Eagle Island Demo

Retro platformers somehow still find ways to surprise gamers, which is quite impressive after all these years. Granted, most of them borrow modern ideas and simplify them to fit the genre, which is a bit easier than coming up with entirely original concepts. It’s also interesting to see that 16-bit graphics can be just as beautiful today as they were two decades ago.

Eagle Island is a 2D platformer with RPG and exploration elements, in which your goal is to get to the end of every stage as quickly as you can, while also collecting coins, opening treasure chests and dealing with nasty enemies. As the name implies, birds are the quintessential part of the island, and your character himself has an avian companion to help him in his quest.

Speaking of which, you play the role of a boy by the name of Quill, whose partner is an owl named Koi. Together they must explore Eagle Island and find a couple of totems, as well as defeat an evil deity that keeps the whole island in her claws. Don’t expect too much complexity in terms of story, on the other hand, since most of it runs quietly in the background, which is not a bad thing at all.

An interesting gimmick is the fact that the levels are not linear, since you can go left, right, up or down, and the world map expands as you manage to explore more of it. It’s worth noting that the actual stages are fairly small and a tad repetitive sometimes, which might make it difficult to truly get into the proper mood. On the other hand, the fact that you throw an owl around in order to attack should take your mind off things.

You can also find other items and integrate a few special abilities into the mix, which come in handy when you have to deal with different types of enemies. Speaking of which, a controller is recommended to take advantage of the full range of motions, since it’s much easier to control your character with a d-pad. Lastly, the artwork is worth a mention as well, even if at this point there are not too many different environments.

Even if Eagle Island is in a pretty early stage at the moment, it still shows tremendous promise, especially for platformer fans. However, the project could use a bit of a push in terms of funding, and you can play your part by contributing to the game’s Kickstarter campaign.