Disney Illusion Island Starring Mickey and Friends Review

Developed by Dlala Studios and published by Disney, Disney Illusion Island Starring Mickey and Friends finally arrived on PC! I found this game a few years back and thought it looked super cute, so I was ecstatic to find out it was coming to my beloved — Steam.

I've played more Disney-themed games than I'd like to admit — especially on mobile, where they're rampant! — but not many of them had allowed me to enjoy them with my wife. I was very excited about being able to spend some time with her, especially because she really loves metroidvania titles!

In Disney Illusion Island, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy all think they're meeting up for a picnic… until they discover that they've been tricked! The citizens of Monoth, a mysterious island, need the help of this group of “heroes” to get back three magical books. After a bit of sass from Donald, the gang eventually decides to help out and sets off on the adventure.

From here, players can choose who they control, meaning I immediately went for Donald, my wife selected Minnie, and we headed off. Swapping characters on the fly is impossible, which is an unfortunate oversight, so you'll need to head back to the Main Menu every time you want to change. It's a small complaint in the grand scheme of things, but I also wanted to enjoy other characters, like Goofy (sorry Mickey; I guess you're my least favourite of the bunch).

I won't go much more into the story because it's not that serious, and I'd hate to spoil, but I think that's a good thing. Disney Illusion Island offered enough narrative to give us a goal, but not so much dialogue that it stopped us from enjoying the platforming. As it's a Disney title, it's obviously lighthearted and doesn't have that much depth, but I still enjoyed it!

Despite it being a kid-friendly title, the game doesn't feel boring or dumbed down. In fact, I was thrilled to see that there were various accessibility settings, but it goes both ways — they can make the experience easier or harder! Once my wife and I got to grips with the gameplay, we decided to lower our hearts to one, making it much more dangerous to miss jumps.

While I wasn't a big fan of the location the game is set in or the areas (I would've much preferred a more Disney-esque island), I was very chuffed by the characters' animations and interactions. Players can make the toons play leapfrog together by crouching down and running at one another, but the one that I most enjoyed was being able to hug each other to gain an extra heart! I also spent way too much time laughing because of Donald's animations, especially the crouching one, which makes him sit down angrily.

The other interaction they have is that players can send down a rope to help the other one, making it easy to skip difficult or annoying jumps when the one has already succeeded (or to help kids, of course). Though truth be told, we barely made use of it because Disney Illusion Island offers so many fun abilities to traverse the world with! Although it doesn't really affect the gameplay itself, I was delighted to see that each character also had their own animations for the abilities: Minnie takes out a cute paper plane when using the second jump, while Donald uses a little rocket!

As I said before, I was excited to try out this game ever since I heard its announcement, but I didn't really expect the platforming to feel so smooth and fun. It is a metroidvania, after all, so we found ourselves running around a lot from one point to the next, but it never got boring to do so. This highlights how well Dlala Studios did their loopbacks and fast travel options, too!

That being said, I did wish that there had been some combat. It would've made it more entertaining to explore the world if I could beat up some of the more annoying enemies instead of just having to avoid them every time. I also think this would've made the team's creativity shine even more, as I would've loved to see what weapons each character would have had!

This might’ve given a bit more depth to the boss battles. It’s not that they were bad or boring, but it never feels as action-packed when you’re just jumping around until it loses; it feels almost like a side effect, instead of the player doing it. 

There are various biomes to explore and multiple NPCs to meet. I thought the latter were charming enough (though I did think there being a smuggler in a Disney game was a bit weird), but the areas never charmed me much. The colours and style felt off from what I'm used to associating with Disney, and I would've been much happier exploring magical areas or zones inspired by the movies I grew up watching. This is a small niggle, however, especially because I just don't really click with the "newfangled" stylisation.

The team did a great job at minimising some of the more annoying aspects of metroidvania; namely, you'll know when you don't have the ability necessary to advance. This simple mechanic saved us a lot of headaches and stopped it from becoming mundane to travel around, trying to figure out what to do. Due to this, Disney Illusion Island does a fantastic job of avoiding mindless wandering because you don't know what to do next or where to go.

There are various Mickey Memorabilia to unlock by finding secret areas, too, and deeper into the game, you can also begin taking snaps of hidden Mickey symbols. Both features added a lot of enjoyment to my experience because I love having to keep an eye out for hidden areas or items, and Disney Illusion Island does a good job at keeping them frequent but not overbearing.

I'm happy to admit that I much enjoyed my time with Disney Illusion Island Starring Mickey and Friends, even if I've become a grumpy adult who doesn't like the "new style" of their visuals. There's a lot of evident love poured into the title that peeks through in the meticulous animations that help each character shine through! I'd confidently say you don't need to be a fan of Disney to enjoy the game: you just have to like fun platforming and the metroidvania genre.