Release Date: January 4, 2016
Unusual independent game created by Daniel Mullins for the Ludum Dare 31 in 2014 and then released for the Steam platform. The player directs a character trapped in a diabolic game, and his task is to get out and save his soul. Pony Island stands out mainly due to its gameplay.
Pony Island, released on PC, is a short and unusual production combining classic arcade titles with a logical game. The game was developed by Daniel Mullins, known from Grav (2013) and educational Agent Maxwell: Master of Math. Pony Island was founded as part of the 31st edition of the Ludum Dare competition in 2014, and two years later it made its debut on Steam.
In Pony Island, we play as a player who starts an adventure with a fictional production of the same name. It soon turns out that the program doesn't work as it should, and despite the innocent name, it has a truly hellish origin. Our goal is to outsmart the malicious application and its creator. Our success will save the unfortunate souls trapped in the application.
The gameplay in Pony Island is very unusual. Initially, the game appears as an 8-bit arcade title, in which we control a pony moving to the right and avoid obstacles. However, after a while the fun and unrestricted gameplay changes, forcing us to cope with further logical games referring to hacking and programming. As we pass the stages, the riddles become more and more complex and the skill levels become more challenging.
An important feature of Pony Island is the continuous breaking of the fourth wall. The title uses various mechanics to remove the boundary between fiction and reality. On the desktop of the virtual computer, you will find smaller games and text files with Pony Island walkthrough. We use the chat windows to have conversations with characters, whether with the creator of the fictional game or a mysterious user called "H0peles$0uL".
As for the graphics, Pony Island represents a style typical for independent production, also stylized on classic arcade machines. Therefore, the title doesn't offer much in terms of audiovisuals, with 2D (albeit suggestive) graphics and simple colors. The same applies to the sound, which isn't much different from what we could hear in 8-bit productions. However, the soundtrack by Jonah Senzel does a great job emphasizing the unusual atmosphere of the game.
Platforms:
PC Windows
Developer: Daniel Mullins Games
Publisher: Daniel Mullins Games
Age restrictions: 16+
Similar Games:
System Requirements for Pony Island Video Game:
PC / Windows
Minimum System Requirements:
Intel Pentium 4, 2 GB RAM, graphic card Intel HD or better, 400 MB HDD, Windows XP.
Recommended System Requirements:
Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, graphic card Intel HD or better, 400 MB HDD, Windows Vista/7/8/10.
Game Ratings for Pony Island Video Game.
VideoGamer: 9 / 10 by Tom Orry
I haven't played anything as engaging and interesting as Pony Island in a long time.
The Jimquisition: 9.5 / 10 by James Stephanie Sterling
Pony Island is bloody genius.
Destructoid: 9.5 / 10 by Laura Kate Dale
Pony Island messes with players in unexpected ways that stuck with me for days. It took a number of unexpected turns that caught me off guard and was constantly filling me with a sense of inescapable unease. It wasn't on my radar at all before it released, but at under $5 it's a wonderful use of two hours of your life.
The main pros of the game
The main cons of the game
The features or elements that are missing from the game according to users
Summary
Summary generated on:
Average score from votes.
