Airship Companion

Islets (2022) comes in as an amazing salve to the most prominent tediums of Search Action design: Map Bloat, and backtracking. Search Action is an alternate name to the often touted 'metroidvania' term used more in japan, I prefer it because its contructs include games that share the design rather than aesthetic similarities. For instance, The Legend of Zelda (1986) is a top down search action game. It doesn't take much to see how that game shares a similar function of guided exploration for powerups to 'unlock' more of the map. With that said, certain irritations with the genre have existed since then.

Those who don't know, the original Metroid (1987) didn't even have a map which meant you were bumbling around in the dark looking for the next powerup. In a way, that does create a more survival horror tension to play since it centers caution, however maps have become commonplace since then in an arguably detrimental way. Take Axiom Verge's (2015) Map for reference. You would have to constantly pause and interface with it to figure out where you are and hope that the direction you were trying to go wasn't locked off by a powerup you don't have only to then have to go some other direction when you're wrong. I remember I got so lost trying to navigate it I thought I was (and might have been) softlocked. This is because the way Search Action games are structured are going to stretch out the world, you will have what you already explored but also all this new territory you found, and eventually you find yourself juggling between the two.

This is what I really love about Islets then, its entire premise is exploring different floating islands to try and connect the land as a down on your luck mouse hero. Islets succeeds in making the 'juggling' element of exploration work by first isolating each of the territories from the player until they finish a core mission on the island which then connects them to a previous island with new paths in that connection to explore. This makes the core motivation of play incredibly satisfying because the connection points allow for new roads to travel through and also means that by having several different entrypoints you can do something, usually even the entire connecting mission first, before having to worry about being locked out by not having the right upgrade to explore first.

It's hard to understate just how satisfying this is. In most other games, anything from Elden Ring (2022) to Breath of the Wild (2017) down to more indie titles like Axiom Verge or Blasphemous there is a constant need to pause the game, and search on a map. This actually has made exploration in itself so compulsively map reliant that its become a sort of mental loading time. Not to mention most maps in these games are obviously 1:1 replicas of the environment whereas most cartography would have flourishes or parts that are a bit off (probably partially caused by the fact the fast travel system is backed in). However except for rare deviations these games all share a similar momentum of going forwards. Only diviating back to older sections out of boredom, thereby making the map use automatic. Islets excels here, because when you pause to use the map you are actually charting where to go next, it feels less like being a rat lost in a scientists labyrinth, and more like an adventurer discovering lost last. Combine that with the uniquely bold downtempo music and you have a mellow take on Search Action gameplay, which has been teased at but not promised on.

Part of the reason that promise works is that Islets is a very easy low risk play experience. You lose nothing on death aside a minute at most of walkback, you can fast travel pretty easily and warp back to the last spot in a pinch thus erasing almost all but the most necessary amount of backtracking (which given the form of exploration is almost always changing spots). The currency from killing enemies automatically magnetizes to you from any distance. More importantly, the game is very platforming based because the enemies are frankly just cannon fodder for your arrows to shoot at. You are most likely not going to experience more than a half dozen deaths to almost any boss. Even if you do, there's no walkback for them, since the save point spawns you right before the fight. I actually complained about the lack of walkbacks in these titles in my Blasphemous reflection however the whole energy for this game is oriented towards a chill experience so it wouldn't make sense to punish here, not to mention there's almost no point in trying to prepare ahead of time. All and all the main experience is cashing in on the feeling of satisfaction and constant curiosity fueled progression.

