Time on Frog Island Preview

Time on Frog Island is probably the blue cheese or Marmite of gaming: you'll either love it or hate it. This isn’t because it's bad, but rather because the way it is built makes the game more of an acquired taste. Allow me to explain: there's no dialogue in the game apart from images that give you a general idea of what the characters are saying (it’s similar to Dropsy, for example). Now, the main character in Time on Frog Island gets stranded on the island when he crashes onto it and everything gets wrecked, causing him to lose his sail, rope, and helm. After that, you run around discovering the land and meeting your new frog neighbours that will either give you one of the items back or just be in need of a helping hand. 

This doesn't sound so bad, but combined with a lack of dialogue, no tutorials, no quest log, a day and night cycle, no HUD, and no inventory... well, that's where the acquired taste begins because you will have nothing to guide you but your own wits, sense of direction, and ability to tell the frogs apart. I often forgot which frog was the one that needed the particular item, and it was tougher yet as they roamed around the island. The lack of inventory also meant I could only do one task at a time, which is not something I am used to in videogames nowadays. If that wasn’t tough enough, sometimes night would fall whilst I was far away from home, causing me to drop everything abruptly and have to run back to sleep. 

This all sounds dreadful on paper (or... text?) but the reality is that I had a blast being utterly lost in the game, sometimes getting downright trolled by the image dialogue the frogs offered, and having the wondrous pleasure of grabbing random items to see what I could do with them. This one made me run fast, this one made me glide, this one made me jump! It was a never-ending adventure in a gorgeous world. 

Aside from that, having no HUD gives an opening to being totally immersed in what you're seeing, and the dev did an impressive job at making the game very comedic just through the movements of the characters. It had my wife and I laughing at the way it looked when I grabbed one of the dog-toads and ran away, all of the others running behind me like a wild pack of wolves. I was even more amused when I accidentally threw the one in my hands. 

Half Past Yellow is doing an excellent job at delivering a unique, difficult, frustrating, and hilarious game. If it continues down this path of development, there's no doubt in my mind that even this acquired taste of a game will be great for most that try it.