Game Review: Beasts of Maravilla Island (Xbox Series X)

With a magical and dream-like world, easy to understand gamplay mechanics and a sweet, lessons to be learned story, there is a lot to like about Beasts of Maravilla Island. However, its indie underpants are showing and it’s got a lot of rough edges.

Developed by Banana Bird Studios and published by Whitethorn Games, Maravilla Island is predominantly a photography game. Similar to the likes of Pokémon Snap, except not on rails.

Set on the mythical island of Maravilla, players take on the role of the young wildlife photographer Marina Montez. She has followed in the footsteps of her late grandfather and with his journal and camera in tow, set off for the island that was thought not to exist.

It does exist though and Marina will have to take pictures of its teeming wildlife to prove to the world just that. Along the way, she will learn the importance of respecting and preserving nature as it is.

It’s a sweet story that doesn’t exactly grip but does craft enough of an interesting narrative to keep you moving forward.

Part open-world, part linear, the areas you can explore are sizable enough but there’s always one path that leads onwards. Exploration is limited but necessary to progress and, of course, to take pictures of the environment and wildlife. The goal is to fill your journal, so that is what you will do.

This is fun and with just enough difficulty to make finding every possible picture in an area a bit of a challenge. It’s a shame though, that there’s no scoring system attached to the picture taking. It quickly becomes clear that the quality of your picture taking only matters to you. You can take a picture through a wall of an animal (if the camera says it is there, it is) or a close-up, centre frame professional one and it counts the same. This does remove most of the impetus to take the best pictures possible.

To progress through each area, a certain number of pictures must be taken of the area’s main creature. For example, the first area focuses on some form of monkey and you’ll have to take several candid shots including getting them to sing and dance.

To do this with these and the other main creatures, simple puzzle solving is required. Such as copying the monkey’s singing to make them come out of hiding or later, manipulating light to create platforms. Don’t expect much of a challenge in this regard.

Visually, the game’s bright and colourful cartoon look is quite appealing and the different areas all stand out. The same goes for creature design. However, on closer inspection, the game has a lot of coarse textures, jagged edges and blocky images. It’s a game you can admire from afar even if the overall aesthetic does look a little dated.

There is also very little issue with music and sound effects, both fit the magical world nicely.

The issues that do exist though, they stand out. Beasts of Maravilla Island is a glitchy game. Getting stuck is a regular occurrence and in some cases, unforgivable. There’s simply no excuse for Marina getting stuck while climbing. When this happens, your have no choice but to quit out to the main menu.

The game also lacks a lot in the replay department. Finish the story, take all the pictures (there really aren’t that many) and that is it. For the price, it’s not worth it. Which is a shame as with a bit more polish and depth, Beasts of Maravilla Island would be a great experience.

It’s still a good one regardless. Photography gameplay has never been this relaxing.