Harrison Abbott reviews Disney Illusion Island…
As much as certain gatekeepers would like you to believe that they’re born with an innate knowledge of their favourite cultural artefacts and/or fandoms, the truth is that everyone has to be introduced to an idea somewhere. You don’t exit the womb fully-versed in Tolkienian lore, it’s unlikely that your first exposure to movies was through a canonical great like The Godfather, and no matter how much of a hardcore gamer you think yourself to be; nobody is pulling off a zero-damage run of Elden Ring without a little practice beforehand.
The point is that there has to be an initiation at some point, and there’s no bad way of getting into any piece of art. You’re not a “casual” if your first Star Trek was the 2009 reboot. Nor does hearing a piece of music in a TV show or movie make you any less of a “real fan” than those who happened to be there from day one.
With that said, for a lot of veteran gamers, Disney Illusion Island will undoubtedly feel like a watered-down, hand-holdy take on the metroidvania concept. Yet for kids who don’t know their Symphony of the Night from their Hollow Knight, it could be the impetus for a life-long obsession with that genre; opening a door into a world of excitement that they would otherwise never have discovered.
Developed by Dlala Studios, Illusion Island is focussed on the core Mickey & Friends quartet (that’s the main mouse himself, alongside his inamorata Minnie, and his perennially third-wheeling buddies: Donald and Goofy) as they accept an invitation to a mysterious picnic.
Arriving at the realm of Monoth — which, in a hastily glossed over detail, is also a terrarium, suggesting that our heroes are possibly the size of bacteria— they soon learn that this was in fact a ruse and that they have been lured here under false pretences. Indeed, the locals are quick to admit that there is no succulent feast (much to Donald’s chagrin) and that they’ve instead got a job for the gang.
In a plot point ripped straight from Three Amigos, it turns out that these residents have heard tell of The Fab Four’s exploits on the silver screen and, believing them to be true stories, have convened our heroes in the hope of saving their community from imminent destruction. You see, an evil force is threatening to overtake Monoth and the only way of putting things right is to track down some ancient tomes that have been purloined from the nearby library, and return them to their proper place.
And thus, you are dispatched on an epic quest to retrieve each of the stolen books, which have inevitably been scattered across the various “biomes” of Monoth. As such, you’ll be venturing through underground labyrinths, market towns that are hidden in the clouds, industrial factories staffed by grumpy automatons, and the very stars themselves in the night sky. You’ll even have an opportunity to explore the abyssal waters of the terrarium later on, once you’ve got your hands on the requisite snorkelling gear.
On that note, Disney Illusion Island is very much your textbook 2D metroidvania. Although it is billed as a platformer, it doesn’t really have discrete levels to speak of (like you would find in an old-school Mario or Sonic title) and you can technically get from one end of the map to the other without encountering a single loading screen.
Instead, the experience is structured more around you finding keys and power-up items that will in turn grant you access to previously-locked areas. For instance, you’ll need some kind of propellant in order to leap across wide ravines, as well as a tool that can be jammed into surfaces to help you perform wall-jumps.
As an aside, a fun gimmick here is that each of the four playable characters gets their own specific gizmos that suit their respective personalities. So, the intrepid Minnie is given things like mountain climbing axes and umbrellas for gliding, while the ever-peckish Goofy has culinary-themed equivalents to these gifts (like spicy peppers, forks, a string of sausages, and mustard bottles).
Meanwhile, there is an amusing running-gag about how Donald always gets shortchanged with whatever unwanted garbage is left lying around, as a kind of afterthought. His wall-anchor is just a toilet plunger and, to execute a basic double-jump, he has to clutch onto a volatile rocket that’s prone to exploding. Mickey, on the other hand, gets a proper jetpack.
As you would expect, these items are all functionally the same — so you don’t have to agonise over which character you’re gonna pick, or which of your friends gets to control Mickey and who’s saddled with Donald — but they do come with their own unique animations that are quite endearing.
Incidentally, that is Disney Illusion Island’s main selling point; it has an abundance of charm seeping through in every facet of its design. First of all, the art-style authentically replicates the look & feel of a modern Mickey Mouse cartoon. It’s bright, colourful and expressive; leaving you with a constant smile on your face that won’t fade, no matter how many times you have to redo a given section.
To accommodate the more intricate platforming gauntlets (where there are multiple obstacles and interactions that you have to nail in quick succession) the camera is often pulled quite far back, meaning that you can’t always stop to appreciate the finer details of this artistry. Still, whenever you do get a chance to zoom in for a closer look, it’s a joy to scrutinise all of the idle animations, the way that characters seamlessly transition from one movement type to another and, of course, the gorgeous environmental backdrops.
Speaking of which, it’s also refreshing to have one of these games where they don’t lazily default to the same old platforming levels that have been done to death elsewhere. Rather than just wheeling out the usual suspects (fire world, ice world, jungle world, ghost world etc.), Dlala clearly put effort into thinking outside the box, and treats us to some refreshingly off-kilter biomes here.
The world is broadly divided up into three areas — one of which is floral-themed, another of which is all about engineering, and then the last is dedicated to astronomy — but there’s quite a bit of variety within each of them as well. They have imaginative gimmicks that evolve the further you explore (the factory section has you changing the layout of rooms, while the farmland has you interacting with plant life in creative ways), alongside their own enemy types and infectious musical motifs.
