Do you like bunnies? Of course you do. Even if you hypothetically don’t (which I’m sure is only purely hypothetical and that absolutely no one who dislikes bunnies exists), you should still check out Usagi Shima.
Screenshot taken from the game and included with permission from the developer
Usagi Shima is a new idle game that centers around creating an island for bunnies created by solo indie developer Jess (also known by her username, _pank0) that has been in development for over two years and has finally been released. You start off with only a shop and a mostly empty island, but as you collect more carrots and golden carrots, this game’s forms of currency, you can buy new toys and decorations, create buildings and draw even more bunnies to your island. Placeable objects range from very cute-looking cushions, lamps and lanterns, and a large variety of greenery, to larger buildings like koi ponds, dumpling stands, and ramen shops. Best of all, bunnies can interact with most items (with the exception of decoration items and the lamps under the toy category), which all come with adorable animations. You can even put little hats on bunnies after a certain amount of progression!
When bunnies come to your island, they often have requests, which will trigger simple minigames. There are five types of minigames: petting, brushing, feeding, photo taking and hide-and-seek. Completing requests will grant you carrots and, on rare occasions, golden carrots. There are also daily tasks that ask for a certain amount of each type of request to be completed. You can also take photos and pet bunnies outside of these minigames, though, and all photos taken can be saved into a photo album in-game. Upon leaving, bunnies also leave tips.
The best aspect about Usagi Shima is how everything looks incredibly adorable (even the loading screens are super cute!), and how gameplay is rather low-effort and can be relaxing after a hectic day, though bunnies tend to get more demanding as you develop your island more. The game also has a nice art style, and a beautiful atmosphere that syncs with the different times of the day to match. Also, though the progression might seem slow at first, it eventually speeds up once you have enough items on your island to regularly attract bunnies. But besides how lovely everything in this game looks, it also has reasonable monetization, which is rare for many idle games. While most buildings (except the shop) have an 8-hour construction duration, which happens whenever the building is moved or placed down, they can all be skipped with a singular ad (though, even the bunny in charge of construction is cute, and do you really want to miss out on seeing another cute bunny?). In addition, ads aren’t going to be popping up in your face randomly when you play, and are only there as an option to double rewards or skip build time, and using these ads isn’t required for progression. Finally, players get an option to automatically double rewards and skip build time with a one-time payment, which is available at reasonable prices.
Usagi Shima is definitely one of my favorite idle games as of right now, due to its simple yet charming art style, the lovely ambience of the island, and of course the adorable bunnies. If you’ve ever played and enjoyed other animal idle games such as “Neko Atsume” and “Cats & Soup,” this is a game that you should definitely give a chance.
