Review: Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is a realistic version of Pokémon Snap

I’ve got a fondness for games that sit you down on a map and let you run freely, completing things in the time that you want to, and Alba: A Wildlife Adventure delivered on that. The idea of running all over town to take pictures of animals was a charming idea that calls back to Pokémon Snap. 

Gameplay and Controls

You play as Alba, a young girl whose grandparents live on an island that you visit once a year. The island is filled to the brim with all kinds of wildlife and even has a nature reserve. Or, had a nature reserve. A fire the prior year did heavy damage to the conservation.

Armed with a camera and a wildlife guide, you set out in search of cataloging the animals around the island in hopes of seeing an extremely rare lynx that you saw in your younger years. Along the way, you’ll help residents who will arm you with tools that you can use to pick up trash or rebuild smaller areas around the island.

The hope is that you, with the help of your friend Ines, will start the first steps to bringing the nature reserve back and restore the damage that was done to it. There’s just one problem, instead of focusing on bringing the reserve back, the mayor has partnered with a hotel mogul that intends to place “the biggest hotel in the world” down where the reserve is.

Now, you’re not only taking stock of animals, but you’re on a mission to gather signatures to petition the mayor to stop the building of the hotel.

You only have a week on the island, so the gameplay is broken up between the days. My advice is to catalog what you can that first day but don’t waste time trying to get 100% right from the start. Some of the animals, especially the more rare of them, are only triggered by completing certain actions and some of those don’t happen on the first day.

The last couple of days on the island kind of zoom and the narrative is taken from you, making you concerned that you might not be able to finish some things. But, fear not! After the credits roll, you can return to the island to finish up the last of the items tasked to you.

It was a lot of fun and I really appreciated that when you’re looking through the viewfinder at an animal, it will tell you if you’ve already cataloged that one. It really helped to streamline things. 

Art and Sound

The art style for Alba: A Wildlife Adventure was a really interesting rounded aesthetic that made me think of claymation styles. It was super cute and very charming.

Perhaps the most notable use of art, however, was the detail of the animals. A lot of work went into bringing realism into the design. Each depiction of the animals was brought to life in how their patterns and colors were recreated. 

As for sound, the music was a really cute, upbeat tune that was used sparingly and so it made me enjoy the moments it came on even more. Had it been on a loop, I probably would have been tired of it by the time I finished the game.

Instead of putting a heavy focus on musical scores, the team really nailed the intent behind the game by leaving the sounds of the animals and the atmosphere at the forefront of what we hear. Not only that, the animal sounds weren’t generic in the least. Each animal had their own voice and I’m sure it was an accurate representation of what the real animal sounds like.

Cozy and Cons

Alba: The Wildlife Adventure is a super cozy game that lets you run around at your own pace. There are some forced narrative moments, but for the most part, you’re in control! I had a lot of fun running around and trying to find animals. 

I liked that it wasn’t just taking snapshots, though. Being able to pick up trash, help neighbors with some chores, and rebuild birdhouses or signposts brought in the incentive to really explore every bit of the island.

As far as cons go, there was a small bug that clipped the view beneath the floor, but I couldn’t recreate it after it had initially happened. And as small of a qualm as it is, I really wish there had been an achievement tied to completing the guide or cleaning up the island completely, but that’s just me.

All of the achievements are tied to the days and overall story tasks, so I would have liked to see some tied to the work you were doing around the island.

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure Verdict

I had a lot of fun playing Alba: A Wildlife Adventure. With pumping out reviews for the site and getting through the holidays, I was in a bit of a game slump. Alba was a perfect little segue back into the gaming space. 

It’s fun for all ages and brings a very important message across that ‘wildlife spaces are important and need to be protected’. During the credits, the game gave some very important information about places you can go to make efforts to help which I’ve added below.

If you want to try Alba: A Wildlife Adventure for yourself, you can get it over on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One for $16.99.

This isn’t the first game we’ve reviewed from ustwo Games. You can see what we thought about Assemble with Care.

Disclaimer: Comfy Cozy Gaming may earn a small commission when a purchase is made using our affiliate links for Green Man Gaming (the link to the Steam version, in this article).