I’ve had a few chances to dive into Disney Illusion Island over the last few months, both with Summer Game Fest and ahead of its July 28th, 2023 launch. The time is almost here for people to head to the Island of Monoth and take on the role of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, or Goofy, and depending on their level of love for Disney, I think players will find something special here.
Disney Illusion Island is an adorable platformer that really looks geared toward younger audiences, but that is a bit misleading. Mickey and his friends are tasked to save the Hokuns after evil thieves steal their tombs. To do that, you or you and your friends will traverse various maps to collect items, dodge enemies, unlock abilities, and solve puzzles to find the tombs. Occasionally you will come across a cutscene or two, which are surprisingly adorable, but man, Donald is hard to understand!
There isn’t much dialogue during actual gameplay, thankfully. The voice acting is really only there during cutscenes. I will say it’s pretty funny. Donald is the cranky duck you’d expect, and the back and forth between him and other characters had me genuinely laughing out loud at times. CEO of Dlala Studios, AJ Grand-Sutton, is also the creative director and writer on the gaming. Having chatted with him at Summer Game Fest, his main goal for Disney Illusion Island was joy, “ This is a game all about the joy of movement and having fun with your friends.” The team has more than accomplished that.
Right off the bat, I think many players will look at Disney Illusion Island and think it is a game for children. While Dlala Studios made sure that kids or more laid-back players could jump in with no issue, I would not tell anyone this was a game meant for parents to play with their kids—more something that adults can play while being able to include less experienced players if they so choose. Yes, the game is lower stress than Call of Duty, but it still involves coordination and brain power to make it through each area.
“It’s an Open World.”
That is something I found interesting about Disney Illusion Island—it’s an open world. I would have assumed I’d be jumping from level to level, but instead, you open up your map, and it’s a big continuous area you can run around in. In fact, you’re encouraged to head back to places you’ve already been as you unlock new abilities or find new items. These could be keys to unlock doors, the ability to double jump to cross gaps, parkour off walls to climb higher, and more.
There is also no combat in the game. You can lose hearts by running into enemies, but you never kill or hurt anything. Boss fights are more like puzzles, bringing a level of peace to your late-night gaming sessions. They are also pretty forgiving; one person can complete more difficult parts if others have issues.
For completionists out there, there are five windows of items to collect: 91 Tokuns, which are like little collectors cards; 22 Mickey Memorabilia, which are little nods to Disney’s history; Glint rewards, which you get from collecting little blue orbs called glint on the map; Abilities and items, yes these are necessary for the game, but there are seven of each that you have to locate; And then accomplishments which are like achievements. These collectibles will be what keep the more serious gamers interested in Disney Illusion Island long-term, and they are why I’m itching to dive back in right now.
Part of what the team at Dlala Studios really drove home is how much they love the animation in the game, and I can see why. Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, and Donald each have their own style of movement, even when standing still. Each ability is assigned to them differently, with the double jump looking like a paper airplane for one, a rocket for another, or the wall jump as a pencil in the wall for one, or a plunger for another, etc. There is careful attention to detail and a level of creativity that I haven’t seen in a long time.
Here is where the game got me the most, though, with my kids. I sat down to play Disney Illusion Island with my kids thinking it would go horribly. I have one child who is too young to be co-ordinated yet and another who thinks he is too cool for “kid stuff.” Though the youngest one got frustrated and bored pretty quickly, Disney Illusion Island took so much into consideration when creating its accessibility options.
I could have one child with the difficulty cranked, like lower health and no assists (he didn’t need it, he wasn’t as pro as he thought), and another with everything made as simple as possible, like infinite hearts and all the assists. They could play the same game at the same pace, and no one would feel like it was too hard or easy. It was accessible to each one of us.
“There Are Some Adorable Mechanics at Play in Disney Illusion Island…”
This even applied to when my daughter would walk away and get bored but want to return every 10 minutes for approximately three steps—aren’t kids great? If someone lags behind or can make a jump or climb, they will be ported to the main player. Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to work, porting me to my kids when life would take me away for a minute. This doesn’t just apply to children either. This can be great for someone looking for a low-stress gaming session or someone just getting into gaming.
Disney Illusion Island also made some great choices regarding the map. Instead of using names and words, the map is covered in symbols to tell you where items and points of interest are. First of all, it’s just cute. Second, it was straightforward for my kids to navigate. There are small signs while you run around to tell you which direction things are in, but the map itself felt like a nice added touch.
There are some adorable mechanics at play in Disney Illusion Island, too, like the rope drop or the hug-for-hearts. You can do the rope drop to let fellow players climb to an unreachable area. A player walks to the edge, and everyone can join them! The hug is the cutest, where you hug your teammates to gain an extra golden heart. This had my kids giving me real-life hugs at the same time, which is never a bad thing. My daughter was even able to jump in for a hug to feel like she was helping when it was during her 10-minute-off segments.
Disney Illusion Island might not be full of combat, but it is a beautiful platform rich with nostalgia and action. This game will be great for couples, families, and completionists everywhere. Just because it’s cute doesn’t mean this isn’t a serious video game, and I look forward to finding all its hidden secrets.
