Restore Your Island is an interesting concept. You own your own private island, but the catch is that the island and the ecosystem have been destroyed by trash and debris. It is now your responsibility to restore the island to its former glory, and as you do that, some of the ecosystem might grow back, and the wildlife might even return as well.

Players start the game being literally dropped on this island. You don’t have much with you other than the clothes on your back and a couple other items. Once I got past the introduction, I immediately set out with my grabber tool to pick up each piece of trash on the island, one by one. As I begin cleaning the island, every piece of trash I pick up and throw in the garbage can expend energy. This is the one mechanic in the game that really seemed to get in the way of my objective. Especially in the beginning, it doesn’t take long for your energy to be almost gone. Energy can be replenished in a couple of different ways. There is fruit on the ground, like coconuts and bananas. You can pick them up and eat them. They can also be stored in your bag., These are incredibly scarce in the beginning but as you progress on your mission, more will show up.

Another way to restore some energy is simply by going to bed. Soon after your arrival on the island, a package arrives on the dock. This package is your home. Once you accept the delivery, you have a few different options to select from. I chose the one with an outside balcony. After that, you will soon get to choose what bed you like, and once that is done, you can sleep whenever you want. This won’t completely refill your energy, but it definitely helps.

After exploring the island for a little bit, I came upon an injured dog. I figured out how to heal him, and then once I did, I had a loyal canine companion. You get to name your new friend and choose what breed you want from a few different options. I chose to have a black lab and named him Shadow. After that, I was able to pet him, and he wagged his tail as a bunch of hearts appeared on screen. Your new friend will follow you around the island at times, and at other times go off and explore on his own. At times, he will bark, and there were even a couple of times when he brought me a gift in his mouth. I also chuckled at some of the behavior he exhibited on the beach, as it reminded me of my black lab.

Once you get through the early parts of the game, it is time to really focus on cleaning your island. It is completely covered in trash and various debris. Fortunately, you don’t have to clean the entire island with just your reacher. Eventually, you will make enough money to buy items at a shop and upgrade your equipment. The next piece of equipment I started to use was a metal detector, which could suck up different pieces of metal and made trash collection much easier. The caveat is that this new method takes up more energy than simply using the reacher. As I made my way through the game, I unlocked new equipment, which made cleaning my island paradise a bit easier. While cleaning the island, I have run into wildlife in trouble, so, of course, I figured out how to help them. Once I acquired the appropriate equipment, I helped solve their issue.

There are different sections of the beach that are represented by different animals. After I successfully cleaned the first section I saw a cute little cinematic show a crab walking across the sand. I don’t want to tell you everything that is going to happen as that wouldn’t be any fun but I do appreciate how relaxing and cozy it is restoring your island.

Obviously, when you are picking up trash, you need a bin to throw it in. Garbage cans can only hold so much trash, though. Once it is full, go to the pier and sell your trash to the ship that is waiting there. By doing that, you will earn money to upgrade equipment. You can expand the amount of trash your trash cans can hold, buy multiple trash cans, raise your maximum energy level so you don’t tire so quickly, and much more. This is the basic gameplay loop. Clean up the island, sell your trash, purchase upgrades and other items, rinse and repeat. Along the way, you will come across some other things, but this is the basic loop. It can be a lot of fun, and honestly, I lost hours to this game. There was one evening when I wanted to try to get to bed early, but I also wanted to play a bit more for this review. I sat down to play, and the next thing I knew, I had spent hours trying to meticulously clean different parts of the island and upgrading my overall abilities. When hours can fly by “in the blink of an eye,” you know the game is fun to play.

For the most part, I have really enjoyed my time with Restore Your Island. My main concern is the energy usage mechanic. Having to stop cleaning my island to go search for food or buy energy really hampered my efforts at times. I could be in a nice groove, clearing off different kinds of trash using that metal detector, and then all of a sudden it would shut off because I was out of energy. It annoyed me more often than not; however, as I mentioned above, you can upgrade your energy, so at least you eventually get to the point where it doesn’t happen as often. Another minor complaint is that in some instances, the game can be fairly obtuse. I have been playing games for a long time, so I was able to figure things out, but those who don’t play games much might struggle a bit until they do.

The overall gameplay is intuitive and easy to pick up. You pick up trash with the left mouse button and put it in the trash the same way. When you get items that have different modes, you can switch modes by using the right button on your mouse. You can put the trash down using the “Q” button, and if you want to move it, all you have to do is point the cursor where you want it and hit the “Q” button again. The controls are on the lower part of the screen, so you don’t need to memorize any of this. I’m sure a lot of people will appreciate this, especially if they’re new to games. The audio in the game is fantastic. You can listen to a cassettethe player you find and the different tapes you acquire, or don’t listen to any music at all and just listen to the ambient sounds of the ocean and island around you.

Restore Your Island is a fun indie game that deserves your attention. After a stressful day, it is a great way to unwind by just chilling on the couch and helping bring order back to the island, all with your canine companion by your side. There are some nice upgrades, and it is nice to see what happens as you finish each section. Just be sure to max out the energy stat as soon as you can, and also spread fertilizer around trees that need it so they can give you more fruit.

Please Note: Paiband Game Studio gave us a code for Restore Your Island for the purposes of this review.