Len’s Island Guide
Flow Studio – a four-man Aussie indie – have been working on Len’s Island for seven years now and expect it to be finished later this year (i.e. mid 2025). I played in early access (0.9.041) and found it bug free and very polished. The final release will add a multi-player option and more design options. I’ve finished the game and completed all but one achievement (find all hidden decorations) and I’m still finding new ways to play – like putting a cannon on your boat!
It’s a great game, worth the full price, but if you are quick and read this as I’m posting, it’s currently 50% off on Steam (£12.49)
Discover, survive, and thrive in Len’s Island, where intense dungeon crawling meets open-world action RPG. Master skill-based combat, craft powerful items, build and defend your homestead, and find solace in farming. Your journey, your destiny.
In Len’s Island, your survival hinges on your skills in combat, crafting, and strategy. … Craft powerful weapons and armor, gather resources, build a fortified base, and brave the Harvest Moon for greater rewards.
… The game’s flexible skill progression system allows you to tailor your character to suit your preferred playstyle, whether you’re a fearless warrior, a master craftsman, or a dedicated farmer. With every choice you make, the world of Len’s Island evolves, offering endless possibilities and unforgettable experiences.
Journey through a procedurally generated world of striking diversity, from dense forests and tropical islands to frozen wastelands and mysterious underground caves. Build and sail your own boat to discover uncharted territories filled with unique challenges, resources, and secrets. Sell crops and resources to villagers and grow various towns and build your empire across the world.
First encounters and seasoned eyes
I’m an older player, seasoned. Seasoned enough to jump into the game and hit the ground running. In some ways there’s nothing in this game I haven’t seen before, in others, it changes the rules. Mixes them up a bit. If you are playing Stardew Valley you don’t expect to use Warcraft tactics. This game is a bit like that. My initial review after a few hours bears no relation to the final thoughts due to "Wait. What? You can do that!"
Some of it still applies as there are sections of dungeons that can only be passed with precise timing and mouse and keyboard skills. You know the type. Pass several obstacles, press a switch to active a lift, dodge more traps, all to to reach the jump point to switch off an otherwise unpassable trap. Then jump to the ground and complete the routine again, flawlessly. In a few seconds, before the trap resets.
…
First thoughts
Yep, older player – long jump is just a pain in the backside. Spam-dying trying to retrieve your backpack ‘cos you have to press 2 or 3 keys/buttons in a precise and rapid sequence is just… ‘Nah, I’m too old for this!’
Heck, I’d be about happy with a “OK, got my stuff, now to fast travel out of here!”
This is how I play – and this is just mining iron:
Die
Run back
Get stuff
try different keybinds*
*(I’m left-handed so jump and alt-gr with arrow keys seems best)
Miss the jump, fall, lose health (rinse and repat several times)
Make a fire, heal up, recycle the fire
Miss the jump, lose health several more times
Make the jump, ‘Yayyy’
…
*sigh*
Realise that I have to repeat this many more times because the place I first dropped down has no way back up, you can’t use ladders, there’s no grappling hooks and you spent all this time trying to get scraps of iron to upgrade that you don’t want to give up.
At this point it’s not a “survival” game – it’s an endure ****** key combos to jump hell.
Challenging I can live with, grind, fine – but this… THIS IS NOT FUN!
Bear in mind this is early access and things may change, but as it stands I cannot wholly recommend this game because it’s needlessly, frustratingly hard in parts.
I have changed my opinion from no to yes (with caveats to definitely yes) as the game has a lot of potential and depth, BUT the initial comments below stand – especially as it’s what I ran into in the ‘tutorial’ start (on normal difficulty)
Looking on the community posts people have had the same specific complaint for months now and the developers seems disinterested in addressing this.
I’ll allow you can tweak the custom setting to make combat etc a faceroll, but it doesn’t help with the inherent issues with the game:
Bear in mind I encountered this the first time I entered the mines in the tutorial intro!
Firstly, there’s no fast travel back home. (There are portals later, but they don’t help with this issue)
In mines you soon encounter large chasms that can be crossed with bridges you have to repair, meaning you have to take materials. (They can also be destroyed by mobs!) This is fine. I like this.
