Pony Island

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 95%2016

$4.99

US Steam price, checked 5 h ago

The verdict

A short, clever meta puzzle game disguised as a cute pony arcade. Skip it if you dislike repetitive platforming or already played Inscryption and want more depth.

Great for

Fans of Inscryption and meta, fourth-wall-breaking indie games who want a short, surprising experience

Main risk

Repetitive, frustrating pony runner sections and simple puzzles that feel dated after similar meta games

What players love

Clever fourth-wall-breaking meta twists

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“looks like a cute little pony arcade game and then it starts messing with you in ways you never see coming.”
Steam review · 2.2 h played ↗

“I absolutely love games that break the fourth wall, and the coding puzzles in this were so good.”
Steam review · 3 h played ↗

“A very unusual game: it breaks right during the story, and you fix it.”
Steam review · translated · 3.9 h played ↗

Short and well-paced

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“This is how a short game should be done. Incredibly fun, captivating and an interesting story all compelled into 3 hours of gameplay.”
Steam review · 5.3 h played ↗

“Pretty short but, there wasn't ever a second where I felt bored by what the game was doing with it's premise.”
Steam review · 3.6 h played ↗

Great story, secrets and secret ending

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews

“the secret ending is genuinely one of the smartest I've seen and unlike anything else, go in blind.”
Steam review · 6.4 h played ↗

“AND THE SECRET ENDING TOO.”
Steam review · 5.3 h played ↗

Creative, satisfying puzzles

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews

“The hacking puzzles are clever, the meta tricks keep you on edge and it actually makes you use your brain like very few games do.”
Steam review · 2.2 h played ↗

“graphics are good, and the puzzles are good, too! it can be annoying at times but is very satisfying once you figured it out”
Steam review · 3.3 h played ↗

Great for Inscryption and Mullins fans

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews

“very cool game, if you liked inscryption you will like this”
Steam review · 3.7 h played ↗

“This is definitely a good start to Daniel Mullins Games if you have never played his games before.”
Steam review · 5.7 h played ↗

Oppressive atmosphere, style and music

Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews

“Awesome oppressive atmosphere, and the fourth wall breaks are really well done.”
Steam review · 2.8 h played ↗

“I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed the soundtrack!”
Steam review · 3.6 h played ↗

What players complain about

Repetitive, boring gameplay loop

Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews

“The problem with making a game about being stuck in a torturous purgatory playing a boring, monotonous game is that you've got to successfully create a boring, monotonous game for people to play.”
Steam review · 5.4 h played ↗

“90% of the game is doing the same thing over and over: running in a very simplistic platformer with frustrating gimicks.”
Steam review · 2.1 h played ↗

“The game is very stuffy and sometimes even boring.”
Steam review · translated · 4.5 h played ↗

Meta gimmicks feel dated and shallow

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“it was probably good back in 2016 but ten years later its just a bunch of cliche 4th wall breaks and repetitive gameplay”
Steam review · 0.4 h played ↗

“Pony Island builds a game around the idea of "being meta", instead of adding a meta layer to existing developed gameplay and narrative.”
Steam review · 2.9 h played ↗

Puzzles are too easy or tedious

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews

“the puzzles are tedious rather than clever.”
Steam review · 1.1 h played ↗

“the puzzles of placing pieces are a real pain and they take away quite a bit of the charm of the game”
Steam review · 3.7 h played ↗

Frustrating pony platforming sections

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“it felt like flappy bird if I was too close the fence > you touch it, redo, you barely touch! anyway redo the whole level, which was so annoying”
Steam review · 3.9 h played ↗

“The platforming parts of the game are absolute garbage and they make up far too much of the game.”
Steam review · 0.6 h played ↗

Grating visuals and sound with no options

Mentioned in ~1 in 15 negative reviews

“The chromatic aberration effect is very strong with no way to reduce it. It hurts my eyes after <15 of playing it.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗

“You can't disable either of these very annoying things so it unfortunately gets a no from me.”
Steam review · 0.5 h played ↗

Poor trackpad and Steam Deck support

Mentioned in ~1 in 50 negative reviews

“don't bother buying this game if you use a trackpad.”
Steam review · 0.9 h played ↗

“the game is great, but on Steam Deck it's unplayable garbage”
Steam review · translated · 2.7 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified

Minimum

OSWindows XP

Memory2 GB RAM

Storage400 MB available space

Recommended

OSWindows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10

Memory4 GB RAM

Storage400 MB available space

OSWindows XP

Memory2 GB RAM

Storage400 MB available space

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