Look for Len in Len's Island - Review

Len's island is a survival game set on a mysterious island where you must find food, gather resources, and build a shelter to survive. You'll be chopping up wood, foraging for berries, and exploring the island to establish your footing. Soon you discover that you are not alone and must develop a thriving homestead on the island later on.

Len's island is still on Early Access. The early build is playable and I haven't run into any bugs but it is lacking dialogue and quests. Players can use the point and click or WASD control mechanic. 

• Life-Sim and Survival
• Town of Bridgewater
• Dungeon Crawling
• Colorful Graphics
• Conclusion

Life-Sim and Survival ^(top)

The house building in Len's Island is simple to grasp as exterior structures snap by the grid while indoor furniture can be placed by the pixel. Crafting involves the usual gathering the necessary resources such as wood, stones, and fiber. You'll then be able to craft tools and furniture. More furniture and more elaborate exteriors are unlocked after research. But since it's still EA, the props available are limited. I haven't seen any limitation on how much you can build on the island as resources spawn regularly.

Equipment sets can be crafted but players have to grind for them. Coins can be earned as early as you are able to farm decorative flowers or sell what you find. But to survive from starving, you'll have to keep eating berries for a while. Until you can buy a good stock of fruits and vegetables to farm.

Farming early on.

Town of Bridgewater ^(top)

Bridgewater is a town connected to the island. There are NPCs who had settled there where you can buy and sell materials. The NPCs currently lack dialogue, backstory, or character so it feels interacting with placeholders. The whole town feels inorganic as of now. You won't find anyone who would empathize with you. Although there are some indications of story development in place.

Dungeon Crawling ^(top)

Oh look, a cave! I wonder what's inside?

A lamp that will empty my coals.

Some action in the dark

There is a primary cave to explore in the game. And it's dark inside. You would need to light up torches inside in order to illuminate the cavern and be able to explore deeper paths further. An abundant stock of fuel should be saved. Combat mechanic is similar to a dungeon crawler and clicking the mouse during a small prompt will trigger a critical hit. Enemies consist of bug-like creatures that inhabit the darkness. Clearing a dungeon level allows you to unlock the deeper level. This is where you'll need to obtain or craft a better set of gear. How you would do this is left to the player.

Colorful Graphics ^(top)

The visuals on Len's Island stands on the neutral ground. The graphics of the game is not bad, but not special as well. During the day, the environment becomes vibrant as if forgetting that you're out there looking for food. When delving inside the dungeon, it's not completely dark giving this vibe that perhaps a creature lurks nearby. The overall gamut gives off a friendly atmosphere. So the survival is more on the casual side. There is also a screenshot mode where you can pan and filter the camera to capture the perfect screenshot of your homestead.

Conclusion ^(top)

Len's Island is a survival home-building dungeon crawler. Players can thrive on the island after farming. Crafting is simple. Building a big homestead can be satisfying but is pulled back by limited content. Len's Island is still on Early Access at this point. It's a simple game and not demandingly complex. But I cannot recommend it yet because there is a point in the game where you will run out of content. I would give it Len's Island a 2.5/5. 

Perhaps the most important question would be, who is Len?