Secondly – tying in with the first point – the game relies heavily on mining and the mines – rather than being a continuous system – are a series of hard to leap across platforms – drops.
The problem is – even within the first few minutes – so you can very easily get stuck (physically no way back) – meaning you HAVE to push forward, or just give up and lose your backpack.
(You can have it recovered – for a hefty 30g – or use custom settings for it not to drop, but by default, you lose everything.)
Given this was essentially a starter area I consider this really bad design!
Pushing forward means (even on the easiest setting) enemies can get hard – fast. Like a few minutes in and they are mobbing and spamming lightning bolts at you! WTF!
However, even to push forward requires precise timing and judgement and key bashing to (try) to make a jump. And they are many, many, MANY jumps required. It’s supposed to be a survival game, not a platform game!
This in a game with a permadeath option!
(There is a ‘stuck’ option that takes you to a safe start point – at the cost of everything you carry)
Basically they have made the game so absolutely reliant on key-combo jumps that for many players – especially older players – it’s just no fun at all.
I restarted the game and am happily playing, farming, fishing, exploring – but avoiding all but the start of the mines. Given the mines are probably a third or more of the game…
Talking of exploring, there’s also no compass or mini-map. This is an aside as it may be added later but it makes sailing a pain in the backside and its omission will be a deal-breaker for some.
Maybe they’ll listen, maybe they’ll make changes, but if not, this is another game that “could have been”. It’s not that the mobs are too hard or long jumping is frustrating hard, it’s that there are jumps that look possible – but aren’t, combined with paths that block retreat.
In the first dungeon there’s a barrel on a platform. It looks maybe reachable from one side – but it’s not. This is frustrating. I tried so many times I just gave up. Next run I noticed the crane and a possible path involving several jumps. Still frustrating (poor keyboard skills) but a path, a puzzle. All good.
Yet in other places – like the first mine, there is no path!
You drop down to get the ore (titanium, which actually you can’t mine yet ‘cos you need upgrades) – and there’s no way back up. It’s a sheer wall.
STILL WITH ME?
OK, so, I worked it out – and the solution makes it all even dumber.
You can build and take apart things without losing stuff, which is cool. Seen this in a couple of games lately and I like it.
Anyway, I was in another dead end (this one with no way up, but a clear path back) and thought, “this makes no sense!”
You can click repair bridges. This makes sense. But you can’t cross much narrower spaces. And you can’t climb vertical walls. You can’t put down a ladder. There is no scaffolding. How?
Well – you build a house!
You can’t drop down – but you can build a house in the space!
You can’t climb, but you can build a house with stair and jump.
I’m liking this game more and more – but it’s BONKERS!
My inner structural engineer is looking at this and twitching: ‘So, you make a bridge by laying down house foundations and steps on a ridge – that you can’t reach because of a chasm…’
Anyway, once I figure this out I went back tooled up!
I did post a few suggestion to the developers for this though. Firstly, that they add this to the tutorial, showing new players what’s possible. Secondly, that they add bridge structures to the game, ‘cos honestly, using house foundations to bridge chasms is just silly!
Understanding the setting, the areas and how they work
It’s easiest if you divide this game by conditions. There’s open world (islands and the cave system) and then there’s dungeons.
In open world you can pretty much build anything anywhere.
You want to build an elegant pagoda on a cherry blossom island? Go for it. Want to add in a coastal defence medieval castle, complete with cannons and auto-defensive ballista? Get creative. Get all Dwarven in the mines? There’s an abundance of stone for you to do this too.
Dungeons and cursed dungeons though? Well, at times you’ll wish you had those instant erect defense turrets available!
Challenges – or not
Then there’s difficulty. This game is unusual in that you can play how you want without affecting things like achievements. Take Baldur’s Gate 3 as an example. To get the permadeath achievement and golden dice reward, well, tense doesn’t begin to cover it. This game, it’s your choice and it’s not tied to achievements. You can have permadeath and have monstering doing barely any damage – or you can have them doing up to 500% damage.
What you will find though is as you progress through and complete acts is that the monsters attacking in the open world get progressively strongly and bolder.
