Super Ubie Island REMIX

I went into Super Ubie Island REMIX expecting a quick, breezy afternoon, and in some ways that is exactly what it delivers. Notion Games built this around the feel of early 90s console platformers: left-to-right level progression, boss fights capped by comic-strip cutscenes, secrets tucked behind breakable paths, and a run-jump-glide movement set that sits at the core of everything. Ubie uses a red balloon to glide, which sounds like a throwaway gimmick but genuinely shapes how you read each level, turning trickier gaps into small puzzles about when to commit to a drop and when to float. There are four worlds across more than 25 levels, with environments cycling through forest, snow, desert, and beyond, each carrying its own palette and enemy type. Blob creatures, frogs, a giant pink walrus boss, a baby-seal turned grudge-holder: the bestiary is weird in the best possible way, and the comic strips that bookend each boss encounter give just enough personality to the world that you keep moving forward. The soundtrack is the game's real standout. You can toggle between the original music and the remixed edition, which leans into an upbeat, electronically-charged sound that shifts tone with each world. Forest levels hum with something soothing and propulsive, while the desert stages push closer to percussive, rhythmic energy. That musical attentiveness is the kind of handcraft I genuinely respect from a small team. It does a lot of emotional heavy lifting, keeping you from frustration in moments where the level design gets spiky. And spiky it does get. Later stages introduce heavy enemy density and no-checkpoint sequences where a single misstep restarts the whole level, a design choice that will feel bracing to veterans of old-school platformers but punishing to anyone expecting a lighter experience. The honest criticism is that the game's ambitions sometimes scatter its identity. One moment it evokes the vertical-bounce rhythm of Yoshi's Island, the next it's building Sonic-style enemy chains, then it grafts on a Rayman-adjacent glide puzzle. The individual pieces are charming, but the connective tissue between them does not always feel considered. Reviewers at launch also flagged glitches and collectibles that feel inert rather than rewarding, which remains a fair read. The hidden items and lost worker bees you can return to the queen for rewards sound great on paper but rarely give you a tangible sense of progression. Timed trials add replay incentive for completionists, though. Who is this for? Players who grew up on SNES and early-2000s indie platformers and want something short, colorful, and low-stakes. It is not a reinvention, and it carries the limitations of a small early-release indie clearly. But Ubie is a genuinely likable little alien, the balloon glide has real feel to it, and the soundtrack alone makes the playthrough a pleasant memory. Approach it as you would a well-meaning genre tribute with rough corners still visible, and you will likely leave satisfied.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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