Toby's Island

Honestly, i found this game randomly by searching the 'creature collector' tag. I was curious when i saw the style of this game so i gave it a try. This is truly what i can call an 'hidden gem' If you like pokemon and Stardew Valley like, give this game a chance! There is a strong 90 era vibe and i think it will please older gamers! So Toby's island is about a young boy named Toby (obviously) who crash on an island surrounded by talking monsters. The island is full of mysteries to discover but Toby need to plant crops and find allies in order to survive. I can't say much without spoiling but the more you discover, the more you realize that Toby isn't there by coincidence. Positive of the game: - The visual; Very good pixel art that is very pleasing to watch, it's even more stunning when you know that this game was made by a very small team. - The soundtrack; I really love the music in this game and it make the game even more pleasing to play. - The characters: It's a charming cast so far and I like Toby and his interaction with Mirai. The dialogue are full of good humor and it know when to be serious. The monsters and spirits are visually great and im always happy to discover new one. - The story; It's intriguing enough to make you want to know more and the story keep getting better and better. The Negative; - Quality of life: I know it's kinda the point of the game but i think the first couple hours of this game may scare new or casual players. You are thrown in the game without a lot of hint about what to do or where to go and it's easy to be lost. Sometime, it's also hard to know if you can go to certain spot so it's easy to miss them and being stuck; wondering what to do. - The tracking; my biggest complain about this game. There's a HUGE lack of teleport so you are stuck doing a LOT but A LOT of back and forth, traveling etc and at some point, it's becoming really tiring. Also from what i know there is no map. - 'the capture': Not really negative but it's not classic capture (not my complain here), you need to find eggs but they are soooo rare so you are going to be stuck with the same team for a while. Overall, if you don't mind the old school aspect, you will love this game. Im really happy that i have found this game randomly. It's so unknown however that i found practically nothing on internet. It's sad if you are stuck and need help.. Monster Taming games fans , give this game a chance, it deserve more recognition!

completely love what we have so far. enjoying the care free story exploring feels nice the game does not force feed you to much at once -Lacking quality integration for steam controller (hope this will come with a future patch)

Toby's island is a beautiful monster-style battler pixel rpg that sets you off right away. Stranded on a mysterious island you need to survive, tame and fight to live and unravel the mysteries of the island. The game instils an immediate sense of curiosity and drive to explore your immediate surroundings. Whilst the game offers in game help in the form of rumours from Npcs and tips on the loading screen, the game is entirely your oyster as you work out the direction to take and wander. This lends itself to a strength of the game as you set the pace of the game. Do you want to farm, craft or explore? Is there a shortcut you want to build? Something that caught your eye? Want to defeat a boss or go and gather supplies for your next trip? All the while you do this you are moving around a pretty island with its own strong art style and direction. The map environments are lovingly crafted and beautiful with a good sense of scale, colour and layout. Maps are interesting to explore with little secrets tucked away in nooks and crannys. Overall, Toby's island is an ambitious and unique monster battler experience. It's certainly charming and has its quirks and takes a different approach that I have not seen in many other monster battlers. With inspiration drawing from Digimon and that sense of exploration found in old school games, Toby's Island is pretty fun to play and I look forward to exploring further into it.

Awesome creature design, awesome background art, and just great pixel art in general. Cool map design, and Crafting and Combat are coming along nicely. Story is also getting interesting. I'm really looking forward to the release 😀

Firstly I’d like to say I enjoy the graphics and artstyle you have made there are just a few mechanical problems I’d like to point out. First off there seems to be a slight lag with input for movement where sometimes they move 1 grid or 2 grids. Another big thing would be the lack of settings, especially resolution. The resolution really needs to be optimized as all that is happening is the screen stretches to fit the resolution while still leaving black bars. This takes away from the art style as it pixilates the screen.

Pixel art: QUALITY ★★★★☆ Learning curve: Shallow overall to me, but i guess it really depends on how much experience you have with similar games ★★★★☆ Storytelling style: ★★★★★ Degree of freedom: High ★★★★★ Stability: tabbing out during cutscenes causes issues, other than that game runs smooth ★★★☆☆

[h1] A Charming adventure and taming RPG [/h1] [b] Overview [/b] What a brilliant game, a solid story with good sound design and, most importantly, exceptionally good game play. [b] Story [/b] A bit of the standard affair: washed up on an island, a world that faces an immanent threat, and you smack dab in the center. While the story won't drop your jaw, it acts as a perfect backdrop for one to follow as one explores. It never wears out its welcome by becoming VN like, but is still integral. [b] Sound [/b] The sound design is good. You probably won't be adding much of the music to a playlist (unless you are jamming out to a pelican shooting down fallout eyebots with a flurry of bubbles (if you know, you know), but the music generally fits each area well and several sound effects are quite nice. [b] Game play [/b] Game play has a bunch of features: Rebuild your town, recruit allies, hatch partners, Turn based battles, Shoot em' up, farming, fishing, etc. A great variety of things exist to sprinkle in around the main game that are quite refreshing. The core systems of training creatures to act as battle companions and actually fighting are well implemented, and grinding is optional (though recommended) [b] Bonuses [/b] The game comes with some great settings options, a feature that is becoming more standard in the monster collecting genre. In this case, adjusting the inventory, randomizing your initial partner, etc. are available in the settings menu, a great QOL feature for those that want to lean more or less into certain aspects of game play. Overall, the game play is probably the strongest feature. [b] Game Feel [/b] One of the biggest appeals this game has is the feeling that it invokes for those that enjoyed the PS1 era. Much in the same way [b] Anode Heart [/b] does, this game invokes [b] digimon world 1 [/b] vibes in both tone and certain environments and game play features. In a way it is *retro made modern* and benefits heavily from it. As a well paced game that always has something to do and a lower emphasis on anything (except kicking butt) being absolutely necessary to progress throughout much of the game, it is well worth the time to play through. Last but not least [b] Dev and Community [/b] This game has a small but dedicated community and a Dev who has put everything into developing this game for years. It comes through in the art, cutscenes, and history behind development. The Dev is super responsive, has a youtube presence, and, in my opinion, can be called one of Kickstarter's best underrated success stories. [b] TLDR [/b] A great creature collector in the same vein as anode heart and moonstone island with a variety of mini-games and game play features that extend well beyond the turn based battle systems. With the digimon world 1 inspired features and world, it is well worth a look for both those with nostalgia glasses and those with.... umm... Current Goggles? Recent Spectacles? or.. I got it! Modern Monocles! [b] Happy Gaming! [/b]