Islets reader’s review – Reader’s Feature

metro.co.uk:

A reader reviews indie Metroidvania Islets and explains why he thinks it’s one of the best hidden gems of the year so far.

Another indie Metroidvania hits the market but when it gets so much right can we really complain if it does so much the same?

It may well be that we’ll look back on this time of indie developed Metrodivanias in the same way we now see the mid-to-late 00’s fascination with big budget, gritty first person shooters. But when the genre can deliver such a wide and varied selection of well-regarded titles, such as Hollow Knight, Ori, Guacamelee, and Owlboy perhaps history will be kinder to this era.

Islets is another game to add to that list. Developed by Armor Games Studios in California, it’s an indie Metrodivania that follows the same well-developed template of all those that came before.

You play as Iko, a little mouse and aspiring warrior, who sets out on his adventure to reunite and reconnect a number of floating islands that were once a whole.

We join Iko as he pilots his rickety wooden airship through the sky, just before he plummets from the sky and lands on one of the four previously connected islands. As we hit land the game quickly introduces the basic movements and abilities that Iko possesses, and the game begins.

We have a jump! We have a sword! We have a danger defying roll!

As with all games of this genre we quickly approach apparent dead ends that we cannot pass. Pathways blocked by crates or blocks; walls too high to jump; glowing floating orbs that surely must do something. Clearly, there’s always another carefully developed route forwards, towards whatever misplaced upgrade ability will allow us to pass by the previously immovable objects.

It’s here where Islets really excels. The standard