Cute little game, if a little disappointing after the developer's previous effort, Sheepo. Has more combat than Sheepo, which is the disappointing part, and at first I really didn't like Islets, due to the base movement not feeling great, but with a few movement upgrades and some practice under my belt, I was converted and started really enjoying running, double jumping and dodge rolling around, completing tasks and hunting for secret rooms and ability upgrades. I really liked the little upgrade system, where you find items in various tough-to-reach spots that then let you pick one of three randomized upgrades, roguelite-style. You do end up getting all upgrades by the end, if you collect all of the things, but it was nice to (mostly) get to pick the ones I wanted first. Also liked the little attention to details, like how a character's name pops up above their speech bubble after they've introduced themselves. Lots of little care like that going on, plus charming dialogue that doesn't overstay its welcome, with the added bonus of having a mailbox that other characters send cute letters to.
The big cool thing is, of course, the game's namesake and the fact that your task is you rebuild the world and take it from separate levels to one interconnected metroidvania map and that's not something the genre has ever seen, I'm pretty sure. Now, ultimately, it doesn't really amount to much of anything on a mechanical level, since it's just another type of ability gate like needing the double jump or wall climb, as connecting the islands creates new pathways, but it's still pretty neat.
All that said, this is a smaller and less impressive game by design and definition, and while it is quite enjoyable, it doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel and, outside of the aforementioned things, it doesn't really do anything exceptional. There are no especially cool sights to experience, no especially cool rooms to discover. The final power you unlock is something as supremely boring as...a charge attack. The others are the usual, like the obligatory double jump and wall climb, with the final exception being these tracer arrows that create temporary platforms you can walk on and use to scale tall rooms. Those arrows are really cool conceptually, but I didn't find them super fun to use. Maybe because there weren't any especially fun rooms that are built around using them.
In all, this is a good, short time that is ultimately a little forgettable since it doesn't really do anything crazy. At the same time, you could do much worse than Islets if you've either played every other good metroidvania on the market, or if you're a beginner that wants a taste of the genre. It's pretty perfect for those demographics, while it's probably skippable for everyone else and not because it's bad, but because the market is so saturated and this one is more of a cute little diversion than any sort of must.
(Spoiler: bonus points for the game ending first with an adorable scrapbook with images detailing what happened after, as well as a party being thrown for our main character. So cute!)
The big cool thing is, of course, the game's namesake and the fact that your task is you rebuild the world and take it from separate levels to one interconnected metroidvania map and that's not something the genre has ever seen, I'm pretty sure. Now, ultimately, it doesn't really amount to much of anything on a mechanical level, since it's just another type of ability gate like needing the double jump or wall climb, as connecting the islands creates new pathways, but it's still pretty neat.
All that said, this is a smaller and less impressive game by design and definition, and while it is quite enjoyable, it doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel and, outside of the aforementioned things, it doesn't really do anything exceptional. There are no especially cool sights to experience, no especially cool rooms to discover. The final power you unlock is something as supremely boring as...a charge attack. The others are the usual, like the obligatory double jump and wall climb, with the final exception being these tracer arrows that create temporary platforms you can walk on and use to scale tall rooms. Those arrows are really cool conceptually, but I didn't find them super fun to use. Maybe because there weren't any especially fun rooms that are built around using them.
In all, this is a good, short time that is ultimately a little forgettable since it doesn't really do anything crazy. At the same time, you could do much worse than Islets if you've either played every other good metroidvania on the market, or if you're a beginner that wants a taste of the genre. It's pretty perfect for those demographics, while it's probably skippable for everyone else and not because it's bad, but because the market is so saturated and this one is more of a cute little diversion than any sort of must.
(Spoiler: bonus points for the game ending first with an adorable scrapbook with images detailing what happened after, as well as a party being thrown for our main character. So cute!)