ISLANDERS Reviews

I honestly find myself continuously coming back to this game over time. It's a great game to not 'think' so much, and just play with basic strategy. It is so pleasant to look at, the gameplay is simple yet somewhat challenging. Overall I think it's very much worth it to buy.

I can't say this is a bad game, as from a technical and visual standpoint it's pretty polished, it's certainly playable for as long as you find it engaging, and the price is ludicrously cheap, so, really, an hour plus of entertainment for a buck is still pretty good. At the same time, the lack of complexity makes it get old fast, and I really don't feel the motivation to try to finish all the islands, which would require some serious skill at building placement. The gameplay is just too repetitive and samey to want to play for that long and go for numerous attempts. Therefore, I'd give it a sideways thumb if I could, in that while it's cheap, you kinda get what you pay for, essentially a tech demo.

Recommended for a few hours of puzzling pleasure. Can get very complicated if you want to go for a really high score, which should be a pro for the masterminds.

Islanders is complex and deceptively addictive, if you're the right type of player. Thanks to the procedurally generated islands and semi-random drip-feed of buildings, it's got a similar appeal to a roguelike -- not the build variety, but the challenge variety. The amount and kinds of terrain and wildlife all matter a ton to how you build to maximize points, so each island presents its own completely unique challenge. The challenge may feel overly simple: there's not that many building types, the game tells you how each building scores points when you hover over one, and it shows you where you can get the max number of points with each building before you place it. But because you've got limited space, how well you plan ahead dramatically effects how many points you can get. Having strategies to keep your options open and make up for suboptimal choices is not just possible, but very important, and very fun. The game is forgiving, but small mistakes add up, just like big accidents do. It's a relaxing, low maintenance game, but it also has a habit of commanding your attention if you enjoy it. There's no time limits, and the pace is very slow, but the overlapping tasks you have from turn to turn give it that Stardew Valley effect. Each turn you're thinking ahead so much that it's very, very easy to just say, "One more turn," in the same way in Stardew Valley you'll find yourself going for one more day, and then one more day, and so forth for hours. When I first booted up Islanders, I played for six hours straight. As a small negative, there's a little friction between the score-chasing and the player expression here. In Sandbox mode, the game has some real appeal as a minimalist city designer, but in Survival, you may find you often need to place buildings in a sort of ugly way -- jam-packing them together, usually -- to get the most points, rather than putting together a more comfortable, spacious cityscape. If you want to design for aesthetics, I imagine some other game would suit your fancy more. Overall, I'd say the game achieves a lot with a little. It got me to pretty quickly buy the sequel from a different dev team, Islanders: New Shores, which is a respectful sequel that's richer in content and gameplay features. Between the two I probably do recommend New Shores, and I will likely play that more than the original. But this game is cheaper, it's perfectly entertaining, and in some ways I prefer that it is stripped down to the essentials with not too much variation, whereas New Shores occasionally gives me the feel of a slot machine with its biggest added mechanic, Boons (though I think Boons add a lot of value to that game too).

This is one of the most relaxing games. Content-wise its a bit barren but in that simplicity it thrives. It's an easy pick up and go type game for any mood

It's relaxing yet thrilling and competitive if you want to use the highscore mode. It is a nice oasis over all other demanding and grinding games. :)

Puzzley and relaxing. There is nothing here, but to try and get a better score. Strangely addicting.

It's a cheap little game, but unfortunately, I got bored of it very quickly. I don't feel anything when playing. No sense of accomplishment, no fun challenge. I guess it's too far onto the casual side for me. I wish there was a demo, but then people would quickly see there isn't much to the game and they wouldn't buy it.

A very charming, minimalistic puzzle city building game. Quite difficult if you want all achievements and big highscores. 9/10

Wasn't a big fan of this one. It feels as though you've seen everything the game has to offer within an hour or two of playing so unless you really enjoy the gameplay loop there aren't enough new mechanics or decisions to make (outside of how much you're willing to deal with trying to place things perfectly) for me. It's pretty cheap so that's a plus if you want to dip your toes in but I didn't find myself having that much fun after the initial newness wore off.