Have You Played... ISLANDERS?
Can you hear them screaming?
No, that’s not me screaming the game name at you, that’s how it’s stylised. Though I’ll sentence case it when I mention it in the rest of the article because if I talk about ISLANDERS like this it might make you spill your tea all over your keyboard. I don’t want to make you jump, plus we hold no liability for tea-soaked keyboards.
I'll give you some background: I love city builders. I also love low-poly style games. So it’s safe to say I am a huge fan of the premise and the looks of Islanders. Before it’s release, there was a trailer that basically said “this is a city builder that is unlike other city builders” - look, you can see for yourself:
And they’re right. In the developer's words, it’s a minimalist strategy game more than it is a city management game. Which is why I said I love city-builders, not management. (I do love management games too, but this doesn’t fall into it.) It's relatively relaxing, and sometimes tense as you run out of space to place your buildings, but it is nowhere near as tense as everyone dying all at once in Cities: Skylines.
I love it, but I kinda wish it made the city look a little more alive. I know they told you not to expect a classic city builder experience, but how cute would it be to see people running all over the place like tiny little ants? But then that wouldn’t really work because you can literally place buildings with their walls directly next to doors, so how would they leave? Maybe everyone in Islanders is actually dead… Maybe that’s why the title is in all caps because they’re screaming… Screaming for help... I S L A N D E R S.