Islanders Reviews
Islanders looks like an idyllic snowglobe, but it belies gears of efficiency and competition. Its islands are fun to tinker with, before you inevitably throw them away and start over.
It’s all ever so tranquil on the surface, and never once made my cortisone levels spike, but there’s a fierce brain throbbing away beneath those sedate low-poly models.
Islanders is a deceptively simple puzzle game where you build little cities to score points. More importantly, it's the absolutely perfect game for making beautiful picturesque villages you can fall asleep and dream about.
A breath of fresh air in my game rotation.
Islanders is a relaxing little builder more concerned with letting you get right to making the town than bogging you down with the details.
Islanders is simple and straight-forward but still manages to make each of its city-building runs engrossing with a high-score to chase and procedurally-generated spaces to explore. It's the charming visuals and meditative soundtrack that make your brief stays worth it, enrapturing you in a relaxing aesthetic as you try to survive as long as you can.
In a few hours of play, you will see almost everything this game has to offer you, but I doubt you’ll be done with it. It’s easy to boot the game and temper your stresses for anywhere between minutes and hours. ISLANDERS is a wonderful excursion into a simple world of city building, puzzle fitting, and high scores.
At five dollars, ISLANDERS is a steal. What it lacks in permanence, it more than makes up for in replayability thanks to its point system for score chasers and procedurally generated landscapes. I only wish I could zoom in to get a better look at what I’ve made, but that’s a quibble against something really fantastic and cool. Beyond that, this is a game I keep coming back to for how laid back it is, for it relaxes me between games I’m playing. ISLANDERS is simply wonderful, a micro game for macro enjoyment.
Islanders is a uniquely-designed city builder that offers a relaxed experience even if you only have ten minutes to spare.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Even with simple gameplay and a small variety of game modes, Islanders manages to present a pleasant puzzle that will make you relax during the quick matches. The visuals and the soundtrack take you into these small worlds and help you forget about problems at least for a moment. The difficulty, that is high in some islands, is not a problem, since the progression will depend on what you learned in previous moves and on the chosen strategy. In the end, Islanders is an excellent option to play in short moments of rest.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
This budget title, at first glance, looked like it may be a sim of sorts... but if that's what got you excited, be warned, that isn't what you'll find here...
I wish the controls were a bit more refined and that some buildings came with a few more tips on where to place them. But for this small package, it has quite a lot of content that kept me satisfied. If you were to send me off to a deserted island and I could only bring one game, this one would certainly be on my list of choices.
Islanders is an elucidation of how games build meaning from abstract systems. However, more than that elucidation, Islanders gave us the time to ponder. It’s a repetitive, extended, calming experience that uses just enough power of just narrow enough a collection of faculties to induce a half-aware presence in reality. Which is when you think up all the dumbest questions: could it be that contemplating the meaning of life is the meaning of life? Woah.
While it is my firm belief that ISLANDERS should be enjoyed by all gamers, I’d first recommend the PC version over the Switch port. If your only option is the Switch, then please — get this game. But if you have a PC, I’d start there instead (honestly, it’s so cheap you might as well buy it on both platforms). ISLANDERS is fantastic for a few minutes of play to chill out during lunch or wind down before bed. No matter which platform you choose to play it on, ISLANDERS is a simple, soothing strategy game that’ll make you rethink city builders — one island at a time.
This thoughtful spin on strategy is a classic on PC and a delight on Switch.
Islanders: Console Edition trims every bit of fat from the city-building genre, stripping it down to the core mechanic of plunking down buildings for points. While the controls are a bit fidgety, the chill gameplay and focused mechanics more than make up for it. Play for a few minutes or a few hours, either way, Islanders delivers.
Islanders is a great addition to the strategy or even the puzzle genre on the Switch. A lovely game to play a short session with over a cup of tea or coffee. For longer gaming sessions and for more of a challenge you can try to beat the highest score of the online leader board. For the few pounds or dollars, the game is in the eShop it is definitely worth trying out Islanders you won’t be disappointed!
An almost perfect game within its context, it transports us to a world of introspection and relaxation while we play it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Meanwhile, if you're just here to relax and create detailed island dioramas, Sandbox Mode is the way to go. Here, you can build to your heart's content without having to worry about score modifiers, switching islands at will. And it helps that Islanders is very aesthetically pleasing; there's real satisfaction to be found in the simplistic art style as you decorate each landscape.
Not everyone will appreciate the mind-numbing effect that comes with playing Islanders: Console Edition but if you're in the market for a game that'll put you to sleep then I recommend checking it out. Those looking for a challenge won't find one here, though.