There are a few aspects where I think Islets breaks that sense of immersion. The music for all the bosses is exactly the same 2 songs depending on if you are fighting them from the boat or in the sky. Throughout, you get 15 letters in your mailbox when with how nice the world feels to explore a good sense of it could have been found from doubling that number, since most of the letters are all from one other adventurer who mocks you the whole time. More notably there's constant button prompts for switches and talking to others which I've always said is unnecessary and takes away from the experience. Also, words will pop up if you go too low on health or switch weapons. I think this is my experience with esoteric to solve adventure point and click games like Grim Fandango (1998) and speaking here but I have and will always find these spontaneous prompts, popups, and phrases of character information irritating. They push too much of instrumental play at the cost of immersion. If I could rock no HUD in these, I'd be happily do so. HUD/player warning information gaudiness in general is why Rain World (2017) is on my radar for its more minimalist approach. Also, when you pause the game a timer and a percentage complete modifier greets you, which is so overnormalized in these sidescroller map exploration games. This immediately breaks any trance the experience is trying to set and runs is as a colonizing 'number crunching' experience again. I feel like almost no game every should show a percentage amount until you at least beat the game, it's a hideous little inclusion. This complaints may seem extreme, but all these function as unnecessary distractions to the course of play, and I feel we should be mindful of ways in which extraneous information is a middleman to the player beyond just load screens and front loaded tutorials, which is why I rag on these aspects as much as I do. That said, all these issues run business as usual from me, to the extent I'd be willing to overlook them except for the fact it really stumbles on making the final boss have a Boss Rush section towards the end which reads more as disappointment than chill.

Regardless of my whining the map aspect is so incredibly well realized that it's worth checking out for that reason alone. I haven't felt this refreshed from a narratively light Search Action game, much less one with a lot of map use in a long time. It also helps that unlike what I complained about with Hollow Knight, getting 100% is actually not a chore with all the warp points and an upgrade that lets you see where the level ups are, you are talking at most 10% of the overall experience is poking for these post game collectibles, compared to a more tedious 35%~ that you would usually find in other titles like Axiom Verge or Hollow Knight. Overall I'm really happy I got to chill in the world of Islets for a day, and it's very possible I might come back one day.

If anything else though, you should check out the OST. Soothing with just enough groove that you can listen to them again no problem. Minecraft tunes with a bit more gutso, fits tone perfectly.

There are five floating islands. They each have a core that needs to be activated. Unite them back together because harmony is swell. They are guarded by assholes. You have a sword. This is Islets.

I'm gonna keep this short and not-so-sweet because I really just want to move on and forget Islets. For a while it's perfectly serviceable, but it probably should have only been four islands because it just starts to drag. If you absolutely NEED to play every Metroidvania you come across, I'll say you'll find worse games than this (Ghost Song comes to mind), but otherwise this should not be played. It's very derivative; the best comparison I think I can make is that it's like Hollow Knight without the soul.

Just check the screenshots on Steam and you'll see you've probably already played this game in everything but name. It's a middling Metroidvania with some bullet hell segments. It'll take you about seven hours to 100% (on Normal), and for its final half-hour stretch, you'll pray you have a stroke. It won't be showing you anything you haven't seen before, and on Normal every boss will take you one or two tries. I really should have been reading “Dune” instead.

I think I could drop down to one and a half stars, easily, but I'm going with two only because I think this was made almost entirely by one guy (and the music by his brother). I thought it was competently made (never ran into bugs, game looked okay, etc.) and I think my man Kyle Thompson is pretty good at the behind the scenes work. He's working on another game that I've added to my Steam Wishlist because I'm curious, now; I feel like Islets showed he has potential but just wasn't there yet with this one. Maybe Crypt Custodian will be better? I genuinely hope so.
I really do applaud the effort, I'm sure getting this made was no easy task, but just by reducing the scope a bit I think this would have landed so much better for me. But, then again, I'm seemingly in a tiny minority: 96% of reviews are positive. Congrats, Kyle.

I don't recommend Islets.

pretty good metroidvania. i like the way the upgrades are implemented, with a choice between 3 upgrades from a big pool of them that are still horizontal boosts with new things that you can do as opposed to solely numerical increases.

the art style is very nice, but the world doesn't really feel like a world as much as it feels like a collection of areas with willy-nilly branching paths. also, some of the new abilities that let you access new areas get so little usage and basically end up feeling like just a pseudo-key to access the next area as opposed to a pseudo-key that you can use everywhere with benefit. the way that the map interconnects more over time is neat, but it still doesn't make the level design reflect the world as much as i'd like. more unique landmarks and rooms would go a long way towards making the map even more enjoyable to traverse.

the game controls well, and i really enjoy how fast you can cruise around the map. it's a very nice trait to have in a metroidvania so you can backtrack even more efficiently with your new upgrades and improved skill. the combat is simple, but the boss patterns are cool. i played on the hardest difficulty, which increases damage taken and boss health while also changing up some boss attacks (more projectiles, etc) and it was a good experience throughout. that being said, even on hard mode, it is very easy to become incredibly overpowered very quickly if you are getting all of the upgrades and purchasing better equipment. there were definitely a couple of bosses near the end of the game that i killed so fast that i didn't even have the opportunity to see all of their attacks.

got 100% game completion, 100% map completion, and 100% steam achievements. boss rush was fun.

overall, a cute game. nothing too crazy, but i had a great time overall.