First steps to success
This is very much a ‘play your own way’ sort of game, but allowing that, some things have priority over others. You’ll want a fully upgraded workbench so as to have access to the irrigation system and defence turrets. This is tied with backpack space. And material gathering, of course.
You can just jump in – or you can decide ahead the sort of game you prefer. The higher your difficulty settings the more you are going to want to go slow and defensive. And fill that skill tree. There’s 200 levels giving various benefits, but how you get the experience is up to you. Killing monsters works, but so does fishing and farming, something to bear in mind if you are a completist.
There are a number of quests, many with rewards and unlocks, but – certainly in early access – they are not automatically rewarded. Instead you have to open the panel and click on it to complete.
Your first task, besides building a house, is to upgrade the town to level 2. This will unlock the pirate Lucky Jack, who will tell you about automated factories that will continually produce wood, stone, etc. These have a starting cost of 500g each and are upgradeable, but are still recommended. There’s also a more important – and free one – in the mines, if you can find it. These four should be a priority whatever setting you are playing if only for the time saving in farming. Upgraded, these supply all the materal needs for the game expect tungsten and dark essense.
The outer areas of the map are frozen wastes, freezing. Without protection you will die fast. Food can give you a minute’s warmth, while the right enchants and or equipment will give you 100% protection. All towns and nearly all the islands are connected by the vast mining and cave system. Sometimes the best paths is not the straightest.
Upgrading towns to level 3 will unlock their portals. It is also possible to put down portals anywhere else, as long as you have the resources and the design unlocked.
Farming
Like all games, farming is tedious until you get the irrigation system, but you can make a start, maybe focus on the quests and rewards – like farming equipment and tools.
Seeds for planting can be bought in the various towns and all except vine plants most can also be harvested in the wild.
Beyond your own needs and quests, farming is the easiest and fastest way to make gold in the game.
Fishing
Fishing is fairly simple in this game, but it’s fishing, so… Some fish are harder to land than others, as may be expected. The game employs small flares to single tugs. React too slow, the line breaks. React to the wrong colour flare, the line breaks.
A common fish will be 4 or 5 white flares, a bigger fish 12 white flares with one or two red, while others will be 5 or 6 of each. There in an enchant to get double catches.
Inland pools given rainbow trout and bluegill
Coastal pools given sardine, swordfish and fugu
Tuna are found further out, while pools of squid are only found in the arctic water.
Finally, anglerfish lurk in cave ponds.
Crafting and resource gathering
As I mentioned before, you can use machines to supply most of the materials in the game (wood, metal, stone, etc), but early on you’ll need to take a more hands-on approachh. So refining rocks to get iron and so forth. The video below takes a quick look at some of the options. I don’t talk, sorry, but you’ll get the idea
Town guide – notable goods
The starting area – Bridgewater – offers leather armour, a shield, a claymore, fishing rod, explorer gear and backpacks, farming equipment and seeds (blueberry, wheat, rose and marigold)
The next town, Taragon, offers druid armour and seeds (passionfruit, olive, pumpkin and lavender)
Shavar has sorcerer armour, a backpack lamp, and various seeds (cotton, grape, banana, melon, passionfruit, olive)
Finally, in the frozen wastes, Emei has winter furs, kabuto armour and a katana
Arms and armour
There are several weapons and sets of armour that can be mix-and-matched to your hearts content, depending how you prefer to play. Being less dextrous I tend to take a ‘mage tank standing in flames’ approach. You may prefer a fast-action style relying on special moves.
As can be expected, acquiring arms and armour is progress dependent, but can split into purchasable in full (winter fur, sorcerer, kabuto), purchasable in full, but offered piecemeal (druid, leather) and progress locked (e.g. fishing and farming). The rest are mostly dungeon drops, with three pieces dropping in the regular dungeons and the head piece dropping in the main act dungeon
Farming offers a weapon reward in the form of a damascus rake. Not the best weapon in the game, but if you get it early, it may be welcome. The claymore will also unlock in the starter area, and a damascus katana can be bought in Emie (2,500g), but I found the sword from the first dungeon to be the best weapon, especially upgraded. The rest are dungeon drops.
