Lil Gator Game

A wholesome adventure.

I recall moments of my childhood when I would convince myself that some random stick was some magical sword or a lightsaber, given that Star Wars was a brand-new phenomenon at the time. Acting out scenes from the movie, making those sounds as I swung it left and right, thinking that I was either the hero or its intimidating villain. As a child, you often had to work with what you had. That tree stump? Well, that was a mystical table. That rock? Well, it probably was just a rock, but it had purpose in some way. Lil Gator Game leans into this childlike sense of imagination, having you take part in a fantasy game that encompasses the whole island, all in an attempt at reliving a joyous memory with your sibling. 

Lil Gator Game is built around the titular Lil Gator and his older sister. As the pair grew up, the older sibling would create a game for her younger brother, charging him with a quest that is very much inspired by The Legend of Zelda, even pointing out that the hero is often green, something that Lil Gator is very much excited about. However, as the years pass, the older sister focuses more on her academics, often too busy to take part in this game and unfortunately for Lil Gator, even her visits are often met with her working on assignments and projects to even have any time to spend with him.

The game takes place during one of these visits as while Lil Gator is attempting to get her attention by recreating her game, complete with having his friends set up cardboard threats all around a small island, her focus on her studies prevails and everything that Lil Gator attempts to do to get her attention simply fails. It’s not until you approach the second island, a much larger land mass where a friend of our hero has mistakenly set up the game, confused on which island the initial game was to take place. This error however plays into Lil Gator’s plans and this bigger and more expansive game is only going to work if every single person on the island gives it their all. 

Energized with a plan that will make his older sister stop with her studies and join them in the game, Lil Gator will be tasked with tracking down his friends and their respective friend groups, all busy with various things like their own personal studies or wanting to look cool by simply standing around doing nothing. Each of these friend groups will have to be individually convinced to join in on this pretend adventure, to take part in this fantasy game in order for Lil Gator to woo his sister away from her project. 

What truly works for Lil Gator is how wholesome this whole experience is. Lil Gator is fully committed to his fantasy adventure, picking up sticks to use as swords, a pot lid as a shield, and even a spell that allows his eventual transformation into a vampire that then allows him to walk around in the sun. The clever use of his determination to make things work within the game is what fuels so much of the game’s charm. Every obstacle in his way lends itself to his game, one that he keeps attempting to make bigger and better in order to get his sister’s attention. 

While the bulk of this adventure is the act of pretending and having fun, there is an overarching theme of ensuring that your life never loses that sense of fun, even when you feel you’ve grown out of it or simply are caught up in the responsibilities of being an adult. Lil Gator’s desire to continue that act of playing with his sibling isn’t lost at any point in the game as you’ll see these ghostly instances of him and his sister playing the game she enjoyed creating for him. The themes and lessons that are displayed here certainly did a great job of resonating with me, thinking about the times that my younger sister and I would act out our own adventures.

What allows this game to excel comes down to how well its dialogue and character moments are written. Lil Gator’s encounters with various people on the island, whether they are involved in the game or not, or are soon to be, are extremely well done. There is such a joyous charm to the young Gator, allowing his excitement about the game to infect others and even you, fueling your desire to track down more possible friends to help in making the fantasy game bigger and better. 

One such moment is where you need to convince the cool kids to activate the fountain. One of them is a squawking duck that doesn’t appear to talk. However, when you approach him when he is away from friends, you’ll see speech bubbles indicating that he does in fact talk. However, calling him out on it results in you staging this courtroom drama alongside one of the other friends. This moment works well due to a moment where the friend calls the duck by his name. However, Lil Gator realizes that if the duck only ever squawked, then how would his friend even know the name? This scene actually had me laugh out loud due to how well it conveys this reveal, allowing the scene to be this simple affair but its execution sells it as this big moment of hilarious drama. 

