Alba: A Wildlife Adventure

4,5 stars. A well-crafted game that is short and sweet, but definitely not for everyone. The game’s description does a pretty good job of explaining what the game is about. For the most part you just run around and take pictures of birds and other animals, while occasionally fixing things and picking up trash. The gameplay is simple, but still triggers that “gotta catch ‘em all” feeling of wanting to take pictures of every species the game has to offer. That doesn’t take too long (4 ish hours? I wasn’t keeping track), and in my opinion the game is just long enough to make the best out of its lovely world without dragging on longer than necessary. The visuals are really beautiful, and I love the art style it goes for. Both the story and characters are fun and the perfect amount of goofy. My only real complaint is that the game lacks some background music. The music is really great whenever it shows up, but for the most part when you just run around the island the game could use some more music to really solidify the whole experience. The game is full of bird chirping and other sounds so it’s not like it’s completely quiet, but I still feel like some more music would have made a difference. As the description says, this is a “feel-good game about running around and doing good deeds” and if that sounds like something you’d like, then I can wholeheartedly recommend this game.

As a Spanish living in Valencia province during my childhood, this game is simply awesome. From some of the descriptions ( "La roqueta" is the name of the island, which means "small rock" in Valencian / Catalonian language ), it looks like the place is heavily inspired on Valencia's seashore environments. I think it's the very first time in my life I see a videogame depicting a typical Spanish mediterranean scenery. The game is a truly enjoyable little experience, and can be played together with your little ones. My son just got excited trying to find and picture all the animals on the island. Living abroad for many years, it's really nice being able to play this game with my son, and find together all the beautifulness Spanish Mediterranean coasts has to offer. Kudos to the developers !

Pleasant, peaceful, calm, beautiful, bright and colourful. I'm suffering quite a bit through these gloomy winter days and this is just the perfect experience for me. I thoroughly enjoy it, it's not difficult and not challenging, but just so relaxing and lovely. Discovering the isle and its animals feels very fulfilling to me and the message is a positive one. It feels almost like a holiday trip.

A short 4 hour experience, relaxing with no time pressure.