Recent reviews by Highfeather

Being meta is just not enough.

Whereas this type of game has become more prominent over the last few years, I feel like Pony Island is the textbook example on how [not] to make an overly meta game.

The premise is right there on the store page. "You are in limbo, trapped in a malevolent and malfunctioning arcade machine devised by the devil himself." Yet it never seems to go anywhere with said premise. This is the game's single biggest flaw: its story. The game just doesn't give you the feeling that you're actually trapped. You as the player can, for instance, easily go back to the title screen or close the game altogether without a single penalty or witty remark from the game itself once you dive back in. With that as an option, the only way to still make sure the player stays immersed is to give him/her a reason to stay.

Which shouldn't be too difficult, yet this game manages the complete opposite. There are next to no characters one could possibly get attached to that would make you want to play again in order to talk to them, or even save them. This might not sound like a big problem because immersion can also come from strong gameplay. Sadly, the gameplay is very repetitive. The normal shoot-n-jump levels do not offer enough variety, and most mechanics are thrown at you within the first few levels, after which it's mainly the artstyle that sometimes changes. The gameplay itself isn't particularly fun or challenging, it's rather tedious. The other type of 'gameplay', the logic puzzles, is actually fine... Albeit on the easy side of things. Both the levels and the puzzles become repetitive after the first 3 attempts, and this is all the gameplay this game has to offer.
You could consider the screens/story between levels as 'gameplay', but I wouldn't. Sure, it all still has that 'meta' feel, but it doesn't feel like you need to think about any of it. You are 'hacking' a game, but no real thought has to go into the 'what do I need to do' part. You either immediately spot a portal, or you need to press a button for it to appear. Or you play a few levels until the next thing automatically happens. You are getting nearly completely railroaded, with the game downright holding your hand throughout. Aside from some neat secrets, there is absolutely no sense of accomplishment in what you're doing. It seems like it's impossible to do anything wrong in between the levels whilst the story progresses, and even the levels themselves just restart endlessly until you beat them.


After several hours of pushing on, hoping it would get better, I decided against finishing it. Whilst some of the secrets were genuinely clever, the heavily railroaded story, repetitive and boring gameplay and utter lack of any sense of accomplishment drag the entire thing down and make for a very unenjoyable experience.

Even at the sale price, I wouldn't advise buying it. If you're interested, I would suggest watching any of the thousands of Let's Plays that are bound to be on YouTube. You're not missing out on any attachment to the story from watching it being played by somebody else. It'll just save you the frustration of there not being any.