PC Preview Code Provided by Merge Games
First-time game developer Half Past Yellow and publisher Merge Games have something truly special on their hands. Originally titled Trading Time, Time on Frog Island is coming soon! Time on Frog Island is a sandbox trading game, where players take control of an unnamed sea captain who crashes on a mysterious island inhabited by friendly frogs. Through a series of sometimes bizarre trades, your goal is to fix your boat and get back home.
Gameplay
One of the best things about Time on Frog Island is that the game does not give you any directions. While the native frogs are friendly, and all too happy to trade items to help you along, there is nothing but a few visual cues to drive you forward. There is no dialogue, no quest tracking, there is not even a map. Everything is up to your sense of intuition and exploration to fix your boat and get yourself home. You are just as stranded as the character you control.
Controlling the unnamed sea captain is easy and intuitive. Moving around with the control stick is responsive and snappy. There is a nice amount of momentum buildup that makes his movements feel natural. Beyond movement, the controls are light. Press A to jump, X to pick up and hand items to various frogs, and occasionally Y to use items. You only have so much time in a day, however. Eventually, you will have to hunker down for the night after a day of exploring the titular Frog Island.
Time on Frog Island is a light game, but do not mistake it for a game without depth. The variety of items you can pick up while traversing the island can add movement options in the form of propeller fruit and mushrooms you can plant to create bouncy jumping pads. The game constantly reminds you that every item you find has a purpose, and it is up to you to find it. In my time with the game, I was able to solve a fair few of the game’s many puzzles, but there is so much more to explore and see.
Expectations
Occasionally the game suffered from graphical hiccups, but nothing was too severe. Sometimes the borders of held items would have solid-colored borders around them, but as I said, nothing game-breaking. What almost broke the game, however, was when a guard frog attacked me, causing me to drop the item I was holding behind an impassible barrier. I was eventually able to brute force my way past a guard to get the letter I was trying to deliver to him in the first place.
Time on Frog Island may have a few small dents that need to be buffed out, but the overall product is polished. The presentation is cartoony and welcoming, and the music is one of the highlights of the experience, moody and inquisitive without losing its sense of fun. The musical tracks in the game are reminiscent of Stewart Copeland’s pieces for the original Spyro trilogy.
Verdict
Time on Frog Island is what I call a ‘Cilantro Game,’ you are either going to love it or hate it. Thankfully, I happen to be the perfect audience for the game. I love games with mumbling character dialogue, as my previous work illustrates. I love games where you are dumped into a foreign world with little or no clue as to what on Earth is happening, and I love games that encourage exploration through nothing more than the desire to see what lies ahead. If you want to know if Time on Frog Island is the game for you, just watch the trailer, as Half Past Yellow’s work speaks for itself.
Time on Frog Island is available to wishlist on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms with a physical edition for Nintendo Switch available for pre-order now.
