground the roof of the farmhouse can be seen, and everything is surrounded with trees. — Little YvoCaro stands before her garage, which now houses a real bike.

Exploration is Key

You can focus on your own homestead and fulfil requests from the townspeople, which is a good idea to start out with. First, make sure to make money from the crops you sow, from the mines you discover and from fishing. Eventually, you can place a stall to sell your goods to the tourists who have found your island. Those tourists quickly flock to your beach at the South Pier, milling about and streaming out into nothing at night. You can’t interact with them, however.

A beach with palm trees and deckchairs. A lot of tourists, all with little straw hats and standing around. — These are the tourists that have come to the island. If I were them, I wouldn’t stand around but lounge in the sun instead!

The building part of the game is deep. There is just so much variety for you to make your own beautiful homestead. You have to keep an eye on your stats, though, to level the different components evenly. Ultimately, you can automate things by using sprinklers, for example, and hire staff (the tourists) to work for you.

The strength of Spirit of the Island lies in the exploration part. There is so much to discover! Once you buy a boat, you can motor to another island in the archipelago and see what kind of fruit is there or what kind of items the monsters you beat drop. There are also treasure chests dotted around, making for some nice loot.

On another island that is more misty and has another kind of trees. A green troll is coming for YvoCaro — Exploring another island, watch out for the green troll!

Cute, Colourful, Detailed and Small Print

The first thing I noticed is how awesome Spirit of the Island looks: it looks cute, colourful and detailed. For example, walk over the bridge into town, and you’ll notice an abandoned kite hanging from the structure supporting the bridge. It’s little details like that that make it a joy to watch. The loading times, however, when walking from my homestead to the town or when going to other islands were quite long.

YvoCaro on a bridge overlooking the ocean. This is the point where the new area will load and you have to wait.

The developers took a good look at other sim games, including attractions like the museum where you can put insects you catch and such. But there’s no Blathers accepting your donations: you have to find a minuscule description tag to know where to place the Great Ant you have caught. It is a nice idea, however to get the tourists.

In the museum, with loads of tables, each with a tag of the animal or find that should be displayed here. — In the museum, you have to find on which table you have to deposit your donation.

It works and controls well on the Switch, and I’ve experienced no bugs. The user interface could really use some changes, and it is annoying that the camera won’t move freely in 360 degrees. This could have made it a problem when my little YvoCaro disappeared behind a big boulder or row of trees, but this was nicely solved by still showing her outline. Playing on handheld mode was an issue for YvoCaro’s chats with the villagers, too. The answers I could choose from were quite long and very small.

The soundtrack is good and transports you to the island’s surroundings. It varies with the seasons and makes pottering around in the game more pleasant.

Talking with Tony, the mechanic, who has a lot of text. And YvoCaro can choose from the answers, alle with a lot of words that are hard to read. — Talking with Tony, the mechanic. You can choose to answer out of three possible answers. Even with reading glasses, it was hard to make out.

Conclusion

Spirit of the Island looks lovely and detailed and has a lot of content. There is so much to craft; there is so much there to make your homestead exactly the way you want it. Explore new islands, slay monsters and find new ingredients for your crafting. Get those tourists in to visit your attractions, like the museum, and buy your items.

The park in the middle of town, with flower beds and a lovely fountain. — The game looks amazing. Here is the park in the middle of town, with flower beds and a lovely fountain.

I did get the feeling that the developers wanted to put so much content and different gameplay elements in there and sacrificed things in the process. The user interface and all the restrictions in storage can hinder the flow of gameplay. The lack of speed in walking and the need for sleep are a bit annoying. Not storing the tutorials all in one place is a missed chance.

Overall, though, I do feel the developers have put a lot of ideas and work into Spirit of the Island. There is certainly a management part in the game that kept me playing and will keep me returning for more.

Final Verdict: I Like It