The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game Review
Played on PC
Developed by Grace Bruxner & Worm Club
Released 22nd November 2018
After taking 5 months of development to create, Grace Bruxner, an independent Australian developer, released this 40-minute joyride to Steam, receiving an Overwhelmingly Positive 95% on the storefront. During the development process, Bruxner researched classic detective cinematography techniques, with the intention of formulating humour through the contrasting tones in camerawork and the overall aesthetic of the game. This clearly paid off as not only was the fan reception amazing, but the Superhot studio, makers behind their self-titled game, ended up funding Bruxner's sequel of this mini-entry into the detective subgenre.
Story
The very basic premise of this short adventure isn't enough for me to fully critique, but I do have a couple of things I want to say about it. First and foremost, it's quite entertaining. The plot is simple and inoffensive; with a frog, that is a detective, called Detective Frog, going to figure out the mystery behind a supposedly haunted island as the Ghost Scientists couldn't solve the case themselves. Ridiculous? Yes. Fun? Yes. The style of this game heavily reminds me of Donut County with its dry humour, however, I'd argue this game's deadpan tone doesn't excel fully in its comedic elements, the same way Donut County does.
Gameplay
The gameplay is extremely casual. If you play games for that hardcore adrenaline rush, this might be a skip for you (unless you want all of its easy achievements). The whole game you'll spend doing some incredibly basic puzzle-solving of collecting ingredients for an explosive. I was partially expecting the "detective work" to be something more in-depth with how short the game is, however, I was also expecting something much more ludicrously simple, creating a nice balanced level in that regard. The way you'll be collecting these ingredients is by traversing through dialogue options with the anthropomorphic animals of the island, providing not-so-subtle hints as to what you're supposed to do. The main complaints that can be brushed off as nitpicks are that the magnifying glass you had could've actually been used for something rather than just occupying an input and that there could've been an FOV (Field of View) slider. However, other than this, the movement was smooth and the experience was short and sweet.
Characters
While some adorable personas were introduced in the cast of characters, each radiating a Pixar-type of cuteness, I can't find anything here that would be appropriate to critique. I will say this though, each character felt greatly unique and Bruxner's goal of not writing characters that relied on offensive stereotypes was a success in my eyes.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere was that of a fun, childish tone. I don't think it's a secret that this game is very clearly supposed to be family-friendly and aimed at younger audiences. It's suitably goofy, has some good character designs and the aforementioned contrast between cinematography and silly aesthetic works well here. The soundtrack is excellent as well, with this Roaring 20's vibe to the traditional attitude that detective soundtracks have.
Gameplay - 7/10
Atmosphere - 8/10
Good
A promising start to a wonderfully silly trilogy.
