Lil Gator Game Review – Scaly Sentimentality

Everyone has something they loved spending time with in the past – a restaurant, a daily-play video game, a group of friends – only to one day unknowingly enjoy doing so for the final time. It’s a poignant and often heartbreaking truth of how places evolve, tastes change, and priorities divert as we all grow older. Lil Gator Game’s hero is a live-action role-playing game with his sister. Gator brings his sister back from college to set up a master plan that will get her out of her studies for one last game. Gator’s Zelda-inspired Zelda adventure results in a sweet, Zelda inspired romp. It conjures bittersweet memories of the places and people with which we spent our childhoods but are no longer able to do so.

Lil Gator Game is a play date the protagonist would like to have with his sister. It draws heavily from The Legend of Zelda. Gator’s plans boil down to getting friends to help decorate and to role-play in the playground. But it feels like an epic adventure. You will find cardboard cutouts of popular fantasy characters like bats and slimes in every corner. These “enemies”, which you can use to collect loot and slash down, are available for your amusement. Although they look like these “fantasy-adventure” baddies, their bodies are inanimate and serve as window dressing and sword fodder. It is still satisfying to take them out, as they fall apart and are replaced with cosmetics.

Gator is a keen explorer and seeks out friends to assist him in renovating the playground. Gator is able to climb almost any surface, swim, jump and paraglide, in order to find his fellow island-dwellers. The most intuitive way to explore is to climb to the highest point to locate your friend and then navigate to them. It’s not difficult to lose your way when there are many similar places on the main island.

You can often complete a short quest once you have found other animals. These are so simple and easy that even though I am not a big fan of fetch-quests I enjoyed them. You can do anything from helping animals with their games to sledding down the hills using your shield. One quest that is consistent in theme required me interrupting a mother’s work call to attend her tea party. Every mission that you accomplish adds new friends to your play area, which opens the door for upgrading. There are a few main quests for Lil Gator Game. These require you to find high-value animals such as “the cool kids” or a theatre troupe to help your game. They can be broken down into multiple parts. While most quests were repetitive and uninteresting, I found them enjoyable and enjoyed adding NPCs and characters to my play area.

Gator was a younger brother to his sister when he played on the islands. Although these are just a quick monologue as Gator stumbles across areas, they made me more invested in today’s story. The story ends in a series of sweet meditations that remind us to be present no matter what happens. We are often forced to live up to expectations from the outside world as we grow older. This can lead us to lose things that we love. Lil Gator Game reminds you that no one is perfect. 

Lil Gator Game’s main story is just over five hours long. However, it’s short and sweet. It was a great time to explore every corner of the globe for loot and new friends. When the story ended, I was struck by how the game conveyed a powerful and moving message about the importance of balancing our lives. While Lil Gator Game might not be my favorite Zelda-like, it will remain with me for the longest time.