It feels like I’ve waited forever for Gecko Gods to come out. I remember first seeing it listed on the Switch eShop a while ago, and it gripped my interest right away. An open-world puzzle adventure game with geckos sounded ideal.
As it turns out, Gecko Gods is a charming game with a relaxed gameplay style and clever puzzles. This makes it an ideal gentle, atmospheric adventure game.
Gecko Gods is now available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch for $19.99.
Story – The Lone Gecko
You control a cute little gecko with no given name; they’re simply the gecko. Although no concrete storyline or backstory is established, the goal of Gecko Gods is simple: to travel across the various islands scattered around the map, navigating the numerous caves and temples, completing puzzles until you reach the final one: a volcano island where your final trial awaits.
From what I’ve gathered, the gecko has set out to prove themself to the titular gecko gods, who appear as sacred statues across the different islands. The birds you can talk to, who also help point you in the right direction for your adventure, also support this storyline.
Gameplay – The Cutest Gecko Adventure
Gecko Gods is an open-world puzzle adventure game, which makes a perfect combination. It’s like Uncharted, but with a gecko, and much slower paced and more relaxing.
A Big World for a Little Gecko
One thing that really makes Gecko Gods work (among other things) is its open-world gameplay. It truly creates this sense of just getting out there and seeing what you can find, what there is to discover. Gecko Gods is all about exploring and discovering.
Gecko Gods is all set in one big world containing a series of islands varying in sizes, as well as each offering their own temples, dungeons, puzzles, plus insect and relic collectibles.
To get to each of these islands, you can travel via a little sailboat you can take control of. Although the controls are relatively simple (just adjusting a lever to move left and right and also controlling forwards and back motion), they can sometimes feel a tad clunky, almost like you’re never 100% sure how they work.
Saying this, in the mini games where I had to sail through glowing rings to unlock new areas, I had no trouble controlling the boat then, so it’s not a huge issue.
Although the controls can feel a little clunky, riding around on the boat is quite fun.
The Flexible Gecko
Playing as a gecko has several useful upsides. For one, watching them scuttle about everywhere is really cute and funny, but the main thing is their physical abilities. They have the unique feature of being able to climb across any surface at any angle, whether they’re scaling a wall or scuttling across a ceiling.
They can also jump from great heights without the danger of being harmed (although you sometimes clip through the world, but this can be quickly remedied). The gecko can also slip through tight gaps. This makes exploration so much easier, and gives you vast amounts of freedom. No need to skirt around that giant temple or mountain blocking your way.
My only slight criticism regarding the gecko’s physical abilities is that I wish they could jump further. Their jump is more like a tentative little skip, which can sometimes make navigation quite tricky when having to jump more important gaps. Still, this may be more realistic in how the gecko functions.
The gecko is very flexible and can scale any surface, making exploration much easier.
Puzzles to Solve
Puzzles are a key feature of Gecko Gods, and you’ll come across many of these in your gecko’s adventure across the different islands. You have to navigate mazes of temples and dungeons to reach the end and find your way out.
The puzzles themselves are very clever, involving levers and doorways and rotating panels and connecting lines and lining up mirrors. I found them challenging for the most part but not impossible. One or two puzzles had me a bit stumped, but finally reaching the end of a section was very satisfying.
Puzzles generally involve levers, balls, connecting lines, and more.
A Little Combat
One thing that is slightly misleading about the description of Gecko Gods concerns its supposed “absence” of combat. This isn’t strictly true. Throughout your adventure, you may encounter strange-looking creatures that can attack you on sight, usually with projectiles. Fortunately, these are easy to defeat by charging them, sometimes several times.
The combat isn’t hard or arduous; it doesn’t stop you from enjoying the game, but is it there, even if it is small.
A Collection of Insects and Relics
If you enjoy collectibles, you might like the two found throughout Gecko Gods. These are insects and relics, found on all the islands, including the smaller ones.
Relics
Relics are little orange statues found hidden around the islands. Usually, you have to open a panel to reach them. Collecting these relics serves as an extra slice of puzzle adventure.
Insects
Insects can also be found on the islands, with 2-6 different ones on each island, all of them unique. They can be butterflies, dragonflies, crickets, beetles, and even mantis. They’re all distinctly colored so you can’t miss them, and they’re often on the move, found in little clumps.
To obtain an insect collectible, you have to eat them by darting at them. You only need to eat an insect once to “collect” it. The ground bugs are easiest to catch, while the flying butterflies and dragonflies are trickier.
Tracking Collectibles
These collectibles are tracked on one page together, grouped by island. Greyed out insects and relics tell you what you’re missing, so you can figure out what you need to look out for.
As an added note, after completing the final temple of Gecko Gods and after watching the credits roll, you unlock an endless game mode where you’re free to find the missing collectibles.
Insects and relics are found everywhere on the islands.
Gecko Customization
One feature I really like about Gecko Gods is being able to customize your gecko. You can’t dress them up in little hats and outfits and such, but you can change the color and pattern of their skin. As you progress further, you unlock more skins.
These skins aren’t free though. You have to buy them with credit collected around the island, primarily by smashing vases and defeating enemies. These are vast in number though, so saving up enough credit is easy to do.
Customization is also completely optional; it’s just a fun little extra, but it doesn’t do anything to change your gecko’s abilities, such as running or jumping faster or higher.
Graphics & Audio – Sublimely Exotic
I love the way that Gecko Gods not only looks, but also sounds. The graphics are just wonderfully striking, really capturing that exotic, arid look, with all the beautifully-designed temples, flora, decorative vases and statues and paintings and banners, with the vast blue sea as the backdrop. Through my TV screen, I could feel the warmth of the world.
I especially love the design of the gecko. It’s adorable, but not overly cartoony, going with a nice and simple realistic appearance. The addition of customization options is the cherry on top. I had fun unlocking and combining different colors and patterns.
Gecko Gods also has a great soundtrack that plays throughout, whether you’re traversing the sea to your next island, exploring outside or inside a temple, or solving a puzzle. It sets the mood and theme perfectly. I also want to add that I adore the little squeaking sound the gecko makes when you hit the interact button. It’s just so precious!
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- The temples are adorned with wall paintings and statues.
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- Gecko Gods has a transitional day/night cycle.
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- The islands vary in design, including a desert and volcano island.
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- The islands contain temples with dungeons to navigate.
Gecko Gods was played and reviewed on PlayStation 5.
