Len’s Island Review

Len's Island is an isometric open-world survival crafting game developed by Flow Studio and published in collaboration with Fireshine Games. Having been in Early Access since late November 2021, it is now ready for its full release. I had no idea that it existed, but thanks to games like Dinkum and… well, mostly just Dinkum, I’ve fallen in love with these types of games, so I wanted to check it out and see if it was worth the wait.

You play as Len, a survivor who managed to escape from the mysterious Void that consumed their home. With nothing but the clothes on their back (and no shoes), they get a ferry to a forgotten island to start a peaceful life. They’ll be building a home (or homes), exploring the islands, visiting villages, delving into dungeons, and fighting against the forces of darkness — all on bare feet. Seriously, no matter how much armour you get, Len will never get any sort of foot protection. I didn’t pay too much attention to the lore, but there’s tonnes to discover, such as learning an ancient language and getting to know more about the world from townsfolk and the remains of the dead. It’s a world with history, it’s ultimately up to you to find it.

But before I get into the gameplay, I wanted to gush a little about the presentation. There are some sights to behold as you wander around, from the various different islands with biomes to the creature designs that can unnerve you if you look closely. It’s not realistic, but it brings out the quiet beauty in everyday life on the islands. I definitely took advantage of Photo Mode to get some great shots.

Now, Len’s Island starts off like any other survival game affair, only giving you a few basic tools, some tutorial quests, and then setting you on your own. You’ll be gathering resources and crafting items to prepare yourself for the dangerous dungeons dotted throughout the world. You can go mining, do some farming, go fishing, or explore and find whatever loot you stumble upon. However, it’s not all peaceful: there are dangers in this world, taking the form of Voidlings, creatures that only thrive in darkness. You’ll find them at night, underground, or in the various dungeons dotted throughout the islands; they come in a variety of forms, but they’re all lethal in some way.

The game is quite slow, I feel. Actions are realistically animated, so you won’t be swinging a pickaxe at the speed of light, and there is no way to sprint. At best, you can dodge roll everywhere you go… and I kind of liked it after a while. It makes you slow down and appreciate the process of starting from nothing and working your way up. Mundane tasks eventually become automated, trips become a lot shorter with teleporters, and fights go from desperate struggles to beating even the most horrific of shadows. I definitely felt great after beating my first major boss several hours later.

What I really appreciate is that you can’t be mindless while doing even the most mundane of tasks. If you time your button presses instead of mashing them, you deal more damage and cut the animation a little shorter, making the swings of your tools faster and can even chain with skills and other tools. I found myself getting into a rhythm when I chopped down trees or slashed up Voidlings. Even fishing requires reeling to a beat (it’s not musical, just rhythmic). It makes the most mundane chores a little more engaging, which I liked. How many times has a game made you hold down a button until something breaks? At least here, I’m actually paying attention instead of watching a YouTube video on the side while I mine resources.

Although speaking of pressing buttons, playing with a controller was… frustrating, to say the least. It’s awkward, I’d constantly select things I didn’t want or drop items when I’m moving them to chests. And don’t get me started on base building, where some controls just don’t work and make the process a lot more aggravating than necessary. You should play on a mouse and keyboard, even if you’re more used to using a gamepad; it is not worth the hassle.

That being said, I really liked building a base. You can make some seriously fancy structures, and it is decently intuitive to figure out. The only limit is your imagination and the resources you have to create your dream home. I’ve seen what the community has made, and it makes me a little jealous and makes me want to improve my own in-game home. That being said, I’m pretty iffy on a DLC that just provides more options of making your base look nicer, especially since your home can be destroyed by either Voidlings or falling trees, but even someone as terrible/lazy as me can make a decent-looking place.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time, getting into creating an incredible base, and building up my equipment and skills so I could more effectively fight the Void. Just playing naturally without a guide, only relying on my natural curiosity (and maybe a few waypoints), made the game way more fun, and didn’t make me want to consult a wiki, which is saying something. So many survival games rely on outside help to fully enjoy the game, with many obscure mechanics, but I was thoroughly enjoying myself, not delving into any of that. It’s fun on its own… but if you aren’t up to going solo, there is eight-player co-op for those who have enough friends to do that.

However, I did run into a few hiccups as I played. While it did start at a consistent 60 FPS at High graphics settings with only a few stutters when I entered town, the more I did, the more performance started to take a hit, so keep that in mind, although there will be performance updates. There were also quite a few quality of life features that I wanted, such as pinning quests and crafting recipes, or just having a minimap so I wouldn’t need to constantly check my world maps to see where I’m going.

This all pales in comparison to my last issue: the biggest crime of game design is… well, I don’t know how to pet the dog. You get one at the end of the tutorial dungeon and there wasn’t a prompt. So I looked at the controls for a concerningly long time in the settings and I couldn’t find the button, no matter how many times I tried. Someone, please correct me on this because I am losing my mind here!

Len’s Island is actually quite good in a subtle way. Yeah, it can feel slow at times, but exploring the islands and diving into dungeons were fun adventures that I hadn’t really felt in quite a long time. I wanted to keep going, finding new things to discover, and upgrading my gear to face worse and worse threats. To those who have stuck with this game since the beginning, you will be rewarded and satisfied with the result. To the newbies just arriving on the islands, you’ll be welcomed by a friendly and thriving community. Give it a shot, you won’t regret it.