Little Friends: Puppy Island Review

When this game launched on my computer for the first time, my hands instantly clasped over my mouth as I let out an audible “NO!” at the starting screen. Not because of anything bad, but just because I was struck with that primal urge to squeeze a cute thing to death — because if this game is anything, it’s cute.

Little Friends: Puppy Island manages to describe its whole premise and level of depth right in its title. You are visiting an island with your puppy who, as a puppy, needs to be taken care of. Right away, you start receiving texts on your dog-themed smartphone from a person named Sam. After taking your four-legged bud for a walk in this blissful but pretty vacant forest area, you’re struck with an idea: wouldn’t it be lovely to turn this place into a vacation location for dogs?

Sam is your mysterious friend whose house you are visiting. They text you a lot and are very optimistic about every shiny little detail in life. I wish I was a Sam. I wish I had the texting speed and motivation of Sam. Within one message, Sam is convinced to change their life on a whim and offers to turn their house into a place where puppies can vacation, no questions asked. Sam even makes you a website for this new venture. Sam is obviously, without a doubt, a multi-talented icon.

With this idea in place, it’s easy to gather basically the whole of what you, as the player, will be doing: You find dogs, you care for the dogs, and you grow the island.

Your dog has needs, obviously. There are metres highlighting these different variables on your screen: cleanliness, affection, activity, and energy. They also have various skills to level up, like agility and obedience, which can be increased by listening to directions or playing fetch. This game relies heavily on mini-games, each a little different, to determine if your dog of choice accomplishes whatever action you’re telling them to do. Some are as simple as pressing a certain button once an indicator is in the colour green. Others involve launching a cartoon dog over a tree and having them land across a finish line.

Affection comes from petting your pup or praising them (yes, petting them is a game mechanic and a thing players get to do whenever their heart desires), activity is gained from walking, and energy from food. All these go down the more you use one particular dog, and will halt your in-game progress if ignored. Taking a dog on a walk is a very literal activity. It’s not watching a cut scene or sending a dog through a rabbit hole, you actually walk them using the WASD keys.

Cleanliness can be raised back up by using a kiddie pool and scrubbing them clean a la Build a Bear style. It should be noted that there’s no create-a-dog. Players find dogs as they go along and end up taking them into their pack — though you do get the ability to name them and dress them up, which is very cute. In fact, when you station a dog to complete a job for you (e.g. being a part of a building project), they get a little construction outfit. Safety helmet, boots, orange vest and all. I’m really not sure how a dog can build a whole shopping stall by themselves, as it would be rather difficult to use a hammer without opposable thumbs, but maybe it’s better if we don’t think too hard about the logistics.

The game takes place on an island that is seemingly its own little utopia. Standard money? Not a thing. Currency on this island is dictated by the number of dog bones each person has. These islanders are dedicated to their theme of dogs, and they won’t have your capitalistic ideas ruin it for them. Bones can be found buried in the ground on walks as an easy method of collection and gained as you finish activities. That said, Sam sends you some before you arrive on the island. Again, Sam is a saint. Why are we not having our dogs make a friendship bracelet for Sam? Are you thinking the protagonists of this game are all the dogs you can find? No, it’s Sam.

More locations for exploration open as the game progresses, but most of the mandatory pet items are outside, in front of Sam’s fenced in house. This is where your other dogs hang out when you’re not taking them out on walks or having them do manual labour on your behalf.

While this game is extremely cute and relaxing, it’s not perfect:

First off, and you may have gathered this already, this game’s primary demographic isn’t going to be our standard readers — unless, you’re a really cool seven-year-old. If the Steam tags didn’t point me in this direction, the comment section certainly did. Now, this isn’t a drawback, per se, but as an adult, Little Friends: Puppy Island might lose your attention quicker than you want.

It gets repetitive. Most of your time is filled with getting text messages from strangers who want you to build something to help the island, usually a location like a store. You pick a dog to be in charge of building said thing, and then you take another on a stroll to find resources to finish it. It’s usually like three pieces of wood or a shovel, all highlighted on your map. Then the building is complete, and you get a nice thank you text message. Rinse and repeat.

This obviously isn’t the game you’re playing for intense multi-step quests that take three hours to complete. I’m sorry to break it to you, but this is not a Souls-like game about walking your dog. That said, the iterations with the lack of challenge are a little iffy for replayability. This game could hypothetically try to squeeze itself into the “cosy” genre, but if you’re going into this thinking it’s going to have the complexity of a Stardew Valley type simulation, you’re going to be disappointed.

Little Friends: Puppy Island is a delightful little game that’s a fun break when you want to give your brain a rest… or if you have a kid that really likes puppies. The dogs are cute, the world is sunny, and your biggest problem is deciding what little hat to put on your chihuahua. If you were a big fan of Nintendogs growing up, you’ll probably love this for the nostalgia factor, if nothing else.