Suffering from Animal Crossing Burn out? Or struggling to find a cozy game to play? This week I review Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island, it looks similar to Animal Crossing, but does it play the same? Read one to find out more.
*DIsclaimer: I got sent a copy from Numskull Games for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinions will be my own. Images from Numskull. Words are my own.
As a small child subjected to Disney films, all I wanted to be was a princess- I’m sure a lot of women my age could relate. All I wanted was to wear cute gowns, spin around and dance with my charming prince. Although I’m technically an adult (boo!), my ambitions of being saved and wearing elaborate dresses everyday hasn’t really changed admittedly, and although this would never really happen, a woman can dream right?
Thankfully while I wait for my partner to buy a castle and sweep me away, I’ve been obsessively playing Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island, which was kindly sent to me by Numskull Designs for review purposes.
Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island is a cute simulation game, which looks similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the surface, however its core gameplay is completely different.
You play as your own created Princess who heads to Carrot Isle with her friends to savour in the delights of the infamous Princess Cake; however when you arrive you all notice that the island is now deserted, apart from town square and a rabbit hut. So it’s up to you and your magical bracelet to uplift this deserted island by populating it again.
This is where the gameplay sets it apart from Animal Crossing. To build anything, buildings, decor etc, you need to buy it from a vendor on the island, and to do this you need to acquire enough lumina (the currency in this game), as well as acquiring the ingredients that you can either grow or forage around the island.
For example, you need ‘honey’ to make an ice cream van, which needs to be acquired from the ‘bee hut’ which can only be built once you have planted some lotus flowers. Everything is interlinked in some way of helping you progress and uplift your island.
However, thankfully you don’t really have to wait long for crops to grow, materials to be crafted or foraging items to respawn as this usually takes five minutes- which is a stark contrast to plenty of similar games out there who test my patience with long lead times, sometimes using real time. So at least you can throw yourself into the game fully and not run out of things to do.
I’m not going to lie though, at first the game did take a little while to fully get into. The forced tutorial, albeit is necessary to understand what you need to do, is very slow and tedious and once that’s completed, it can take a while to get a consistent system going to earn more lumina and unlock more decor, buildings and recipes.
Yet once you’ve got over this hurdle, the game can prove to be very addicting, since receiving this to review, I’ve actually not put it down. There’s something just so satisfying about creating your perfect island with the wide range of cute, princess themed decor and buildings that you unlock.
Graphically, the game is so adorable. Yes, admittedly there are some assets that look VERY similar to Animal Crossing, like the sea and beach areas, that could mistake this game for being just another wannabe rip off, however the character designs, decor and other assets are beautifully designed.
My only complaints for the game is that the controls themselves, although responsive, can feel a little clunky and the music is so repetitive that it constantly gets stuck in my head- think the original Alex Kidd theme levels of annoying!
Also I do find it slightly irritating that you don’t have your own home or even castle to decorate, considering there are plenty of cute princess bedroom furniture that you have access to!
Is Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island worth it?
Whenever I try to rate games, I always try to do the simple maths of the price of the game X hours spent on the game. So with that being said I DO personally think that Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island is worth the £30 price tag on the Nintendo Switch.
Despite a couple of complaints that I personally had with certain aspects of the game; like the initial hurdle, clunky controls and repetitive music, the gameplay itself is highly addictive and the graphics are so adorable, that I think this is a cute, cozy game that many gamers would love.
If you’re suffering from Animal Crossing Burn Out and want a close alternative that looks good and actually plays well, then I highly suggest Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island.
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