Choice of Life: Wild Islands review - "Choose your own (island) adventure"

2 weeks ago 41

Ridiculous choices and humorous outcomes
All the death scenarios without the punishment
Quick playthroughs but with hours of replayability

Picture this: you're at the top of a cliff that juts out from a rocky ravine below. There's a precarious plank teetering by the edge of the cliff - tempting, almost waiting. Do you decide to climb one careful step at a time down the side of the cliff, or do you throw caution to the wind, hop onto the piece of wood, and go sledging down the cliff with a vehement "YOLO"?

These seemingly insignificant decisions are what Choice of Life: Wild Islands are all about - a new visual novel-slash-card game from Blazing Planet Studio. When you're marooned on a deserted island, do you think you can trust your instincts and live long enough to tell the tale?

Choice of Life: Wild Islands Story

One minute you're swabbing the deck on a ship bound for America, then struggling to stay afloat in the big angry sea the next. When a storm casts all of your crewmates out into the water, you, as the lone survivor, wash up on the shore of a mysterious island with no one else around - or so it seems.

a card that shows an outcome of choices against the background of a ship's interior

Choice of Life: Wild Islands wastes no time in thrusting crucial decisions at you as soon as you boot it up, and each one branches off into a different outcome with no going back. The lovely cartoonish art style gives it all a quirky, almost Monkey Island-esque vibe, but don't let the visuals lull you into a false sense of security - one wrong move might just cost you your life, and there are a LOT of ways to die in this story.

Much like the Choose Your Own Adventure books of old, you can easily meet your untimely demise with the choices you make. This definitely ups the replayability factor, but not to the point of frustration - you can always go back to a previous auto-save or manual save point, or start again from checkpoints that are littered throughout the title. This makes for an enjoyable romp throughout the island adventure, as you won't have to start from scratch each time you fall to your death or bite down on a plump piece of fruit a little too enthusiastically.

Choice of Life: Wild Islands Gameplay

That said, these checkpoints can open or close depending on the fork in the road you pick. Sometimes, choosing to go to the depths of a cave can close the pathway to, say, a hidden spring for you; other times, you can still retrace your steps and hit all the points of interest that you missed, albeit with different outcomes this time around.

a group of men riding a ship sailing on the sea

There are also lovely Unexpected Events that pop up every so often as you move from Point A to Point B, which once again adds a new layer of replayability to the whole adventure (although a pain in the neck for completionists, I'm sure).

One of the things I loved about my multiple playthroughs is the fact that you can't always stay sensible and hope to survive simply by having your wits about you. While you might think choosing the more logical option might save your life, it just might lead to a fatal surprise. You do collect Hearts as you go along, but once your Hearts drop to zero, it's game over.

a card that shows a death scenario against the background of a cliff

I mean, you might think you'll need to work hard to cultivate the soil and grow seeds for future food sources, but opting to slack off and sing a song instead can unexpectedly add another Heart to your health stack - pretty sensible if you ask me.

You'll come across Supplies along the way too depending on your decisions, and some of them can spell the difference between life and death when push comes to shove. If you happen to have some vines with you when you need you go down a hill, you'll reach the ground unscathed - but if you didn't happen to pick up those vines from previous choices, you'll trip and fall and inevitably lose a Heart.

Or, if you find a book on farming or cooking, you can spot edible plants in the jungle - but if you didn't come across the book in a previous fork, picking wild fruits is a deadly game of Russian roulette.

Best narrative adventure games you can play right now

What's the appeal?

This, in my opinion, makes the whole thing just so darn enjoyable - the fact that I can play through it again and again and expect a different outcome each time. Previous choices will be marked, by the way, so you won't have to memorise past decisions just to get to where you want to be. Some decision branches are a bit longer - simulating a boss fight or a big finale - and there can be many, many ways to die despite your best efforts.

There are times when you'll have to forego your common sense in favour of just being plain silly, like breaking out into a dance in the middle of a heated gunfight or choosing to befriend an ape that's too close for comfort. Every single thing can lead to multiple endings - I've already unlocked a few and still feel like I've only just scratched the surface of what this whole island adventure has to offer.

two cards with choices of either shooting or dancing

The humour is the best part - it can get pretty meta too at times and is a breath of fresh air since it never takes itself too seriously. I'm not sure if this game just happened to come by at the right time for me, but I enjoyed it so much that I'm still playing it on my daily commute.

Overall, Choice of Life: Wild Islands is a refreshing new entry into choice-based narrative games with a replayability factor that's totally off the charts. It might feel a tad toned down if you're looking for high-stakes missions or epic quests to save the world, but this more low-key approach to decision-making that's not too punishing or frustrating is exactly what I need right now - I already get enough of those pressure-filled choices in real life, after all.