There’s something in the Queensland water that’s producing eye-catching slice of life/farm sims for Stardew fans. Not only is there the cutesy Grow: Song of the Evertree and the deeply Australian Dinkum, but there’s another Brisbane-based project due to launch later this year: Len’s Island.
It’s officially launching on Steam on November 6 Australian time, and literally everything about it is targeted specifically at those who wanted a prettier, higher-res Animal Crossing / Stardew Valley. Produced by the two-person team at Flow Studio, the game starts with you visiting town with nothing but your backpack.
At the town, you can build and decorate your own little hovel while starting up a farm, forging items, go fishing, and just generally creating a nice place to live. There’s a whole automation process as well, so you can create things like windmills and water towers that can keep all your plants and vegetables hydrated.
But there’s dungeons near the town, and it’s there where Len’s Island takes a step further than Stardew Valley. The movement is more in line with a proper isometric action RPG. You’ve got a proper dodge, there’s weight to the attacks, and you’ll also have to content with major boss fights and environmental puzzles as well.
Plus, the whole game just looks stupid good. Case in point:
I mean, come on. That’s hard not to like. Sims fans will especially love the modular home building. And there’s even cute little additions, like a blackjack mini-game you can play in town.
Len’s Island looks real good in motion too. The Brisbane-based developers have been publishing a string of dev logs and videos through YouTube, talking through the various systems and showcasing where they want Len’s Island to go. Plus, it’s always rewarding to see a project go from this:
And here’s what the game looks like as of August:
Just fantastic. There was a playable demo earlier this year, but that was only for the duration of Steam’s digital festivals. Len’s Island is launching in just under two months, with those who backed the game on Kickstarter helping beta test throughout.
You can add the Brisbane-based slice of life sim/dungeon crawler to your Steam list here. There’s also a link there to the official Discord server, if you want to jump in and thank Australians for just being, well, really damn good at what they do.
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