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.

DISCLAIMER:
This review is entirely for my own sake. You are welcome to read it but it may or may not contain spoilers for the whole game.

I went in expecting expecting a top-down metroidvania, but I got a side-scrolling metroidvania instead. That is my fault, though, as I mistook this game for Crypt Custodian, which is this developer's upcoming project.

I find this game's upgrade system very interesting. Every time you find an upgrade point hidden somewhere in the overworld you get to choose between three possible upgrades. This makes every secret equally as important and valuable, be it in the begining of the game or close to the end. The only problem I find with this system is that the pool of upgrades does not match the amount of upgrade points in the game. If I understand corrwectly, this is so that you can always prioritize upgrades for the abilities that you commonly use, and ignore the ones you rarely utilize. But going into the game without this knowledge, I assumed I would eventually have to get the upgrades I didn't care about, therefore wasting points I could have spent on base stat upgrades like health.

Additionally to these upgrade points, you can spend currency to buy base stat upgrades (health, sword damage, and arrow damage) which increase in price with each purchase. This makes sense until you realize that the prize also increases when you upgrade these stats with upgrade points, therefore making it more profitable to buy upgrades in the shop first and only THEN getting upgrade points rather than the other way around. These shop upgrades also seem to lack a ceiling. This means that the game always has a place to sink your currency and also allows you to farm currency in order to get stronger in case you are struggling against a boss. This would make for a great accesibility option, but it should be advertised as such, because in my case I bought these upgrades without thinking much about it and, despite playing in hard, I still ended up demolishing through bosses before they could even change into their second phase. This made later fights a bit of a disappointment. I could have refrained from attacking in order to experience the fights correctly, but I believe it shouldn't be on the player to balance their own experience.

Currency can also be used to buy a couple upgrades for your map, like markers. But once you buy all three of them (which are quite cheap) money can only be used on stats. The only other upgrades you can buy are for your airship, but these take no currency and instead use macguffins, so they end up working just as metroidvania gating mechanics.

The upgrades your character gets generally improve your movement, which might be this game's greatest asset. You also get two different types of arrows which are needed to get through certain sections. They are, however, very cumbersome to use and quite useless during combat. I see this as a missed opportunity since the airship upgrades are definitely necessary during bossfights and they make for great attack patterns.

Most bossfights had interesting attacks and having healthbars is appreciated. Minor enemies, though, felt just like annoyances during exploration. The world was well designed with secret paths abound, though the puzzles were a bit lacking. Having islands connect together creating new paths where there were only dead-ends made for a great "explore-get upgrade-connect island-more to explore" loop, particularly during the third and fourth islands.

The story was mediocre, though there might be more lore than what I managed to gleam; but the characters, on the other hand, were amazing. Each of them filled with personality, backstory and character arcs. A smile came to my face every time one of them showed up. I never manged to unpetrify that one character, I don't know what I missed, but I still feel bad about it.

Overall, despite my complaints I enjoyed this game quite a bit. I recommend it to all metroidvania fans, just go in with two things in mind: Try to keep your shop upgrades to a minimum in order to not have a completely unbalanced experience; and when getting upgrade points, always prioritize the ones you care about and ignore the ones you won't use.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.