As you explore the island as Lil Gator, you’ll be slicing away at cardboard threats in the form of monsters and other obstacles. They won’t attack you as it’s all pretend, but you’ll encounter other kids on the islands that are “under attack” and you’ll be tasked with clearing them out. These moments are charming, especially when you find those who have tasks for you. While some are as simple as picking up a pencil a few times as they keep dropping it, others are larger in scale yet still remarkably simple, given that each kid has a different level of creativity. 

This simplicity also translates to the game’s visuals as the bright and colorful island is packed with the colors of fall. Orange, red, yellow, and green trees adorn the island, surrounded by water and countless hills and mountains. Everywhere you can see can be explored, although, you’ll need to track down special bracelets in order to increase your stamina, allowing you to climb further and higher. You’ll also have a shirt that you can use to glide as well as the ability to shield-surf, allowing Lil Gator to get around with increased mobility. Each of these mechanics is noticeably borrowed ideas from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but since Lil Gator is effectively Link in this fantasy world, the borrowed elements feel natural here as they are meant to be inspirations for the creation of this fantasy game. 

Your quest on the island may be to entice your older sister to join in on the fun, but the various groups you’ll invite to the playground each have ideas on how to create a part of the town that is built there. Each group will need a certain amount of people to build their addition, so tracking down new friends on the island is an important goal. Seeing the “town” be built and grow into something massive is a real spectacle, and helps in making this fantasy game become something more than just swinging a stick around at “monsters”.

As you complete these quests or cut down the cardboard menace, you’ll be rewarded with paper currency and a few tangible rewards. From a bucket to wear as a helmet or an axe made from a stone you found on the beach, Lil Gator can equip these items or use them in some way, often for recruiting more friends to your game. The currency itself I found useful to buy more bracelets, increasing the stamina that I could use to wander about. While you’ll start the game with nothing more than a sword, you’ll soon earn a space blaster to hit monsters that float in the sky to paper ninja stars as well. 

While the entirety of this game is incredibly wholesome and lends itself to a very enjoyable experience, I did have a few issues that were a bit of a miss for me. Lil Gator has various quests you can take on as well as numerous characters to track down. However, it lacks a compass or map to help you find your way, or even a quest list to keep track of the various requests you have upon the island. While I can understand the lack of a objective marker due to the act of being a kid and using exploration to find your way, the game can feel largely directionless in ways that I could see younger players being at odds with and often losing their way or what they were working on. Neither of these issues ruined my time by any means but were issues that were on my mind for the bulk of my time here. 

Lil Gator Game does a remarkable job at allowing me to live out that act of pretend that was far more present when I was a kid and compliments it with a story that can be both silly and yet very mature for digging deeper into its themes and lessons. While I have gripes with some of its presentation and direction, Lil Gator Game is a joyous little adventure with a lot of charm and heart. And with new content recently added to the game, as well as new game+, and localizations for a lot more languages, there has never been a better time to strap a bucket to your head and slash out at the numerous monsters that lurk within the mystical and dangerous cardboard. 

New content now available: Lil Gator Game’s New Game+ provides a whole new level of exploration from the get-go. Using completed saved data from previous playthroughs, players can use their stacked toolkit and bracelets of power to customize their lil’ hero and wander the vibrant islands completing quests.

As if that wasn’t enough, players can now play Lil Gator’s ‘baby mode’. Accessible right away from the setting menu, players can climb, swim, and glide the whole game as the rambunctious kiddo!

In addition to New Game+ and ‘baby mode’, Lil Gator Game has been translated into French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish (Latin American). Now, more players than ever can explore Lil Gator’s world of childlike wonder and discover new friends along the way.

Whether you’re gaming on the go on the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck, or keeping it cozy at home, we can’t wait for you to dive into another adventure in Lil Gator Game with New Game+.

Developer - Megawobble. Publisher - Playtonic Games. Released - December 14th, 2022. Available On - Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/Series, PS4/5, Windows, Mac. Rated - (E) - No Descriptors. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch / Undocked. Review Access - A review code was provided by the PR/publisher for the purpose of this review.