While nothing about Islets instantly hooks you or blows your mind, it's a rock solid metroidvania that feels like a lot of care was poured into it.

The art style is what instantly got my attention. Very charming world and characters. The controls and movement feel really good and Iko's floatiness lets him get away with some jumps/options that are pretty fun. Bosses battles are great and provide challenge and intensity, especially the final fight. Although relative to the rest of the game, they are significantly harder. Fortunately there is always a save point immediately before the room so rematches are quick and effortless.

I really enjoyed the upgrade system - when you find an upgrade in the map, you get to choose between 3 upgrades that feel more like perks (ie fire arrows faster, pots explode on contact). There's still the ability to do what I think of as a more traditional upgrade (ie increase health, increase attack) by purchasing them from an NPC.

The islets joining together to make one cohesive map is a nice twist on the metroidvania trope. Instead of just unlocking new abilities to further your progression, you'll be provided access points to explore that were previously just edges of the islets. Whenever a new islet join I was excited to check out all the new connections.

I think if there's anywhere Islets falls short it's in the level design. Especially if you die and have to backtrack a lot of the areas you have to hike back through are very simple and just require climb, jump, climb.

While I get it's not for everyone, I found Islets to be very fun and charming. I beat it in just a few nights and kept finding myself saying "just one more upgrade" or "I'll just find the next save point". There's also a very cute & charming reward for collecting 100% of the upgrades. Just a nice cherry on top of a fun adventure.

Islets It was a game that I managed to get for free from Epic Games and I thought it would be an average game, but over the course of my gameplay I started to love it.

The game's story is very easy to understand: 1 island is divided into 5 islands and your goal is to become a great warrior and bring these islands together.

The design of the game is very nice and basic, I love the enemies, I love the design of the main character (Iko) and the design of the bosses is unique.

The sword and the arrows are weapons that match the main character, and as you go through the game you get more skills like climbing, teleporting with the arrows and other things, it's amazing because you feel like you're progressing in the game.

The boss battles are so unique and often difficult that I got so angry that I wanted to quit the game, but the hope of beating these damn bosses is greater.

The supporting characters that appear throughout the islands are so engaging and some of them have their own story that demonstrates the life of this kingdom divided into 5 islands.

There's also a flying boat that you can control and take to other islands, but there are some specific bosses that are annoying but easy to defeat.

Finally, there's the final boss fight, which is fucking hard, but when you finish it, it's one of the best and you'll feel so fucking happy.

In short, this game is well worth playing if you picked it up for free at Epic Games GO PLAY IT, one of the best indie games.

Chill metroidvania.

Combat is fine, mostly there to break up exploration. You're very mobile, but the controls aren't super precise. Most enemies are a bit boring, but the bosses are fun to fight with a couple of exceptions. The moveset upgrades you get as you progress don't increase the complexity of combat, the abilities are mainly for traversal.

Level design is very simple as well, but has substantial variety between areas. There's some wasted space and rooms that could get cut down without sacrificing much, but altering those layouts would've probably messed with the game's gimmick of connecting entire levels together into one big map over time. Enemies should've repeated less between areas though.

I can't think of any issues with the other systems. QoL is fine, the upgrade system is inoffensive, the overworld flying sections are brief and pretty good, the game takes a very generous approach to checkpoints in that dying doesn't erase your progress and only relocates you to the last save point.

The presentation is very cute and the music is very good - some of it will probably end up on my sleeping aid playlist beside Ghost Song's OST.

This is a great and short metroidvania!
Graphics is amazing, it has this hand draw aspect to it that really stands out.
Gameplay is absolutely as basic as possible for metroidvania, but works really well. Movement is fluid and snappy!
What really bothered me was how linear it was but in the end, it didn't really detract from the good experience I had while playing.
Highly recommend for a quick and well done metroidvania!