The percentages below are for a full (2/4) piece set, with the head and chest having better stats than bracers and anklewear. I’ve listed shops first, then the rest in the order you are likely to find them, based on dungeon difficulty
Farming set: blocking (1), 45% of extra seeds when harvesting
Fishing set: blocking (1), detect pools of fish in range
Exploring set: blocking (1), +10% to movement speed, 30% roll cooldown reduction, detect collectable in range (dubious!)
Shield: blocking (5), but 100% to roll cooldown
Leather armour: blocking (5), plus 20% critical hit bonus
Druid armor: blocking (5), plus 7 health per minute
Sorcerer robes: blocking (2), plus 30% reduction in ability cooldowns
Winter fur : blocking (8), plus immunity to cold damage.
Kabuto armour: blocking (4) plus 45% citical hit bonus
Wrecked armour: blocking (8), plus 40% to sailing speed
Knight armour: blocking (8), plus 20 health points
Viking armour: blocking (6), plus 40% to movement spped, attack speed and damage IF below 50% health
Spiked armour: blocking (6), plus 95% damage reflection
Ancient armour: blocking (8), elemental blocking* 50%, immunity to being set on fire BUT 26% reduction in movement
Oni armour: blocking (3), plus 20% to movement speed and attack speed
*Enchanting and blocking versus immunity
I posted to the devs noting that it would be helpful if the enchant table give the amount of enchant bonus that can be applied. For instance knowing the elemental enchant adds 10% damage reduction is good to know.
Clarifying how it’s applied would be good too.
(e.g. 100% cold resistance means total immunity to damage from the weather, whereas 100% elemental blocking means you take less damage from elements (cold, fire, lightning) but do NOT gain immunity. So, you can get 100% elemental immunity with ancient armour, a shield and the right enchants – and still die fast to elemental damage.
Similarly so with the rest. Knowing in advance that the ‘haste’ enchant on ankle pieces gives 15% movement speed will make people weigh up this against (say) another 10% elemental blocking.
It would also be helpful if similar enchants were combined and not – as sometime happens – separate.
For instance…
The sailing bonuses for wrecked armour and the sailing enchant are added to the screen separately.
The movement bonus/penalty from explorer, oni and ancient armour are addictive, but the haste enchant is separate.
I won’t list all the enchants, but will note that different items can have additional options and that come combinations are better than others depending on your play style (and any tweaking of game balance)
The first enchant should be lightning on your (sword), then life drain. 2% doesn’t seem a isn’t a lot, but it stacks, so getting mobbed by 20 critters can restore you to full health…
I haven’t tried holographic yet, but that might be good for some boss fights.
Tools (scythe, axe, pickaxe, fishing rod) can be enchanted for double resource drops, so that’s worthwhile.
Greaves (boots) can be enchanted with haste for a 15% boost to movement speed and that can make a big difference, especially when racing up to towers or against timed traps.
Wrists can be enchanted to add 15% to sailing speed, taking the wrecked set up to 55%.
Armour enchants stack and include:
Armour (+1 blocking)
Health (+5)
Elemental blocking (10%)
Cold resistance (35%)
Thorns (25% reflection)
Wrecked armour set
You can buy a map pointing to the first piece, but the rest, you have have to keep you eyes open for while exploring. One is on a skeleton, two more on cliffs. There is no sparkly “HERE WE ARE” help, so it’s very easy to walk through past and not see them. (This is doubly true for decorative artefacts).
Pet helper
There are five pet followers to collect. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to them all, but the cat is zippy, the red panda lazy, the dog helpful in gathering essence, the tiger a little helpful in encounters, while the wolf mostly seems to whine sadly.
The first pet collar can be found in a dungeon and rewards the dog follower. The rest require a bait trap and the right bait. The trap design is sold in the starter town.
The cat can be tempted with sardines and is found near the center of Bridgewater.
The wolk likes raw meat and can only be captured during the harvest moon. They can be found in any dark wood area, but just outside the Taragon is easiest.
Tigers like rainbow fish and can be found in desert areas. I found the area outside Shavar to be best.
Red panda roam on the cherry blossom islands and like bamboo.
Boss fights
I guess we all have our own fighting and play styles. I usually went with a shield and ancient armour with 100% elemental blocking or spiked armour with around 195% damage reflection through thorns.
