Although winter might no longer be as cold as it used to be, I still yearn for the warmth of summer. How fortunate am I then to be able to dive into Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island and bask in its sunshine and Grecian vibes? I was delighted to be given the chance to review this, as I had been anticipating the game for what feels like ages now. Get shipwrecked on a gorgeous island, befriend ancient deities, and figure out a mystery through fetch quests. Mythwrecked feels like it was tailored to my particular tastes.
For a non-religious person, 2024 has been a year where I’ve gotten in touch with a lot of gods, whether it be battling them in Hades II or saving their behinds in The Holy Gosh Darn. But one thing has been constant in these experiences: they have offered up some of the most divine times I’ve had this year. And I feel very lucky that I can add Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island to this very niche yet excellent list.
If you’ve seen the key art or the trailer for this game, you might not immediately recognise these characters as gods. You play Alex, who is a regular ol’ human, and the NPC’s featured in the visuals look like pretty modern people too. The pale boy in the ‘Ded’ crop top hoodie, the builder in a wheelchair, or the couple who look like they might be leading a cult: Polygon Treehouse have given us their unique spin on how these gods might have evolved into modern times.
It’s quite the step away from the wintery wonderland of Röki, and yet it feels like a very logical progression for the British studio. Their debut game showed us that they know how to tackle weighty subjects like myths and folklore, and even if the character’s designs aren’t your thing, their personalities will win you over.
Although that takes some time, since, well, when you arrive, these gods no longer remember who they are. They’ve forgotten about their own pasts and have locked themselves away from the others in an attempt to remain safe. They no longer possess their godly powers, instead being distracted by their Ambrosidex, a digital device that offers them everything they need.
And that’s where you come in: after getting shipwrecked on the island, you set out to find help, only to be met by the Oracle, a statue that is somehow able to communicate with you. It gives you an Ambrosidex of your own and asks you to help out the island’s inhabitants. Find hidden memento’s to jig their memory, and do little fetch quests like feeding the birds or restoring the wind turbines around the island. Get the gods to trust you, and find out the mystery of what exactly has happened here.
It’s an intriguing setting for sure, and it could have lent itself to something more than a game that is basically just being a delivery person. But, and this is really important to remember: with the gameplay, the writing, the music, and the visuals being this good, it doesn’t need to be anything more than this. It’s basically what every cosy gamer has been begging for: a game within their genre that doesn’t feature farming. Unless you count using Ares’ orchard to grow Ambrosia fruit as farming…
What is this Ambrosia fruit? I hear you ask. It’s basically the currency needed to trade with the gods once you’ve befriended them. Sometimes all you can trade for is decorative things to liven up the lighthouse where you’ve found your new home, but other gods have far more valuable things up for trade. But no need to save your fruit for the right things: the island is absolutely overflowing with bushes from which it grows. Seriously, they’re literally everywhere, and the fruit regrows within about a day. So spend lavishly and discover everything this game has to offer!
Because it’s totally worth it. Through the fetch quests you undertake, you get to learn so much lore on the Greek gods, whether it’s their classic tales or the evolution to what they are today. There are messages in bottles scattered around the island, pillars full of historical texts, and even snow globes you can collect as souvenirs. However, most of the info you get will come from the conversations you have with the different gods, and let me tell you: they are so well written. They needed to be in a game based on dialogue, but the team really delivered here. You get to form a real connection with these gods, from earning their trust to befriending them.
The only thing I regret is that there wasn’t any budget for full voice acting. Now, these characters will grunt or giggle, but all dialogue is written. And because there’s so much talking, the few grunts or giggles get repetitive quite quickly. Am I being nitpicky here? Absolutely, but I feel it would be unfair not to mention it. Does it take away from the quality of the game? Absolutely not. But voice acting would’ve given these seriously interesting characters even more personality, which would’ve been a lovely touch.
Especially since the end of the game can be a little… underwhelming. It’s not a bad ending whatsoever, but—without spoiling anything—it goes by in a flash. You spend about 8 hours building up to this epic finale, and then you blink, and the end credits are rolling. So my advice here would be to take it all in and not speed through it. There’s a story worth telling here, even if it gets a tiny bit preachy.
We also get to know very little about Alex. There is some suggestion throughout Mythwrecked that it’s no accident that it’s you who ended up on the island. But there’s very little personal involvement on an emotional level here. Alex is basically there to help. And while it’s lovely to see someone who so freely helps others, there’s no real motivation to Alex’s actions or any evolution or personal growth going on. You just help out these characters, and you want to go home in the end. It would have been nice to be able to form a connection to Alex in the same way you do to the gods.
In an age where games have become stacked with things to do yet suffer from a lack of polish, it’s refreshing to play something that dials down the amount of activities but absolutely delivers on production quality. There wasn’t a bug in sight in Mythwrecked, and the activities that are there really pull you in. This is only the second game this year I struggled to put down, with its fetch quests keeping me going way after bedtime. If you’re looking for a cosy, wholesome, and sun-drenched adventure, there’s nothing better than Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island.
Release Date: 5th Dec Platforms: PC, Xbox & Switch Developer: Polygon Treehouse Publisher: Whitethorn Games
Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.
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