Armed with sword, bow, and a sense of adventure, Iko the Brave traverses a fragmented world in order defeat evil foes, save his friends, and re-unite the islands in harmony. However, the core of this journey roots itself in the idea of self-discovery and belonging. Iko sets off to become a great hero to make something of himself, and nearly every character that he meets along the way either shares this courageous sentiment or is on a quest of their own to find fulfillment and belonging. While the classic Metroidvania aspects of the game flex their muscles quite well, it’s the charm, wit, and wholesomeness of the world and its inhabitants that elevate Islets into a refreshing take on the genre.

Movement always plays a starring role in the success of a Metroidvania, as backtracking and exploration feature heavily, and Islets does a fantastic job of providing Iko with a quick pace and traversal upgrades, as well as offering varied environmental platforming to mix things up. Many of the platforming rooms can be crossed quickly in several different ways when backtracking to not only keep it from dragging pacing, but also it just feels satisfying to be able to pull off small little platforming tricks with the different unlockable abilities as Iko flies across rooms, launches past grappling points, and smashes through stone. The map also contains many warp checkpoints and is very accurately drawn and represented with easy-to-read landmarks which makes exploring rewarding rather than frustrating. The map functions so well that it’s easy enough to see what areas are left to explore and play through naturally, however in the main hub, a vendor will sell hints and place map markers pointing to the next goal if confusion sets in. Exploring naturally without using this vendor took about 8 hours total to discover 100% of the map.

While exploring, Iko will fight mobs and bosses with his sword and bow, powering them up and learning new techniques as he goes. Islets combat functions similarly to something like Hollow Knight in theory, though many bosses bombard Iko in a bullet-hell style, including flying sections that feel more akin to something like Cuphead. The aforementioned games are known for their intense difficulty, and while the base hard mode seems akin to Hollow Knight’s level of difficulty, Islets actually offers not only different difficulty modes, but a handful of assist features such as increasing weapon damage or infinite arrows, as well as challenge options that make enemies and bosses even more fearsome. These options, as well as the main difficulty, can be switched at any time, allowing for a customized level of challenge or ease.

If Islet’s map and level-design are the bread that provides structure, and the moment-to-moment gameplay and combat are the sticky, savory peanut butter, then the silly-yet-wholesome world and characters are the grape jelly that give the game a small sweetness – something that says “don’t stop at one bite.” The color palate and art design reverberate with charm and, while there are melancholic areas of the game, the overall world stands very much in contrast to the darker games that Islets inherits its gameplay from – while Hollow Knight, Metroid, and Castlevania have dark shadows and vicious aliens and blood-thirsty vampires, Islets has walkable clouds and gardening rabbits and suspicious frogs. The NPCs represent the best of both the game’s sense of humor as well as the emotional yearning that comes with each character’s quest to find out who they are and where they belong. While Iko’s journey in Islets is one of bravery, adventure, and vanquishing evil, it’s also a heartwarming bite of a wholesome sandwich – just like the ones mom used to make.

Like a lot of the games of its kind, Islets really shines the most when you obtain every tool in your arsenal. Revisiting areas with all of them feels great! It's just too little too late.

So much of this game should have either been unlocked earlier or from the start. The biggest selling point of this game, for me, were the cloud arrows, which leave a trail from your position you can walk on. And that is indeed the single best ability in the game, with clever uses for puzzles and even combat. However, putting so many underwhelming upgrades into the pool of upgrade tokens, as well as even some of the main abilities is really disheartening.

For upgrade tokens, stuff like exploding small pots on contact or having to hit a block only once rather than twice to destroy it... really? That should be there from the very outset of the game. That's not an upgrade, that's a tiny convenience that only shows how meaningless that mechanic is.

And for the main upgrades, the Shift Shot stands out as super underused. There's like 2 locations you use it at, tiny little passages where only an arrow could fit through. It doesn't serve any purpose in combat, unlike every other upgrade.

Everything else is solid, I could do without the gimmicky ship combat but those boses tend to be the toughest in what is otherwise a very easy game, even with the malleable difficulty. I do think the game has the same problems as some of the other games of its type: the double jump is often too strong of a tool for example, meaning that for about 60-70% of the game I didn't even use the similarly overpowered dodge, I just had that much control over my position.

