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.
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.
Primeiro Metroidvania que joguei, mecanica simples, trilha sonora boa e de maneira geral um bom jogo.
Hey, I loved this, it's breezy, cute, doesn't overstay its welcome, has a nice amount of challenge in a few spots without being over the top, kind of a perfect little gem of an MV. Maybe the only game I've ever 100%ed? Because it didn't feel like it'd be a chore to do so. Looking forward to Crypt Custodian!
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
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
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.
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.
Really fun, short and charming metroidvania with a great artstyle and very relaxing soundtrack.
Surpreendentemente muito bom. une mecânicas de diversos jogos pra transformar a gameplay em algo louvável.
Fico feliz de não ser só mais um metroidvania dentre tantos outros.
Fico feliz de não ser só mais um metroidvania dentre tantos outros.
Positive enough to function as a way to kill time before a new "Ori and the..."-game releases
Joguin bacanin
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.
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.
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.
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.
A continuation of the gameplay and aesthetics established in Sheepo - fast, pretty metroidvania with bullet hell boss fights. Smartly designed, but offers nothing revolutionary, with the main gimmick of bringing disparate parts of the map (the titular islets) together not really adding anything to the tried and tested core loop.
What a great Metroidvania.
For starters, Iko moves fast, but there's still room for precise movements. Most bosses and enemies incorporate some bullet-hell style attacks, so the fact that Iko's movement is so reliable is incredibly useful. The fast paced gameplay also helps when returning to old areas to find collectables and story progression. Iko's moveset stays small, gravitating around the sword and bow. That said, a number of unique abilities can be unlocked that helps add diversity to the game. On top of abilities, the player can find bonus items across the map. These offer the player a choice between three useful upgrades that are permanent. This makes each choice extra meaningful, and I can imagine future playthroughs are slightly more distinct thanks to this inclusion.
The game takes place on a number of separated floating islands. The player has a simple ship that can be used to reach these islands, and these parts offer a fun diversion from the normal platforming. The player's goal is to combine the islands together into a super island. Not only does this make using teleporters easier, but it also helps the player avoid getting lost. When combined, new pathways open between the islands, meaning there's always something new to investigate. Each Island has a number of unique biomes, and each one has its own story, characters, and encounters. The platforming challenges are great, but the highlight are the bosses. These can be quite challenging at first, but with enough practice, weaving through attacks is satisfying.
My gripes lie in some of the monotony. Despite the fast walking speed, backtracking can be a chore, especially if you need to travel to another island. This requires traveling to the ship, flying across the sky, landing on an island, and hoping you didn't make the wrong choice. I also never encountered a reliable way to heal. It's disheartening to survive with 1 HP for a long period of time only to die to something silly. I was still able to beat the game, so this is more of a nitpick.
For starters, Iko moves fast, but there's still room for precise movements. Most bosses and enemies incorporate some bullet-hell style attacks, so the fact that Iko's movement is so reliable is incredibly useful. The fast paced gameplay also helps when returning to old areas to find collectables and story progression. Iko's moveset stays small, gravitating around the sword and bow. That said, a number of unique abilities can be unlocked that helps add diversity to the game. On top of abilities, the player can find bonus items across the map. These offer the player a choice between three useful upgrades that are permanent. This makes each choice extra meaningful, and I can imagine future playthroughs are slightly more distinct thanks to this inclusion.
The game takes place on a number of separated floating islands. The player has a simple ship that can be used to reach these islands, and these parts offer a fun diversion from the normal platforming. The player's goal is to combine the islands together into a super island. Not only does this make using teleporters easier, but it also helps the player avoid getting lost. When combined, new pathways open between the islands, meaning there's always something new to investigate. Each Island has a number of unique biomes, and each one has its own story, characters, and encounters. The platforming challenges are great, but the highlight are the bosses. These can be quite challenging at first, but with enough practice, weaving through attacks is satisfying.
My gripes lie in some of the monotony. Despite the fast walking speed, backtracking can be a chore, especially if you need to travel to another island. This requires traveling to the ship, flying across the sky, landing on an island, and hoping you didn't make the wrong choice. I also never encountered a reliable way to heal. It's disheartening to survive with 1 HP for a long period of time only to die to something silly. I was still able to beat the game, so this is more of a nitpick.
Just like sheepo the momentum and core controls makes the world incredibly fun to traverse.
This was a very enjoyable Metroidvania. I liked the different locations as well as the character interactions. It was very cute.
- Nice metroidvania, not so harsh
- nice mechanics
- nice challenges
- nice mechanics
- nice challenges
So so impressive
Epic
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.
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.
Cute but not a lot to offer
A very solid Metroidvania. You can't go wrong playing it.
bastante sencillito en mecanicas pero muy disfrutable
Provavelmente o metroidvania mais fofo que existe com uma jogabilidade e vibe muito de boas e tranquila. Divertidíssimo.
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!
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!
Un metroidvania decente, no innova mucho en comparación a otras gemas del pasado
What a fantastic game. Such a nice fluid metroidvania that isn’t hard as hell. Also nice accessibility options. I challenge anyone that likes this genre to play this and not blast through it to 100%. Just solid all around hard to think of any faults
Overall not bad, but nothing special either. My main criticism is that it lacks depth in combat, story, and level design.
I did quite like the bullet-hell bosses and the way re-attaching the islands opened access to new paths. But simultaneously I was disappointed because I had gotten the impression that the islands could be combined in multiple different ways, opening some routes and closing others.
Minor complaints: I didn't like the lack of healing. It seemed like your three options when you got an upgrade were random? Not a fan. Teleport arrow felt underutilized. Some of the late-game platforming challenges seemed to forget cloud arrow was a thing.
Also, fuck Snoot.
I did quite like the bullet-hell bosses and the way re-attaching the islands opened access to new paths. But simultaneously I was disappointed because I had gotten the impression that the islands could be combined in multiple different ways, opening some routes and closing others.
Minor complaints: I didn't like the lack of healing. It seemed like your three options when you got an upgrade were random? Not a fan. Teleport arrow felt underutilized. Some of the late-game platforming challenges seemed to forget cloud arrow was a thing.
Also, fuck Snoot.
A short, but fun, Metroidvania experience with bullet hell mechanics. Great atmosphere, so the game being a little slight isn't the worst thing ever.
O jogo é bonito, mas não me apeteceu tanto. O combate é ok mas não muda muita coisa e as flechas você não usa muito. As mecânicas adicionadas não são tão uteis o tempo inteiro, parece que são feitas só para mudar de uma área para outra, tive que largar um capitulo antes por quê não aguentava mais, a história também sei la eu o que era.
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.
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.