Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is a conservationist's Pokemon Snap

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, the unseasonably sunny new game from Monument Valley developers Ustwo Games, is taking us birdwatching in the Mediterranean next month.

Announced earlier this summer, we've so far known little about Alba's upcoming winter holiday—save for the idea that the young girl gets wrapped up in some kind of animal rescue adventure during a trip to visit her gran.

With today's new trailer, Ustwo has pulled out the tour brochure to fill us in on our vacation activities. It seems the island is a right state on your arrival, littered over and neglected. It's up to you, your dad, and your best mate to get the town together and fix up the place.

There's no rush, mind. A self-described "chillectathon" (sorry), Alba's island simply looks like a serene place to poke and prod at—a refreshingly earnest, family-friendly adventure. It looks like every new corner offers new paths to repair, people to chat to, and tangled dolphins to rescue.

It's that last one that really grabs me, mind. See, Alba sports an entire ecosystem of fauna to track down and snap. You've got a catalogue of creatures on hand, with entries to help you narrow down your search as you sleuth for that elusive Eagle or Lynx. I reckon this'll end up being the meat of the game, skulking across the landscape to fill up your scrapbook.

It also sounds kinda like Bugsnax, but without the fast-food body horror.

This is Ustwo's second outing on PC, following the similarly Mediterranean deconstruct 'em up Assemble With Care earlier this year. Alba: A Wildlife Adventure launches on Steam this December 11.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.