There are fights or sections that require you to use the dodge, but somehow those are actually less common than the ones that don't. Refreshing, in a way, to have a game with a roll that doesn't rely so hard on it, but then why even have it in the first place?

I, admittedly, like the little dudes. I think the game is wholesome, charming, funny, has some wacky animations and an interesting design in places, but it's too little for a title starting out with a price tag bigger than some of its toughest competitors. It's still a very small price tag for a new game nowadays, mind you, but there is so much to be found in that lane that can definitely rival Islets. I just find it to be a somewhat hard sell.

I'd say that, roughly, this game has about as much charm and as many issues as a lot of the random indie titles I've picked up over the past couple of years that I haven't logged because I just didn't finish them and the memories of playing them are lost to time. So, perhaps, Islets' biggest strength is that it is very short, and beatable in two evenings. It probably makes for a fun speedrun as well.

Without going into spoilers, I'll say that this game has very okayish combat, but it goes hard on exploration and the boss fights are largely a delight.

After a few upgrades, you feel ridiculous in terms of your vertical and horizontal mobility and it feels like the game encourages you to try and maximize your movement -- even to the point that there are some ability upgrades you can acquire early simply by understanding the combinations of movement gained from beating bosses. But even without those, you can discover that Iko will run after a certain distance and that roll-jumping from another ledge (above or below) will facilitate this -- meaning that if there's a room that's just out of reach normally by jumping from the ledge you're on, you can create your own rolling/running start and do another roll into a jump off that final ledge to get just a slight bit more distance or height to reach places that are slightly out of the way. And that's just one example out of several.

Of course, the level design is largely tight and what feels like lots of potential paths is actually just dead ends with upgrades or items (some of which might be required) or loops around to the same space, but I can't overstate that the FEELING of good movement in a platforming space was nearly always present throughout the game.

Of praiseworthy notion for me, as well -- bosses. I feel like the bosses were all over the place for difficulty, but outside of one on a later island that was gating a particular movement upgrade (this boss had some moves that you could dodge roll against but you'd still take damage and I never understood how to avoid damage against said boss), the patterns were actually pretty fun and I never felt like deaths had anything to do with poor telegraphing, frustrating mobility issues, or anything else of that nature.

The soundtrack is so very chill and I loved most of the island music. Boss music and overworld music was less impressive, but it did the job.

Things I had gripes with -- even though some of the ability upgrades could give your more currency or make enemies drop more currency and I explored nearly 100% on all five islands, I still had a bunch of grinding for currency to unlock everything by the time I reached the endgame, so I passed on that. Also, I purchased a particular upgrade that's supposed to facilitate teleporting between both teleporters and save locations (I think?), but I wasn't paying solid attention to how the upgrade worked and when I got it, it never told me again how to use it and searching online for info gave me nothing useful about it, so I just kept using shrines to teleport myself everywhere and left it at that.

Also, the last island does feel hollow compared to the first four and one particular boss lair feels frustrating because it felt like they were out of good ideas for puzzles, so it was just room filler for the sake of room filler.

I guess I'm supposed to say something about visuals, even though that usually doesn't matter much for me when playing a Metroidvania, so...hey, it looked pretty good. High-five!

I imagine the last bit of grinding for currency would probably put 100%ing the game at around 12 hours, maybe less? I don't know how difficult Boss Rush mode is, so I can't really speak on that. It took me a little over 8 hours to beat the game.

At 20 bucks, I'd say it's worth a full purchase, but at least as of 8/10/23, Islets is 30% off (14 bucks) until 8/16/23, so maybe if you've got a little loose cash around and want to give a Metroidvania some love, consider giving this a shot.

Islets es un Metroidvania con un estilo minimalista en sus gráficos y gameplay, pero que consigue hacerse inmenso en un mapa enorme conectado lleno de pasadizos.

