Survival Kids Review

A review code was used, with many thanks to Swipe Right PR.

Survival Kids is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 and uses the game-sharing ability, among other features. Although designed as a multiplayer game, it’s possible to play solo.

So will my Gaming Buddy and I survive the puzzling challenges, or will we be kidding ourselves?

Starting Out as Survival Kids

Customisation menu in Survival Kids, with different hair styles, outfits and colour options. Published on LadiesGamers — Who are we?

Although not necessary, as Survival Kids will create a character for you, you can customise your avatar, and so can your gaming buddy, if playing in local co-op mode. There are various hairstyles and outfits to choose from, with more being unlocked as you progress through the game. You can also choose colours for your hair, eyes, skin and clothes from a limited palette.

A map with a route plotted across an ocean. The Lighthouse Keeper is saying “A dusty old attic. Cobwebs, forgotten boxes and the faint smell of neglect.” Published on LadiesGamers — Where it all began…

Survival Kids is narrated by the Lighthouse Keeper, with optional subtitles. The story is that four adventurous children discover an old map and set sail. Unfortunately, they crash on an island and need to repair their raft to continue their voyage. Other snippets of the story are told throughout the levels. The narration is humorous, informative, and really well-voiced. Objectives and guidance arrows are shown on screen but can be turned off in the options.

Level selection menu, showing 7 islands and the number of stars collected at each island. Published on LadiesGamers — The Whurtle Islands

Survival Kids is not a single-level survival game on a large island. It consists of 9 individual levels, or islands, unlocked sequentially by completing the previous level. The final level also has a collected star objective. Each island can be replayed as necessary, to collect extra stars, find secrets or just for fun. The islands are actually the back of a Whurtle, a giant turtle-like creature, which will dive deeper as your intrepid band of Survival Kids get closer to their raft. Although each island has time completion goals, you will not get washed away if you exceed the target.

Surviving in Survival Kids

My character looking into a collection box, which has an icon of a log, vine and trunk above it. Published on LadiesGamers — What do I need?

The first island, Lesson Lagoon, acts as a tutorial, teaching you the basics of Survival Kids. On each of the islands, there are collection boxes, which, once filled, will build something. It might be your base camp, a ramp, a bridge, a climbing net and eventually, your raft. Most of the items needed can be found nearby; rocks, logs, vines or trunks, with pickaxes and axes being available in your hand if you need to smash or chop. However, occasionally you’ll need an object you can craft, like a trampoline or something specific to complete your raft, like a sail.

My character dragging the base camp onto the newly repaired raft. Published on LadiesGamers — Heave ho!

The objective of each island is the same: find and repair your raft. However, there are different challenges to overcome on each island. You might need to craft items, like an umbrella, to make use of updrafts, but you’ll need to find the recipe block first. You might need to dodge the ancient turrets and their bombardment of rocks, which will knock you over, or you might need to utilise the bomb flowers to blast your way through coral walls.

My character standing next to a buried gear piece. Published on LadiesGamers — Yes, I’m strong enough!

Sometimes you will need to retrieve buried items. A buried item will have a stamina rating associated with it. To increase your rating, you will need to eat. There are a few berries and bananas scattered around the island, which can be eaten raw.

My character standing by the base camp cooking pot, holding some fruit. Published on LadiesGamers — A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

However, the easiest way to boost your stamina is to eat some cooked food. Each base camp has a cooking pot, which needs to be lit with a log first. Then, it’s simply a matter of throwing any of the fruit and vegetables you find growing around the island into the pot. It takes a while to cook, so more ingredients can be added while it simmers. Once cooked, you need to open the pot; otherwise, you’ll be left with burnt, inedible food.

My character standing by the water, holding a fishing rod. The line is in the water with a Y above the shadow of the fish. Published on LadiesGamers — I’ve caught one!

As well as foraged ingredients, you can also fish. Generally, cooking with fish will result in more hearty meals, meaning less food is needed to reach the maximum of 10 stamina. Fishing is straightforward, using the same button for all actions. Simply cast your line, and once a fish bites, reel it in. If the line goes red, release the button until the line is white again.

The Survival Kids’ Collectables

Photomontage of a treasure stone and glyph. Published on LadiesGamers — Found it!

Each island in Survival Kids has three treasure stones to find. Getting a treasure stone back to your base camp will reward you with a star, which will help unlock the final island. As well as treasure stones, there are glyphs to find, although these don’t have any reward other than satisfying the completist’s list. As you progress, finding both treasure stones and glyphs becomes more of a challenge, as they are located in areas away from the main paths.

Journal with tabs for challenges, fish, food and glyphs. Published on LadiesGamers — Ohh, I love a challenge!

As well as collecting the glyphs (the progress of which can be found in the journal), there are several challenges which unlock new hairstyles and costumes. The journal also details the fish you’ve caught and the food items you’ve foraged.

Survival Kids Together

Split screen on local co-op. Published on LadiesGamers — I can see what you’re doing!

Survival Kids is designed as a multi-player game, with tasks like cutting down trees, which is made easier if there are more players. The more players you have, the more items you will need to complete collection boxes or combined stamina to retrieve buried treasure. You can play via a local co-op option, which means the familiar split screen.

Gameshare screen which shows both characters working together. Published on LadiesGamers — What do you want me to do?

However, the benefit of the Nintendo Switch 2 is the game-sharing option. You can share online with up to three other Switch 2 friends (which I have not been able to test). Or you can share locally with other nearby Switch consoles, in either docked or handheld mode, so all players can enjoy a full screen of Survival Kids loveliness. There are emotes available to help give instructions between the players, which is especially useful if you’re in different rooms! The GameShare is only active when completing the island, so your Gaming Buddies will not see any of the between-levels narrative, nor the lobby and journal activities.

Gameplay

The controls are very straightforward and are given on-screen. Survival Kids plays well in both docked and handheld modes, with the text clear and large enough to read on the Switch Lite screen via GameShare. I didn’t encounter any issues whilst playing Survival Kids, either solo or together. There is touchscreen functionality in the lobby area, but not whilst completing the islands.

Survival Kids saves the completed island progress. There is no time of day, and each island takes a different amount of time to complete. However, generally you’ll want to set aside 30 to 60 mins as you can’t save mid-progress.

Conclusion

Survival Kids is bright and colourful, with lovely graphics and great audio narration. The ability to GameShare makes playing with friends and family more accessible, more enjoyable and some of the challenges easier to complete. However, Survival Kids has been carefully designed, so that you can complete the whole game by yourself.

I’ve had a blast with the bomb flowers, reached new heights with the cannons and wanted more islands to explore. Survival Kids is definitely a contender for one of my games of the year.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up