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.
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.