In terms of the latter, Composer David Housden has really gone above and beyond, producing catchy earworms that beautifully set the tone for every environment. Ranging from elegant waltzes to jaunty whistling tunes, ragtime rhythms and jazz beats; the soundtrack has that same implacably nostalgic quality that you get from strolling down Main Street USA over at the Magic Kingdom. It’s one that I’ll be adding to my writing playlist in the future that’s for sure.
Illusion Island has winning charm to spare, and it would be impossible to catalogue all of the different ways that it manages to steal your heart. As yet another example, the game’s collectibles take the form of famous props from iconic cartoons — including Steamboat Willie, Lonesome Ghosts, Mickey and the Beanstalk and the gang’s version of A Christmas Carol — which makes for a fun Easter Egg hunt that’s bound to appeal to diehard fans.
Likewise, there’s an opportunity for you to take snapshots of Hidden Mickeys that have been dotted around Monoth, much like theme park obsessives might do at Disneyland. It’s all so warm and fuzzy!
This wholesomeness carries over to the fact that there is no traditional combat to speak of in Illusion Island (you instead have to avoid contact with enemies) and an almost sickeningly-sweet mechanic that allows you to give your co-op partner an extra life by simply bringing it in for a quick hug. How can you not be won over by that?
On a related note, this has obviously been crafted with a more casual, younger demographic in mind. As such, there are plenty of welcome touches, like that hugging mechanic, to make it feel more forgiving than your average metroidvania.
Case in point, you can tailor the difficulty with some very precise accessibility options: customizing your starting health; deciding how much leeway you’re given with timed interactions; and toggling on movement assists. Not that you’ll necessarily need any of these mind you, as the controls are already extremely responsive, and the platforming feels buttery-smooth throughout. Still, it’s a nice option to have.
In addition to this, less seasoned players can make the experience even more approachable by recruiting a friend into the couch co-op mode. Not only does this prevent you from being faced with a game-over screen every single time that you run out of health (given that your partner can revive you at the next checkpoint), but it also unlocks some special, multiplayer-specific interactions. For instance, you can leapfrog over each other to cover more distance, teleport to one another’s location when swimming, and toss down a climbable rope if one of you has managed to get a bit further ahead. They’re all really cute mechanics that incentivise teamwork and kindness, in a way that perfectly fits the Mickey Mouse brand.
Finally, I’d also like to mention the remarkably intuitive map, which makes navigating Monoth an absolute breeze. The biomes in this game may have complicated layouts, hidden shortcuts and interweaving paths, yet I never once got lost thanks to my handy atlas. It displays everything with such incredible visual coherence, clearly articulates verticality, and all of its icons are very readable. That might sound like a very minor point to dwell on, but it honestly makes a world of difference when you’re trying to hoover up those collectibles that you missed earlier on.
Alas, Disney Illusion Island is not without its blemishes. The aforementioned backtracking can grow tiresome after a while, especially when you are sent traipsing from one corner of the map to the other, just to have a brief conversation with an NPC (who then has the gall to send you right back where you came from in the first place!)
Often, this can happen multiple times in quick succession, without you feeling like you are making any tangible progress. It wouldn’t be so irksome, were it not for how the fast travel mechanic isn’t unlocked until far too late in the campaign, forcing you to repeat certain early sections ad nauseam for no good reason.
Not to mention, half the time that you’re tasked with revisiting an area, you haven’t even acquired any fresh abilities since the last time you were there. When it comes to metroidvanias, you ideally want to be in a constant loop of uncovering hidden paths and finding secrets that were once inaccessible to you.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that Dlala were able to quite perfect that balancing act on this occasion, as I often felt I was just going in circles just to pad out the game’s 8-hour runtime. Again, backtracking is an inseparable part of this genre’s DNA, and it can be very satisfying when done well, but it requires meticulous pacing and a steady drip feed of new discoveries. Otherwise, it just feels like you are being jerked around by the developers.
The distribution of cutscenes is a tad uneven as well, with the prologue and epilogue getting bogged down in way too much exposition, while vast stretches in the middle of the game conversely have no audible dialogue whatsoever. It’s a shame, because the cinematics are quite wittily scripted and well presented — featuring neat visual gags and homages to old Mickey shorts — yet, for the most part, the storytelling here is relegated to inert, text-based exchanges.
So, rather than taking advantage of the dynamic and uniquely energetic nature of these animated characters, the game has them patiently standing around and listening to dry oration. It’s a frustrating decision that will surely prompt many a-youngster to hammer that skip button in order to get back to their adventure as quickly as possible.
Putting these quibbles aside, Disney Illusion Island is a highly enjoyable experience that works well solo and then really shines in co-op. It’s got oodles of charm, tight mechanics, a wonderful score and an adorable visual style that will have you blasting through the story in just a couple of sittings.
Most importantly of all, however, it has the potential to serve as an inviting gateway into a genre that is often considered to be daunting. For those who are in the target age-bracket, it could easily start an enduring love affair with metroidvanias, and that’s worth celebrating no matter how old you are.
Pros:
+ Lovable and overflowing with charm
+ Responsive controls and tight platforming
+ Excellent music
+ Interesting environments and level design
+ Great co-op mechanics, complemented by a suite of accessibility options
Cons:
– Pacing issues
– Story is surprisingly dull and exposition-heavy
Rating: 8/10
Disney Illusion Island will be released exclusively for Nintendo Switch on Friday the 28th of July. Review code provided by publisher.
Harrison Abbott
