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.

Never really succeeds at being more than just okay. It's not exactly a bad game, it was just consistently underwhelming in every aspect. The genre is so well-trodden at this point that I kind of expect more from a metroidvania in 2022. The level design is definitely the low point, but most of the abilities are kinda bland as well. Combining smaller maps into one bigger map and unlocking new paths is a great idea, I just wish the game surrounding it was a bit less lackluster. It's also extremely easy, which isn't necessarily a downside... it's just that I played the game on hard mode and it was still easy.

it's crazy how little this game has been talked about! maybe i'm over hyping it but i had a really great time! the control and movement was SUPER fun, i loved all of the platforming gimmicks they had and it felt really good. the combat doesn't feel amazing itself (pretty similar to hollow knight but the swing is slightly slower i think) but the bosses are all solid, none are AMAZING imo but all are good. it also looks amazing! i loooove how this game looks, the art style worked so well for me. the abilities are all very standard but fun! the roll double jump combo is really fun for traversal and the cloud arrow is fun to use.

my only "downside" would be the upgrade system feels a little weak. they're decent upgrades but nothing super interesting and the way you get them feels a little odd. you collect a token and then choose 1 of 3 cards which upgrade you want. on one hand i like that you can choose what to prioritize but it also makes them feel very inconsequential and each upgrade very incremental. i didn't ever really FEEL the health or damage upgrades i had. it was more recognizable in boss rush but it never felt as good as something like hollow knight where you start 1 shotting enemies after multiple upgrades. this wasn't a big problem but it was less satisfying than upgrades in other similar metroidvanias.

would super recommend this one! it's a short game (i 100%ed it in like 8.5 hours) but super fun the whole way through!

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.

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.

27th Game Completed in 2022

This is a toughie to review.

When this game is good, it's fantastic. The abilities are interesting. The pacing overall is compelling. The upgrade three-card style is engaging enough.

Where this game struggles for me is the scaling. Some bosses would be way more challenging than they ought to be. I would have to grind my health and strength up to even stand a chance at my skill level.

The story was okay, interesting enough. The art was excellent and 99% of the puzzles were excellent. There were one or two moments of contrived difficulty that would have been better left on the cutting room floor.

If you like Metroidvania games, this is one to play to pass the time. But the story and challenge are likely more for someone wanting a Metroidvania-lite experience than a full-fledged entry.

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.

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.

This is a fun short metroidvania game, follows the story of a little hero that goes into the world for an adventure, with lovely art aesthetics and biomes.
I've not played many games of this genre, but enough to notice since almost the begining of the game the lack ingame interactions, on game design with a lot of areas kinda of emptyish. For this type of games I really value the exploration and secrets discovery which this game lacked. In terms of gameplay the movement was pretty clean, simple and FAST, allowing you to parkour all around the map. The combat variety was limited and not so much engaging, but the fast movement gave some intensity to it. Bosses are mostly fun fights, but not that challenging even tho I played hard mode.

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.

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.

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.