That’s a nice big canvas you’ve got there, artist frog. Too bad I need it to replace the broken sail on my boat. Fortunately, the frogs in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:My Time on Frog Island are all willing to trade with you for the right price. In exchange for the canvas, the artist wants — squints at 🧸the picture in the speech bubble — a💮 weird blue bug with its tongue sticking out?
Alright, time to find one of those critters, I guess. Is it some kind of shellfish thing? I search the shoreline but find nothing. To the west of the island is a fishing trap, I can carry it around, but it doesn’t seem to do much — is this what I need? I dump it, decide to explore further, and realise I sho🔯uld have ventured east instead of west, as not far from my campsite is a small grove of fruit trees with the little grub bugs I need.
The grubs aren’t blue, though. Regardless, I need to figure out how to catch one — they burrow underground when you get too close, so just grabbing them is out of the question. The half-eaten food scattered all over the ground gives me a clue. I grab a red apple, set it on the ground, and back up to let the grubs approach. Bingo. Once one takes the bait, it becomes sluggish and easy to grab. The downside? It’s turned pink. Straight away, I kno💟w I’ve gone wrong, and somehow I need to make them blue, but I still lug the pink wiggly creature back to the artist just in case. He doesn’t care, so I yeet it elsewhere. I’ve now worked out the where and how to get what I need. I just need to find a blue fruit — if only that were as simple as it sounds.
That’s what you can expect from life on Time on Frog Island. This intriguing puzzle game has you exploring the surrounding islands, searching for parts to fix your boat, and helping the local frogs, all wi🐭th little clear direction. None of the NPCs talk with actual words, you’ll see speech bubbles with images inside of them, or occasionally an NPC m𓆉ight point in the general direction you need to go to, but for the most part, it’s trial and error.
I made my fair share of errors. Falling from a great height doesn’t hurt you, but you will dro🥃p the item you’re carrying. Also some items will break when you drop them. So if you thought you could shortcut back to the village with the item you need by jumping off the mountain, think again.
This might sound a bit frustrating, but 🉐strangely, it’s not. Despite the learning curve of some of the requests leading to you attempting the same thing a couple of times, My Time on Frog Island is surprisingly relaxing. It’s easy to pick upꦡ and play, then lose yourself in the tranquil froggy life for a few hours.
Each new task you are set leads to a chain of requests, often tied into speaking with other frog residents and helping them with their wants or needs. Soon, trying to ge𝓰t one item you need from one NPC leads to sourcing multiple items from different frogs in a seemingly endless chain of trades.
One of the most endearing things about the game is getting a peek into general island life and how it’s all connected. On your first day on the island, you’ll see a lot of the frogs setting the scene for later gameplay elements. You’ll see the diva eyeing up the scarecrow in the farmer’s fields — she steals one of their heads later, while the merchant is atop the mountain asking the Hermit for the bell that you later have to get on their behalf. The frogs’ behaviour changes as you help them too. After delivering love letters between the artist and the guard, you can find them chilling together near the artist’s house and lying on the beach. Once you get rid of the church bell, the hermit can be found meditating while the high priest stan꧑ds in the village square lamenting its loss.
Each time you go to sleep, you see an image of the protagonist’s past with their companion. Piecing them together gives you a glimpse into the events before the game’s opening and the tragic reason why the main character is so protective over their pꦏotted plant.
The game enc෴ourages and rewards exploration, and I love the sense of an open space that you can dig into as much or as little as you like. Aꩵny progress you make feels like more of an achievement because you figured it all out yourself. However, it’s a double-edged sword in some respects. You could focus solely on fixing up your boat and setting sail, after which the credits roll, and you might never know to return to the game to experience everything else it has to offer. You can get your own home and gardening plot, go fishing, brew different drinks, obtain new abilities, and complete various time trials.
My Time on Frog Island is a charming little puzzle game with hidden depths. Though you end up shipwrecked there, time on the island feels like a vacat✤ion as you settle into the peaceful dail🦋y routine of the local frogs. It ticks all the boxes for me — quirky characters, a unique, adorable art style, and a fresh take on the usual puzzle genre with little touches of life-sim elements. You can easily while away your time exploring the island, solving puzzles, and discovering little secrets.
Score: 3.5/5. A review code for Xbox One was provided by the publisher.
