Time on Frog Island [Xbox]
Developed by Half Past Yellow, Time on Frog Island sees you play as a sailor who finds themselves shipwrecked on (you guessed it) Frog Island. On this island are a bunch of friendly, amphibious characters who you’ll meet and get to know, whilst you try to repair your damaged boat in order to continue your adventure. Each night, you’ll have to set up a little campfire to sleep and you’ll see short segments about the sailor’s past, and their reasons for adventuring alone, as they sleep. As well as repairing your boat, there are a bunch of different secondary objectives for you to fulfil for the characters on the island, ranging from finding scarecrow heads for the Farmer to scare away the crows, and passing love letters to and from the Guard.
The solutions to these tasks can sometimes feel a little obscure, with NPCs often giving only an image or two to signify their request, leaving it up to yourself to figure out what they require or where to find it, but with a relatively small area to cover, you’ll frequently have discovered some of the items before speaking to the related NPC, so you’ll know just where to go. You’ll need to track the relevant NPCs down to trigger or complete quests, with some being harder to locate, such as the Carpenter who walks around the island looking for his tools - or the Cartographer, who moves depending on which area of the map you’re at to direct you at a point of interest, versus the majority of other characters who have small, specific areas to find them.
There are three distinct sections of the map, with access to the third being gained upon completion of some tasks from the Carpenter. The main central area of the island is home to all of the characters, as well as being the hub where most of your tasks will be given and completed. There’s an Artist who’ll need a blue bug to complete his artwork, a Tavern owner who needs various ingredients for Brews and Stews and a Hermit up in the mountains who is annoyed by the ringing of a church bell, to name just a few. Some of the Brews you’ll create can gain you Permanent Abilities, such as a frog-like hop, croaking, and being able to utilise a long tongue to grab items, and latch onto points as you climb. There are also temporary abilities that can be gained through picking up certain items, like a Boost Flower that helps you run faster whilst you hold it, but you can even use these in brews for a more powerful effect.
The cartoonish style is gorgeous, and the world is really well designed - with cute little tadpole ‘dogs’ and an adorable cast of froggy characters, as well as an axolotl Chief. The island is colourful, with bright blue water filled with green lily pads or chunks of ice; yellow sunflowers that turn into drooping, soaking wet plants in the rain; and glowing crystals that cause the ruins across the island to pulse with light. The soundtrack is very cheerful, with a calming vibe that evolves into a more rushed pace when racing, or a quieter, sleepy tone at night.
There are a couple of achievements tied to various time-bound tasks, such as completing certain things before doing other things, or completing the game within 5 in-game days, and these types of achievements usually necessitate a further playthrough, unless you manage to pull them off the first time around (I certainly didn’t). Exploring the world fully will allow you to find other interesting items, and once you’ve completed all tasks from the Carpenter, you’ll have your very own little home where you can even display items you like.
Priced at £19.99 on the Xbox Store, though currently on sale for £15.99 for a limited time, it does feel ever so slightly on the expensive side, especially when compared to similar titles such as A Short Hike, which comes in at just £6.69. Some of the things we uncovered on the island didn’t seem to have too much bearing on things, which makes us wonder if more content will be added over time - for instance, jumping on lily pads or ice chunks will play a little tune, but aside from a ‘correct’ tune that plays upon landing on them all, this doesn’t seem to do anything; and there are disc-golf goals around the world, too. Nonetheless, it proved to be a fantastically enjoyable time, and one that we’d highly recommend you to try out.
In the end, we decided to give Time on Frog Island the Collecting Asylum rating of 9/10.
Are you interested in Time on Frog Island? What do you think of it?
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- V x
Thank you to Merge Games for the Time on Frog Island Xbox review code!
