Len’s Island Review

Len’s Island is a newly released solo or co-op survival and crafting game from developers Flow Studio. From the artwork and trailers, it looks action-packed and filled with magic and things to do. I’m a fan of survival games, especially those with a slightly magical twist, so Len’s Island was really appealing to me.

And diving in, it really seemed like I was going to get exactly what I was looking for. The initial cutscene that details the backstory, a human race torn apart by greed and their endless hunt for a new source of never-ending power, is beautiful. The art style is dynamic and charming, and the story itself is attention-grabbing, really making you want to see what Len’s Island is all about. 

Len's Island Review

5.5Average

PlatformPC

Release DateJune 20, 2025

DeveloperFlow Studio

PublisherFireshrine Games

The game itself, though? It has its charm, and there are a lot of positives. Sadly, many of them are overshadowed by limitations and strange decisions. 

Motion sickness and claustrophobic camera controls

After creating your character and going through the initial stunning cutscene, you’re immediately thrown into another one featuring your character and a strangely forgettable NPC who may or may not be a pirate. Sadly, I can’t really tell you what the story is from this part, because the dialogue boxes move with the action of the ship on the waves, and I found myself feeling slightly nauseous. That could be a personal thing, but I don’t usually suffer from motion sickness in games, so it took me by surprise. 

As you enter the game itself, you’ll quickly find that the camera controls are severely limited. This is a game that has a lot of loading screens, and all of them feature artwork drawn from behind the character, looking upwards. Sadly, this just isn’t an option while playing. You will never be able to look around, and the sky may as well be a figment of your imagination, because you’re never going to see it. It’s claustrophobic, especially down in the Mines or inside Dungeons

On top of that, regardless of where you position the camera manually, it will always reset back to its default position as soon as you let go of the right mouse button, so you need to hold that down if you want to extend your vision even just a little bit. It’s a real shame, because graphically, Len’s Island is really pretty and filled with things to discover, but you never get to actually see any of it while playing because you’re forced to stare at the ground the entire time.

Even more baffling is the fact that you can move the camera to wherever you want in screenshot mode, allowing you to look around you and imitate those beautiful views as shown in the loading screens and promotional artwork. But, as soon as you leave screenshot mode, the camera slowly pans back to its default “staring at the ground” position. 

That’s all well and good, but the game doesn’t pause when you go into screenshot mode, so any hope of getting some kickass action shots during fights is lost, and if you want to take some night time vistas then you’re running the risk of encountering Dark Essence creatures who will kill you before you can press escape and fight back. 

Building feels glorious, but stack limits are a pain

As part of the tutorial, you’re tasked with building a house. I’m pretty well versed in building that stereotypical solid cube house that most survival games start with, so I got to work. I gathered wood and stone, erected my foundation and walls, slapped a flat roof on the top and a door on the front, and stood back to admire my glorious cube house. 

Then I tried to get inside and discovered that the door didn’t work, so I removed the front of the house and ended up with an open-air, beach-front shack. At least I’ve got an ocean view, I suppose. Regardless, the building aspect felt especially smooth. Everything snaps together as it should, and you can quickly build pretty much anything (and I did), were it not for the stack limits.

The backpack in Len’s Island has the potential to be a work of art. It organizes any items you collect automatically, and you can see everything in there that you can potentially unlock as you play. This allows you to see everything that you currently have in one place without the need to manually create stacks. Like I said, it could be a work of art. 

However, every resource, regardless of what that resource is, is limited to a maximum of 50. That means that you’ll need to make regular trips back to your base camp to put things into storage so that you’re not missing out on resources. This isn’t a huge deal as long as you’re overworld, but it feels particularly limiting when you’re down in the Mines. 

Confusion in the Mines

My first adventure into the mines had me feeling pretty excited, and at first glance, the place seemed filled with rocks to mine, so I headed directly for them. 

And then I died. 

Apparently, the majority of the rocks that you can see are purely there for decoration and technically considered to be out of bounds. That would be fine if it were explained, but it’s not. I did some experimenting, trying to figure out if what I was experiencing was fall damage, but even building stairs down to the rock-filled lower level of the Mines resulted in my death. Maybe that’s something that unlocks at a later stage, but that’s unclear. 

With that in mind, I headed off deeper into the Mines and encountered my first enemy within the darkness – green cubic slime. They inhabit the area of the Mines, where you need to go if you want Iron Shards, which are needed for the tutorial. The area is illuminated by bioluminescent mushrooms and looks as though it would be breathtaking, but again, thanks to the limited camera movement, you can’t really get a good look.

Slow down and take a breath

No, really, because everything feels very slow in Len’s Island. This is particularly true when it comes to using your tools, such as the Pickaxe and Axe. The movement of using these items feels cumbersome, and while you can hold down the left mouse button to continually use the tool, you end up using whichever tool you’re holding for one more swing after you remove your finger. This then puts you in an animation lock for the swing action, preventing you from moving. 

This isn’t too much of a big deal, admittedly, but it does get really annoying after a while. I ended up memorizing how many hits each resource took to gather (5 hits for a small tree, 7 for a big one, 8 for regular Stone, 9 for Iron Shards). Where it becomes a huge problem, though, is when dealing with the Dark Essence creatures that come out at night. 

Being stuck in animation lock when things are safe is one thing, but being stuck in animation lock when you’re simultaneously being attacked by enemies and can’t do anything about it until the animation is over? That’s another problem entirely. You might as well welcome death with open arms at that point, especially early on, before you have any armor. 

Len’s Island has so much untapped potential

Despite the many complaints I’ve voiced here, I can see something special in Len’s Island. There’s definitely a solid story to it, even though it seems to get lost very quickly after you begin your playthrough. The setting of the island itself is really pretty, and there are endless little corners of the map to discover and explore, but all of it feels lost because of the camera issues. 

The menus are all incredibly easy to navigate and labeled clearly, so even if things aren’t entirely explained by a hand-holder tutorial, you never feel too lost about what you’re supposed to be doing or how to do it. There’s a decent skill point-based progression system, as expected from any game of the genre, and what looks to be an impressive list of weapons, tools, and equipment to unlock. 

Despite what I’ve said, I want to like it and will persevere despite the issues that are currently present. None of the issues that I have with Len’s Island are story-based, or even difficulty-based, but seem to be more a case of strange choices, such as the camera view vs. artwork conundrum. Screenshot mode is great, and getting some breathtaking photos is seriously fun, but that sense of beauty is lost when it comes to actual gameplay. 

The nighttime attacks from the Dark Essence creatures do add a certain element of “survival”, but the immersion is lost when I’m the only one being attacked or even noticing them, despite being surrounded by three NPCs at the first settlement. Upon talking to one of them, he tells you that there hasn’t been an attack in a while, even though I beat off three of them directly in front of his face the night before. 

The music of Len’s Island is a joy, although it is somewhat of a juxtaposition against the survival theme of the game. The music that plays as you explore the overworld feels hopeful and bright, almost like a pivotal moment in a movie. Combined with the birdsong during the day, the soundtrack makes Len’s Island feel more like a happy stroll than a survival experience. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s definitely unexpected.

Len’s Island presents a fascinating paradox. It’s a visually stunning survival game that prevents you from truly seeing its world. While Flow Studio has crafted a solid foundation with intuitive building mechanics, compelling progression systems, and an enchanting soundtrack, the restrictive camera controls and clunky animation locks transform what should be an immersive adventure into a frustrating exercise in staring at the ground. Until these fundamental design choices are addressed, Len’s Island remains a diamond in the rough; beautiful to behold in still frames, but disappointing to actually play.