ILA: A Frosty Glide Review

A falling star flies through the sky. Inside is a witch-in-training who is searching for her black cat, Coco, who escaped through an open window that fateful night. Once she lands, the witch grabs her broom and sets off across the island in this cosy indie platform adventure developed by Magic Rain Studios.

You start the adventure on the dock of a snowy island. Here, you receive the first in a series of letters from Ila’s father, Bryn, giving her advice on getting around the island to find Coco. To travel around the area, you use your dad's hand-crafted skatebroom. With the help of a bit of magic provided by Stardust Charges, you will be able to make it glide through the air. The more of these charges you pick up, the further your skatebroom can go. Your goal is to reach the pillar of light located on the summit of the island, but it isn’t as easy to reach as you may think.

The controls in ILA: A Frosty Glide are easy to learn. Gliding is simple and only requires you to hold down a button while moving, and you will be soaring through the air. Ila also has a jump and a ground-pound-like ability that is needed to open the 70 Magic Fortune Chests scattered throughout the island. There are also green-swirling areas that will teach Ila new abilities to use with her skatebroom, such as how to catch the wind for extra speed by using the left trigger to give you a bit of a boost when gliding.

ILA: A Frosty Glide lets you wander around and explore all the different areas in this small open-world title. Coins mark the path, and you can spend them at the merchant to get new items. You can also tell if you are entering a new area you haven’t travelled to before if there are still coins there. However, I do wish there was a map to give you an idea of where you have been before; I found myself exploring the same areas over and over again, just looking for something I’d missed that would take me somewhere new. A map would be helpful to at least give an idea of where you are and the paths around you that you can follow.

The game allows you to move the camera manually with the right thumbstick, but it already does a pretty good job of following Ila. It is handy to be able to move it yourself for those times when trees or something in the environment obstruct your view and you can’t see. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen too often, so it never feels like you’re fighting with the camera.

There are a lot of hidden things to find on your whimsical journey, like Coco's Memories, Stories of the Island, Mysterious Shards, Fish Bones, and all the Magic Fortune Chests to discover. Some of these items are located on platforms that you can't get to as they are too high, so you need to find a different way around or come back later once you’ve unlocked new or improved abilities. It’s worth taking a chance to glide to new areas you haven't visited before, but if it’s surrounded by a barrier, Ila will be taken back to the spot you jumped from. There’s no falling to your death; you’ll simply respawn.

While exploring, Ila finds her red witch hat that she dropped trying to get to this island. If you want to wear it, you can, or if you’d rather let her hair blow in the wind, that’s fine too. As you progress, you’ll find other articles of clothing, like the Lunar Guard cape, to complete the witch look. You will also discover the Swept Market, where you can spend your coins to purchase new clothes, hats, capes, and other skatebrooms for our witch.

The music in ILA: A Frosty Glide is calm and very relaxing; it’s never fast-paced or hectic, so it feels like there’s no rush and you can take your time exploring. The visuals are simple and cute, especially when you see Ila bundle up for the cold weather with her jacket and sweater to keep her warm. She gets so bundled up that all you can see are her eyes and her chilly breath. The look reminds me of games on the original PlayStation, but more crisp and polished.

ILA: A Frosty Glide is all about the cosy and chill experience of exploration as you search for Coco on this snowy island. There’s no rush or time limit here, unless you choose to have the speedrun timer on. If you’re looking for a cosy adventure platformer that lets you explore at your own pace, this is a title that may be right up your alley. At times, it can get frustrating when you can’t figure out how to reach a new area, but it’s rewarding when you finally do. Will you be able to follow the little pawprints and fish bones from a kitty lunch to locate Coco, the runaway cat, on this snowy island?