Indie developers, for me, are a Godsend because, thanks to them, I have enjoyed many single experiences. I am a huge Metroidvania fan, and I feel that Eagle Island has shown me that anything is possible in the genre, and Eagle Island provides an experience like no other.
Eagle Island’s story is as follows, you play the role of Quill and his trusty owls Ichiro and Koji. After arriving on this mysterious island, a giant Eagle, called Armaura, takes Ichiro away. As such, it’s up to Quill and Koji to unravel the secrets of the island and rescue not just Ichiro but other elemental birds. I won’t spoil any story related info in my review; I can only tell you that I was not what I expected, though that’s not a bad thing. As you explore the island, you encounter Professor Ornis, an adventurer that was stranded on the island because Armaura damaged his ship, also lost his bird companion and bestows upon you the falconry glove, which opens the gates for your adventure.
The Falconry Glove is one of the most unique mechanics I have seen so far. You send Koji flying to attack enemies you will encounter by pressing X, though there is a brief cool-down period between uses. That only happens if your attack fails though, if you successfully hit an enemy and another one is within range, you can do an additional attack. Basically, you need to combo attacks and combos are really important in this game, since enemies, upon being defeated, drop only Gold Seeds and Silver Coins. Gold Seeds are used to barter with crows, which grant you the contents of a treasure chest they own, after you fork out the amount they ask for anyways. Inside the chests, you can get rune stones that grant skills, like another heart for Quill, or an iron beak for Koji, which allows Koji to deal more damage, adding more manarocs, which are needed for special skills, and other such items. You never know what you’re going to get though, so it’s a gamble. The Silver Coins are used to purchase rune stones from the Toucan Trader. Unlike the crows, which you can find all over the stages, the Toucan Trader only appears on special locations where there’s a warp monument. His selection of stones changes with each encounter, but besides buying rune stones, you can also purchase heart pieces to regain health and manaroc stones. Just be sure to purchase when he appears because if you leave the screen without buying anything he won’t be there waiting for you, after all, he is a busy bird, he has places to go, rune stones to sell.
The game is also a roguelite with procedurally generated areas. So while the Island layout does not change, the dungeons you explore are something else. Each run is totally different from the previous one, and I like the ‘easy to learn but hard to master’ approach taken, because the play style you chose when creating your save, will affect item drops and things like the number of hits needed to be done in succession for enemies to drop hearts, same for manarocs. During the game’s story you get special feathers that transform Koji into fire, ice, or lighting, which Koji will be able to use to make his attack elemental based. However, these elemental attacks use manarocs. Another thing I like about the game is the amount of content you have. After beating the main story you can unlock an exploration mode and swift rogue, in which, with certain load-outs, you play through several dungeons trying to beat them. After finishing one you can unlock the next one, so for fans of replay value, you got your work cut out for you. There is also a speedrun mode for those speed devils out there, which you can unlock right from the beginning, but I highly recommend beating the story first.
Graphically the game looks beautiful, each area is carefully detailed and full of life. In the above picture, you can see the fish swimming around; the water effect are great and, while it cannot be seen, there is also a wave crashing effect, where you can see water particles when the water hits the rocks. In each area you travel through you can see the passion of the developers’ who created these different environments. You can find a lot of living creatures in these environments too, which helps breathe life into Eagle Island. The music has the same level of polish that the game has overall. I feel the game has a good challenge but it’s fair, and on my 20th run of a level, I came to realize that each and every mistake was due to my poor planning skills.
Bottom Line, I totally recommend Eagle Island. It’s a fun, challenging, Birdtroidvania, with roguelite elements that fans of the genre cannot miss. Quill and Koji have a lot to offer in this game, and I really hope it soars sky-high since is one of the most unique games I have played this year.
A Review Code was provided for this review.