La jugabilidad es la de un clásico plataformas 2D con elementos de backtracking sumado a un combate con un ataque a melee y un ataque a distancia. El sistema de plataformas está bien pensado, no es excelente, pero cumple la función típica de un metroidvania de restringir ciertas zonas hasta conseguir determinados objetos o habilidades. Los enemigos son temáticos por zonas y variados, son relativamente sencillos de derrotar, pero suelen estar colocados estratégicamente para aprovechar su ofensiva y obligar al jugador a pensar para limpiar una sala. Los combates contra jefes son, por lo general, un bullet hell en el que se tiene que esquivar ataques hasta que estos den una ventana de oportunidad para poder causarles daño.

El diseño de niveles es bastante decente y se sirve del enorme tamaño del mapa para crear habitaciones y pasadizos con ítems útiles que incitan la exploración. El mapa está a su vez dividido en Islas que funcionan como zonas o lugares que poseen su propia temática, enemigos y desafíos. A estas zonas se llega mediante una avioneta que se mueve en un espacio donde también se pueden encontrar las típicas tiendas donde comprar mejoras tanto para el personaje como para la propia nave que permitirá seguir accediendo a zonas, por lo que el apartado de metroidvania posee una doble dimensión.

Como en cualquier metroidvania la obtención de habilidades es esencial para poder desbloquear caminos nuevos, a estos están añadidos a una serie de ítems que permitirán elegir entre 3 mejoras cada vez que se obtengan que se sitúan conforme a ataque, defensa o especial, sistema que se asemeja bastante a los juegos roguelike. Desde el menú se podrá acceder en todo momento a un informe detallado de las estadísticas del personaje y del progreso. Por lo general, Islets se separa bastante de la tendencia en dificultad que lleva tomando los metroidvania en la década 2010-19 rebajándola bastante consiguiendo un título apto para casi cualquier nivel de habilidad, incluso así, pone a disposición multitud de facilidades con checkpoints abundantes, casi ninguna penalización al morir y teletransportadores que permiten atajar por los escenarios volviendo mucho más liviano volver sobre anteriores pasos.

La estética resulta minimalista debido al estilo de dibujo y la elección de colores mate que generan contraste con los espacios oscuros y las superficies con brillo, la línea artística trata de generar melancolía y desolación al presentar las ruinas de un mundo antiguo con una civilización modesta que se erige sobre ellas.

La banda sonora de Islets resulta agradable y tranquilizadora al mismo que tiempo que trata de mantener el sentido de la aventura usando timbres e instrumentos de viento que acompañan los escenarios en tema y tono consiguiendo que la llegada a cada isla resulte en una experiencia de inmersión en un nuevo terreno desconocido, creando una mayor sensación de aventura.

La premisa de Islets se presenta de manera inmediata al comenzar la aventura, un mundo fantástico donde hace cientos de años un conjunto de islas flotaban en la inmensidad del cielo azul unidas entre ellas hasta que un fatídico día estas se separan, entonces, una civilización antigua construye una serie de generadores de energía que mantenían las islas unidas hasta que con el paso del tiempo, los generadores se apagaron y se borraron del recuerdo de los habitantes, cientos de años después un aventurero, de nombre Iko, decide explorar las islas y activar los generadores de nuevo.

Islets ofrece una experiencia de Metroidvania minimalista pero inmersiva, con un diseño de niveles inteligente y una amplia exploración. Aunque su combate y plataformas son básicos, su enfoque en la exploración y los desafíos bien diseñados lo hacen gratificante. La estética minimalista y la premisa interesante añaden profundidad a la experiencia. En general, Islets ofrece una experiencia accesible y cautivadora para los amantes del género Metroidvania.

Ever since its release on March 22nd, I've been playing Dragon's Dogma 2 nonstop. But DD2 is a very long game, and I needed a break, lest I sacrificed my enjoyment with it. Then, in one of their weekly giveaways, Epic put this game up for free. It looked like a cute metroidvania, and ever since December 2023 I've been on my 2D platformer phase. Still, I needed an extra push to actually give it a try, and it was then that I made a discovery: It is the previous game from the developer of another indie metroidvania I've been keeping an eye on, Crypt Custodian. That was enough for me to pull the trigger and download it, and I don't regret it for a second.

