Often times, small studios or independent developers share the dream of a successful indie game. Now, there’s a new project that’s one step closer to that milestone, even without big AAA budgets and after years of work. We’re talking about Len’s Island , a game that launched on June 19 on Steam .
What is Len’s Island?
Len’s Island is a procedurally generated open world survival game that you can play solo or in co-op with up to 8 players. You control your characters from an overhead perspective through diverse landscapes such as forests, coastlines and snowy areas, gathering resources at will and shaping the world over time with crafting and building.
Diablo-style battles and dungeons are also included. Plus, thanks to the skill and progression systems, you can decide for yourself which aspect of the game you want to devote more attention to. After a total of eight years of development and a three-year Early Access phase, Len’s Island has released its 1.0 version on Steam .
From the bedroom desk to the small studio
Len’s Island began in 2017 as a solo project by Australian game director Julian Ball . At the time, he was still working from his bedroom desk. His company, Flow Studio, now has several employees and its own office.
If you’re interested in the game’s history, you should definitely check out Len’s Island’s official YouTube channel . There, you can find a number of development diary videos from the very beginning, in which the Australian developer details the history of his project. The video below shows a summary of the progress up until the end of 2023, for example:
According to Ball, the game’s playtime is roughly 40 to 70 hours. However, as is typical of the genre, the personal value depends largely on your playstyle. In Steam reviews, there are some fans who have invested significantly more time into the game. Speaking of Steam reviews: the game currently has a “very positive” rating of 85%, with over 4,100 reviews.
The community is also quite pleased with the release version of the survival game. For example, the variety provided by different systems such as combat, farming or building, the stress-free gameplay outside of dungeons, the graphic style and the motivating progression systems are praised.
However, critics also complain about crashes and bugs. In addition, some reviews consider the current state of the game as a “good foundation” on which Flow Studio should continue to build in the future. This applies to both missing content and quality features. The fact is that the beginning of Len’s Island is good and promising.
