You play as Marina Montez, equipped with her late grandfather’s journal and a camera. She’s off to Maravilla Island to photograph the mysterious creatures and plantlife that he had documented. Now, it’s up to Marina to capture the beauty and magic of the island to make sure it doesn’t disappear.
Visuals
Beasts of Maravilla Island uses a 3D low-poly style, but the environments are rich and dense and so pretty. Marina herself doesn’t look amazing, but for the most part, she’s just a tool to explore and experience the world around her.
Sound Effects + Music
Surprisingly, Beasts of Maravilla Island is fully voice acted. Marina is the only human character, but all of her lines have voiceover. Some of the creatures have their own unique noises as well.
The background music is soothing and nice, if repetitive. It’s a lot of wind instruments, which I enjoyed. I just wish there had been more variation.
Gameplay + Controls
Beasts of Maravilla Island is an explorative photography adventure. You move Marina around each area, stopping when you see something you want to take a picture of. There are a lot of controls, but they’re easy enough to get the hang of. I used an Xbox controller, since I found that more intuitive than the mouse and keyboard controls.
The gameplay is pretty simple. You get objectives for each area, which are just a list of plants and animals you need to photograph. For the most part, they’ll just be there for you to a snap a shot of. Others may need a little more interaction. You have 20 frames to get the best shot that you can, although there isn’t a scoring system to determine what is a “better” shot. It’s all up to what you think looks best for the album.
I liked walking around and taking pictures of everything. It was fun to just look around and see the critters behave in different ways. However, I found some of the objectives too scripted. It kind of made the exploration feel less exciting. For example, in the jungle the main species is the flying monkey, which you need to photograph in four different behaviors. I assumed you’d just wander around and hope to find them in the behavior you need. Nope, these are all scripted events that you find linearly.
Replayability
While I really enjoyed my time with Beasts of Maravilla Island, it’s not a game that I would play again. Like I said, it’s pretty scripted, so felt more like a narrative adventure rather than a true explorative game.
Overall
Beasts of Maravilla Island is a gorgeous and relaxing game for any cozy gamer. It’s a short experience, but definitely a worthwhile one.
Visuals
Beasts of Maravilla Island uses a 3D low-poly style, but the environments are rich and dense and so pretty. Marina herself doesn’t look amazing, but for the most part, she’s just a tool to explore and experience the world around her.
Sound Effects + Music
Surprisingly, Beasts of Maravilla Island is fully voice acted. Marina is the only human character, but all of her lines have voiceover. Some of the creatures have their own unique noises as well.
The background music is soothing and nice, if repetitive. It’s a lot of wind instruments, which I enjoyed. I just wish there had been more variation.
Gameplay + Controls
Beasts of Maravilla Island is an explorative photography adventure. You move Marina around each area, stopping when you see something you want to take a picture of. There are a lot of controls, but they’re easy enough to get the hang of. I used an Xbox controller, since I found that more intuitive than the mouse and keyboard controls.
The gameplay is pretty simple. You get objectives for each area, which are just a list of plants and animals you need to photograph. For the most part, they’ll just be there for you to a snap a shot of. Others may need a little more interaction. You have 20 frames to get the best shot that you can, although there isn’t a scoring system to determine what is a “better” shot. It’s all up to what you think looks best for the album.
I liked walking around and taking pictures of everything. It was fun to just look around and see the critters behave in different ways. However, I found some of the objectives too scripted. It kind of made the exploration feel less exciting. For example, in the jungle the main species is the flying monkey, which you need to photograph in four different behaviors. I assumed you’d just wander around and hope to find them in the behavior you need. Nope, these are all scripted events that you find linearly.
Replayability
While I really enjoyed my time with Beasts of Maravilla Island, it’s not a game that I would play again. Like I said, it’s pretty scripted, so felt more like a narrative adventure rather than a true explorative game.
Overall
Beasts of Maravilla Island is a gorgeous and relaxing game for any cozy gamer. It’s a short experience, but definitely a worthwhile one.