Reap

Getting lost by yourself is never pretty, and it’s especially ugly when you are very far away from home. Jungles swallow many people on a regular basis, and the same goes for most remote regions from around the world. However, uninhabited islands have the worst reputation in this regard, mainly because it is usually almost impossible for someone to get out unless someone rescues them.

Reap is a simple survival game that can turn into quite the addiction if you’re not careful. Although it looks like something that would keep you busy for 5-10 minutes, Reap has the ability to make you forget about time entirely while playing. Thus, you’ll find yourself chopping unfathomable amounts of wood around the map, looking for hidden treasure chests.

The idea is that you waste energy no matter what you decide to do, which is a pretty clever gameplay gimmick. Thus, depending on whether you are walking, chopping wood or tilling the soil, your energy dries out slower or faster. The sun moves around the sky as well, which means a day/night cycle. Your character sleeps at fixed intervals, so you do not have to worry about being too tired.

Even if you do not have to worry about water, food is essential to your survival. As it happens, the ship you were sailing on had some turnips laying around, which somehow washed ashore as well. You can eat them and worry about food later on, but it is also possible to cultivate them and never have to worry about food again. On the other hand, the island is pretty packed with turnips anyway.

As far as the visual quality is concerned, the game uses very simple, yet effective graphics. There are only two or three shades that decorate everything, so don’t expect a lot of quality. In fact, this looks a lot like an 8-bit game, although much more faded. On the other hand, the visual style has a positive impact on the atmosphere, not to mention the various sound effects.

All things considered, Reap packs quite the punch, at least when you consider its size and looks. However, it is still pretty barren and simple, which means that it misses a lot of features that could extend its life even more.