• Price: $19.99 USD (currently on sale for $13.99 until December 22nd)
• Developer: Megawobble
• Publisher: Playtonic Friends
• Release Date: December 14, 2022

A review code was kindly provided by Playtonic Friends on behalf of Megawobble. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Those of us with siblings may (or may not) have fond memories of playing with them when we were younger. I remember my siblings and I pretending to be Pokémon trainers as kids. Sadly, there comes a time when our responsibilities begin to pile up on us, and play time comes to an end. In the adorable Lil Gator Game, they decided to tackle this topic in a fun and easy to understand way.

You’ll play as a “lil gator,” who you get to name. Your character used to play with their older sister, and they referenced a green-clad hero as they imagined their own game. The sister made a sword, shield, and hat for you to use during play time. It seems like the two have had a great relationship over the years.

Unfortunately for you, your sister ends up having to go off to school, so she hasn’t been there to play with you. Now she’s home for fall break, but she still has a lot of work to do. Your character is worried that she’s not taking any breaks, so they hatch a plan with their friends to get the sister involved by “playing the game for her.” The plan is to complete three quests – one for each of your friends – to get the hero’s sword, shield, and hat and show your sister how much fun playing can be again!

One friend has some doubts, telling you to just talk to your sister. But as a loyal friend they decide to go along with the plan for now. The group puts a lot of effort into creating life-sized cardboard cutout monsters for you to defeat on your quest. They place them all around the little island. Once you get your sword, using it on the “monsters” will destroy them and turn them into confetti, which you then recycle by using it to make yourself new hats, shields, and swords!

Completing your friends’ brief quests provides some entertainment for the group, but all that work into making the small island a play land to convince your sister to join you was for nothing. She’s got way too much work to do on a group project with uncooperative partners. But it’s not over yet! Another one of your friends mistakenly went to the larger island and started to build things for the game. So now it’s time to head over there!

Your three friends from the initial quests have now scattered around the larger island with some of their other friends. You’ll have to convince them to continue playing your game by getting their friends to agree to play as well. There are three major quests for the three friends, who have three additional friends each. They’re in different areas of the island and have their own requirements for coming to play your game. For example, one group consists of more studious kids, so you’ll have to help them with their educational activities and make their interests fit within your game. You may have to resolve conflicts in other groups. In the process of helping the critters for the main quest, you’ll meet even more characters to help and befriend. You’ll need those friends to add to your numbers for building a proper fantasy play area at the playground!

The newer island is pretty big, and besides the forest areas, there are also mountains and hills for you to climb. How does an alligator climb up such high mountains, you might ask? By using some “magical” bracelets, of course! There are also tightropes that make it easier to get around, and you can climb trees and glide through the air using makeshift parachutes.

Sometimes the large amount of tall trees made it harder to see where I needed to go, and the game lacks a map that could have made it easier to find my way around. It also took me a while to figure out how to get higher up on certain trees due to some of the limbs, and some mountains due to the rockier sides. These activities may not seem very safe for unsupervised children in real life, but as one of the characters says, “in video games, children are invincible.” 😂

I was impressed by the variety of travel methods and the amount of items we can use to do the same thing. As the cardboard enemies can’t fight back, your shield will instead be used as a sled of sorts that will allow you to slide across the ground if you’d like. When you complete quests for certain characters, you’ll get ideas for new swords or shields or hats, so you can make them and choose to switch between items like a chessboard or a dinner plate as your shield/sled. There are timed challenges that have you ride around on your shield. I found those a bit difficult, but I don’t remember them being necessary to complete the game. What I really had some fun with, though, was swimming around the island as a cute little gator!

No matter where you go or how you get there, you’ll find a colorful cast of about 50 creatures that will make you smile. My favorite had to be Esme, who is so obsessed with acting like a vampire that she won’t even leave the shade for ice cream. (Now that’s dedication!) I also liked the whale, who allows you to jump to greater heights by standing on their blowhole. Character dialogue felt well written to me, and I thought they properly conveyed the mindset of children through the dialogue while still entertaining an adult like myself.

And speaking of the storytelling, I also appreciated the way that they introduced more backstory on your character and their sister. Many areas on the island have younger versions of the two frozen in action, and you can see what they had said to each other in that memory by interacting with the pair.

I really liked Lil Gator Game’s themes; I think they’ll strike home with adult and child players in many ways. There’s a lot of emphasis on your friends having other friends and interests, and being able to blend those interests by working together and compromising. The importance of communication is another great theme, as well as the way that adult responsibilities can often get in the way. On the surface, this is indeed a cute and wholesome game, but it’s also pretty deep. The children in the game went through a lot of trouble to create a massive cardboard monster army to cover the island. And just like those kids, the developers clearly put a lot of heart and effort into Lil Gator Game.