Developer: Chibig
Publisher: 101XP
Platforms: PS4, PC
Tested On: PC
Deiland – Review
A lot of Kickstarters are finding their way to consumers lately. Adventure RPGs have always been a popular genre that have a lot of releases. Let’s introduce another: Deiland. Chibig started the saga with a mobile version called Deiland, Tiny Planet in 2016. The game got a lot of positive feedback but there was still room for improvement. Now, two years later, they return with a better, new version for PS4 and PC.
Story
A very long time ago children were sent to Minor Planets. Four princes, each sent to a different planet. They had to awaken the magic of the Crystals kept within the planet’s interior. The story revolves around Arco, a ten year old boy who lives on the smallest planet called Deiland. He wears a red cape (which kind of looks like a scarf) and a pendant with a Crystal stone. Arco doesn’t know any of this in the beginning; not about his past nor about the purpose of him being on Deiland. As the game progresses, he will have a better understanding of things.
Deiland introduces a charming story. The idea of presenting the story along the way works out great. Bits and pieces fall into place along the way; a visitor telling you about the princes, random screens whispering things to you when you to go sleep, etc. It definitely works in the game’s favor. Introducing the story at the beginning would take away the fun of discovering your purpose, which makes the game extra interesting.
Graphics
Featuring 3D graphics, Deiland is highly enjoyable to look at while playing. Seeing as it’s largely inspired by The Little Prince, the comfy and cute artwork makes sense. The characters all have fitting clothing and look vibrant in their own way. The same goes for the planet and the objects on it. It all just looks properly drawn and executed.
Sound
The developers themselves said that they find music to be an important way of transmitting emotions in a video game. Deiland’s soundtrack sounds peaceful and adapts to different occasions. Visitors to the planet get their own amusing sound, waking up happens in a soothing atmosphere, etc. Even though sometimes there is no music to enjoy, the experience is never spoiled.
Gameplay
Deiland is a single-player adventure RPG with sandbox elements. It’s available in English, German, French, Spanish and Valencià. You take care of your own little planet, complete quests, build stuff and make your own unique habitat. The game saves automatically, which is always a great and welcome feature.
You start off easy by being on your planet with a small, basic house, some farming land, a few trees, bushes and rocks and a small pond. Throughout the game you can upgrade your house with a workshop, kitchen and laboratory. In order to upgrade you will need to gather various supplies. The farming land is used to grow food, supplies or vegetables to sell and can also be upgraded in order to grow more. Along the way you can start building wells around your lands so you can water your crops in order to get it growing faster. Building fences around it will keep away unpleasant visitors.
Trees can be cut down and the wood can be used to make various items. You’ll have to find a good balance between cutting down trees for wood and keeping them alive for seeds. Plenty of rocks are available on Deiland, which sometimes give you special minerals such as metal and silver and gold ores. Fishing in the pond requires larvae, which you can buy from visitors. The fish can be used to cook special brews or can be put up for sale.
Deiland also introduces survival techniques like hunger and fatigue. On the top of your screen you’ll see three bars; a red one, a blue one and a yellow one. The red one indicates your health. Health can be restored by eating. Standing close to your campfire will also make the healing process go faster. The blue bar indicates how tired you are. When this bar runs out, you can’t accomplish any more tasks and need to sleep for a little while. The yellow bar indicates your level progress and how much more XP you need until you level up. You can find the hunger feature next to these bars. It is indicated by a ham with a circle around it. If the circle is full, you’re satisfied. Make sure you keep an eye on this because if you’re too hungry you’ll start losing health points.
There is more to find at the top of your screen. Some things will be indicated, for example when there are growing mushrooms on your planet. The amount of mushrooms will also be indicated but not where you’ll find them. Enemies such as bees and random green blobs will also be shown there, next to a warning. The amount of enemies will also be indicated and an arrow will show in which direction you’ll find them. Next to mushrooms and enemies things like rain, meteorite showers, visitors, etc. will also be shown there.
Of course your planet will get visitors every now and then; good and evil. These have a timer and take off after one minute. Your first visitor will be Mûn, an explorer in the Interstellar Patrol. She will help you along the way by giving you quests to fulfill. Other visitors include Locke and Brram. These guests (except Mûn) will not only give you quests and help you discover who you are but will also give you a chance to buy supplies you need. You can also sell things to them. Some will pay more for certain items; this will be indicated by a star. Visiting other planets in your universe is also possible, which will bring you special quests and items.
The planet is rather small, and often you have to wait for crop or trees to finish growing, a visitor to return to complete a quest, etc. This sometimes gives you a dull moment. The one thing you can always do is break rocks and gather stone. This is fine since you need stones for various things but if you have 500+ stones in your inventory you just don’t feel like doing any more of it. The waiting and checking up on things to see if they’re finished sometimes gets boring. Luckily these moments never last too long so the experience isn’t really ruined.
Conclusion
Deiland is a relaxing RPG. The graphics are adorable and suiting. The sandbox elements make the game very fun and reminds you of games like Stardew Valley. The calming farming and fishing combined with the random meteor attacks and enemies showing up definitely makes a good balance. Visitors serving as both merchants and quest givers makes them more interesting. The only demerit is the occasional passing of time which can become quite boring. Deiland is available on PS4 already and should be releasing on Steam soon. Chibig got a winner.
Deiland - Review,
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