Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (2021) Review

Developer: ustwo Games

Platform: PS5

Length: 3-5 hours

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is one of the most chill games I've ever played.

Alba is a young girl who goes to visit her grandparents in Spain for a week on vacation. They live on a beautiful island that is home to many different animal species, but certain areas have been neglected over time, leading to pollution and the local tourism industry struggling.

I want to go to there.

The local mayor believes the solution to the town's woes is to build a luxury hotel where a nature reserve had once thrived, but Alba is determined to restore the local ecology instead and promote the island's unique biodiversity.

To achieve this, you need to help out the locals to get their signatures for the petition to stop the development. Gameplay is focused on photography, with each animal snapped inching you closer to the goal. There's no way to fail any challenges and there's no urgency, so you're free to relax and take it at your own pace.

There are spots around the island to sit and admire the view.

Audio plays a big part in this. There is a small amount of music, but as you wander around the islands it's mostly environmental ambient sounds of insects and birds and the lapping of waves that helped to create a zen, low stress setting to explore.

On PS5 there's some added DualSense support, but as the visuals are more stylised than realistic, it can really be enjoyed on any platform including Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck.

Helping out at the farm.

If you're looking for a shorter experience on a cozy weekend, I highly recommend Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.