Gecko Gods Review

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Fast Facts

Sometimes a game comes out that reminds you of things you used to love, of memories from times gone that brought you nothing but joy.  From the outside, Gecko Gods looked like it was going to be that.  With a cute art style, simplistic charm and an atmosphere that looked as relaxing as it could be, everything was in place for this to be a joy to play.  Sadly that was not the case, read on to find out exactly why Gecko Gods did the exact opposite of what we hoped it would do.

First off, we must note that this game was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch 2 and played in both handheld mode and docked mode.  We state that because the review guide we received said that it would “provide the smoothest experience” on the Switch 2, which now makes us wonder what the original Nintendo Switch experience would have been…

Gameplay

You’re dropped into this world as a Gecko who has to explore islands to awaken the Gecko Gods, all whilst collecting currency, relics and insects.  Through solving puzzles you’re able to progress from island to island as you traverse the ocean on small wooden boat. It was hard to not draw a comparison to The Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker here, that being said it’s easy to see the Legend Of Zelda influences throughout this game too (which is far from a bad thing).

Players will have to solve puzzles, allowing them to unlock new areas and ultimately awaken the Gecko Gods. But as you’re played as a gecko though, you’re not limited to just staying on the floor.  Puzzles often have players climbing all over walls and caves to pull levers and move handles on different surfaces to solve them.  Usually starting with some form of riddle that lends to how to solve the puzzle, this adds a nice layer of depth to them as they feel inline with the story.  

However, this is where the first gripe comes in, the controls.  What seems simple to get your head around is not (and this is coming from someone who regularly plays Crimson Desert), with your character seemingly deciding when it wants to just let go of a surface causing you to fall and have to start your climb again.  Multiple times we found ourselves battling with the controls and camera more than the puzzles themselves.  It’s a great concept but the execution was not an enjoyable one.

Throughout their travels, players will find a whole host of collectibles to pick up.  Aside from filling out your collectibles page, these also allow players to unlock new colours and patterns to customise their gecko’s appearance.  This is where the currency that can be found comes in, after unlocking a specific colour players will spend a varying amount of currency on actually unlocking their chosen look.  It all comes together quite well, if only for aesthetic purposes.

Gameplay

After progressing through the opening area and into the rest of the game, aside from the sailing sections, nothing really changes. Players still have to ring bells, hit gongs etc to “awaken the Gecko Gods” but it all felt very cut and paste.   There were even block moving puzzles that would normally require a bit of thinking which were dumbed down by having indicators on each block as to where they go on the board. The sailing feels like a welcome change but it provides little more than a mode of transport between these puzzles, it would have been nice to have things to experience whilst out on the high seas.

Presentation

As for visuals, Gecko Gods has a cute cell shaded art style but we experienced multiple issues with certain surfaces flashing in and out of existence that it was very distracting and extremely annoying to witness.  Again, our review guide stated this was known for the Nintendo Switch but it was happening on our Switch 2 as well.  The audio side is calm and relaxing, but after a while you’ll notice that the same audio loops seem to be playing.  That said, when players get out onto the ocean the music that plays then is excellent and perfectly fits the bill

Conclusion

Gecko Gods had a lot of potential to be a charming platforming adventure game, however it feels like it’s releasing whilst still being in need of some TLC.  There are a lot of rough edges in Gecko Gods and these don’t feel like ones that can easily be fixed.  If fighting a camera system is your ideal of a fun time then Gecko Gods could be the one for you, but if you’re after a cute puzzle platforming experience you’d be better off looking elsewhere.

Rapid Reviews Rating

1.5 out of 5

Geck Gods is available to purchase on the Nintendo eShop here.