Game: Luma Island
Genre: Simulation, RPG, Indie
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer | Publisher: Feel Free Games
Controller Support: Yes
Steam Deck: Verified
Price: US $19.99 | UK £15.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: November 20th, 2024
A review code was provided, and many thanks to Feel Free Games
We are fortunate, in this gaming age, to have ample choice for great simulation games that have all the staple elements. Farming, exploring, crafting, questing, keeping animals…the best games make a pleasing combination of all of that.
As you know, if you follow the site, I’ve played many of them since my first encounter with Rune Factory and Harvest Moon. And though I like most of them, there are still some that surprise and delight me. And Luma Island is such a game. Read on if you want to know why.
Making your own little adventurerWelcome To Your New Island
I’m late to the party. Luma Island was released in November 2024, and I’ve only now been able to dive in. Usually, I want to get my hands on a new game asap, as you can expect when you run a website that features game reviews. It’s like stepping on a moving train!
When you step onto Luma Island, you find a lush and vibrant world that seamlessly blends old and new. A bit like living off the grid, but with a modern-looking village next door. You’ll begin with Old Man Jeffrey’s rundown farm and caravan, and soon you’ll be busy sowing seeds, harvesting and building machines to make items you need. Like fertiliser, stones, lumber and more.
Yep, Herbert, we’ve all been there!
Like the Rune Factory I mentioned, it doesn’t stop at farming, crafting, mining and fishing: there are enemies to fight too. Still, you have a choice to go for a Cozy mode, focusing on the non-fighting stuff, and enemies won’t attack unless you engage them. There’s Adventure mode, which is a balanced mix, and the super-hard Hero mode with stronger enemies. So, depending on your play style, you can focus on exploration with or without the need to fight.
All the Staple Elements
How the various staple elements work can make or break a simulation game, so let’s dive into them:
Farming: You quickly find your tools around the area so you can get to work clearing a patch. There’s a small selection of seeds to buy in the village, and as your story progresses, more seeds become available. Surprisingly, you can also find everlasting seeds: just sow them once and they will grow again and again, no matter how often you harvest.
One of the first animals you can buy is a rabbit, and though you don’t have to go through the trouble of petting and brushing it, it is helpful. It nibbles away at the weeds.
My little farm
Crafting: starts with recipes to make a workbench, a sawmill, a kiln and so on. You gather the materials needed to make those machines, and in time, recipes unlock to make in them.
Mining and Chopping: there are lots of things to use your pickaxe on, from normal rocks to ores and also, special stones like Luma Heart rock. The Trees don’t give off the same kind of wood. Those near your farm are farm trees that give you farm wood. But in the forest, trees give you forest wood and so on. It makes for variance and more kinds of items to craft.
Fishing: You catch bait with your bug net (the caterpillars are easiest), and then you can fish. A little mini-game triggers when the fish bites. It’s not an activity that I really enjoy, the least of the list for me.
Exploring and mini-games in the Pirate Cave
Fighting enemies: there are big spiders in the game that give me the creeps (though if you’re afraid of spiders, you can turn that off) and through the Pirate Update, skeletons to vanquish. And how do you fight them? With a whip, of course, in true Indiana Jones style!
Loads to Explore and the Lumas
From leafy forests to snowy mountains and secret pirate coves, Luma Island is yours to discover. And it’s not just a matter of different trees or slightly different ores. Each biome holds its own mysteries, encouraging exploration and the thrill of uncovering hidden treasures. And as the game is out for a while already, you also have the Pirates update at your disposal.
At the heart of the game are the Lumas, magical creatures hatched from mysterious eggs. You can hatch them in a special machine, and you’ll never know which one will join you. Each Luma has unique abilities that help you explore and hunt for treasure, and they produce Luma Energy, a key ingredient in crafting. Moreover, they’re not just helpful, they’re downright adorable, like my little pink parrot/owl creature. Plus, you can pet it!
Little cars are parked everywhere, like in real life
An earthquake shortly after you start the game has damaged a lot of structures and buildings, though your farm came away unscathed. The nearby village is very detailed, with different kinds of shops, little gardens and small cars parked in the streets. The village did take some damage from the earthquake, and it’s helping to fix it by bringing the materials needed, which gets the game fully underway.
An Out of the Ordinary Simulation Game
As I mentioned at the start of this review, Luma Island has surprised me, mainly because it takes such a different approach to things that seem normal in other farming sims. There is no stamina bar, so you don’t have to manage your time. You don’t have to sleep, unless you want the sun to shine for your next activity. There are no timed quests, and you can take life on the island as slow or fast as you want it to be.
Your storage is endless, and the crafting machines and upgrade stations tie automatically into what you have in store. And when you look at a recipe and wait a bit, the required ingredients rotate in the info screen. Very neat!
Buying the bicycle recipe in the Drawing Shop
You also have to choose a profession in the game. The first one is free; switching to the next costs money. Depending on your choice, you get tasks; I chose to be a cook, so I’ve made all kinds of scrumptious pies that I needed to grow the fruit for. It also meant I got those recipes automatically. Each profession has recipes included, and you can also buy other recipes, of course.
The lines the villagers and other NPCs you meet sometimes made me smile with their humour. And to do some fast travel between locations, you don’t step on fancy shiny platforms: you take a bike. And not in the regular way: just press A in front of the bike on your farm, and you go to the new location. And as there are several bikes in town, you can fast travel back that way too. It must be because the developers are Dutch, I instantly recognised the importance of bicycles. And of the mussels I found on the beach!
Warp-points: a bike!Some Other Things
I felt the tutorial could have been a bit better, as you have to find out a lot of things for yourself, although that does add to the sense of exploration, not knowing what’s coming. The map should be more detailed, as it is now it’s difficult to recognise landmarks. If you want to play the game to follow the storyline and go from A to B asap, it can feel like a grind. The number of materials you need to fix or upgrade things is staggering sometimes.
Multiplayer works perfectly
Multiplayer works perfectly in Luma Island. I gave it a try with Paula, and we had fun exploring the Pirate cave together. The downside is that in multiplayer, you make a new character, and because of that, you can’t take anything with you to your own game. So picking up cool treasures isn’t working, though you might want to leave them behind for your host.
The town is even lovely at night time
Graphically, Luma Island is lovely. It’s not pixelated, which is perfect for me as I’m never a big fan of that. The world is full, colourful and detailed. The camera moves freely, and you never disappear behind a structure, as a little viewpoint will keep highlighting you.
The map isn’t very detailed
The soundtrack is good, and you can even download it for free. That way, you can dive right back into the world of Luma Island without actually opening your game! Oh, and it works perfectly on the Steam Deck!
Conclusion for Luma Island
Luma Island has been out on Steam for some time, almost a year in fact. So this time, I wasn’t there when it was first released. However, in this case, I’m happy that the game has been out for almost a year. Luma Island is so complete, keeps surprising you with out-of-the-ordinary additions and has excellent quality of life elements. I think this is the result of listening to players’ input and wishes, of tweaking so that bugs are squashed and tying the entire package up with a beautiful bow.
I’m really delighted at how Feel Free Games took the familiar elements of simulation games, gave them their own twist and added some more to Luma Island.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up
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