I'll start by saying that, despite not getting a higher score from me, there really isn't a whole lot of negatives to talk about. Part of the reason it doesn't have a higher score are small issues here and there, too small individually to impact the score, and some people might not even notice/be bothered by them to affect their judgement (Myself included), but since I like having some objectiveness in my reviews, I have to take them into consideration. The other part of the reason is that this game follows "How to make a metroidvania 101" a little too much by the book, which in one hand means that it's a good game within the genre, but also a little too safe gameplay-wise. Of course, not every game needs to be revolutionary, and there are unique mechanics, but a lot of them are underutilized, therefore it ends up a mostly textbook example of a metroidvania.

And yet, it compensates its bumps with everything else it offers. The best word I can use to describe Islets is "lovely", it's such a charming experience full of personality. Every aspect of this game blends together in wonderful and colorful vibes, calming and soothing, from the art style to the music. It's a very relaxing experience, even at its most intense moments.

At first, I had to get used to something I don't usually expect from metroidvanias: Momentum. It's something that you'll normally find in 2D platformers, not metroidvanias. But the more I played it, the more natural it felt, and you'll soon be rushing through the map with fluid movement. Exploration is very fun, it never felt like a chore to revisit areas to check new places I couldn't access due to not having a certain skill, or looking for secrets. If anything, it's hard to not be willing to get 100% completion.

Combat is simple, every now and then you'll use a couple of arrows but it's mostly based on poking enemies with your sword. Speaking of enemies, there's a decent variety of them, and sometimes they can be troublesome. Even better than that are the boss fights. They start simple and get more complex as you advance, and are pretty much all fun battles, I never raged at any of them even if sometimes it took me a few tries to beat them. There are also flying boss battles - which block your path towards new isles - in which you use your flying boat to fend them off. These only happen a couple of times and play like a bullet hell, they're pretty cool but half of them were a bit annoying, and I wish there were more of these sections. Other small complaints are that, firstly, the way you get your upgrades, finding collectibles in the map and then picking one of 3 random options, can often give you 3 mediocre options, leaving you with no choice but to pick one of them (Sometimes all the options are the same!). Secondly, the game is a little inconsistent with its difficulty. I played the entire thing on Hard, and yet sometimes things were a piece of cake, and other times enemies were super tough. Bosses do tend to follow a more linear difficulty progression at least.

If you expect a big story and books worth of lore, don't. And you know what? That's not a problem at all with this game! You'll learn most of what you need right as you start, and then get more worldbuilding and character interactions as you play, and the lighthearted and wholesome tone of it all makes for a very nice and positive experience. The characters are all fun too, and they'll have interesting things to say in every encounter, either collaborating with the worldbuilding or guiding you closer to your objectives.

The last two aspects of this game are what gives Islets the chill and wholesome tone it has: The visuals and the music. This game has a very pretty and well animated style, with vibrant colors and cute looking characters and enemies. Meanwhile, the music in this game is super chill, even the ones for battles, which in one hand isn't particularly memorable exactly because it doesn't stand out much, but in the other it is integral to the full experience in my opinion. Sound effects are good too, I don't know how to describe them better than "they totally fit", however I'm pretty sure it uses some borrowed sounds, such as a Minecraft grass sound for rolling and a Star Wars blaster for an enemy's attack.

Islets is a game that I would be willing to play a whole lot more if it was longer, taking me close to 12 hours to get 100%. It's fun, it's cute and it's a lovely experience. I dare say it's a perfect introductory game to the genre, maybe even to people that have never played games before (On lower difficulties) since it doesn't require many buttons or skill. A surprisingly great game and a hidden gem that I must share, even if it does have some lesser issues.

SCORE: 8.5/10

Scrathing my metroidvania itch. Its strong sides are the great artstyle and fun little storyline & characters. Fluid movement, very fun to run/jump around. Combat is nothing special but still feels good. I'd say the game a bit too easy but that's the niche it fills maybe (e.g. no corpse runs).

For bonus points, and I care a lot about this, overall great QOL stuff (responsive movement and interactions, no wait times, instant teleports, no loadscreens, etc.)

It does lack in enemy and upgrade variety but I think that's fine because it's kind of a short little game. I also don't super love the momentum-based movement. Even though it is fun running around levels, I still would rather have more snappy controls in boss fights for example. It's not the end of the world though, more of a nitpick.