Islets

A super cute metroidvania with a modest level of diffficulty. Explore through 5 disconnected maps with the goal of trying to reconnect them by activating the island’s cores, then explore new areas of each island through the new connections that are made by bringing the islands together again.

There isn’t much to say about this game, it’s cute, fairly short (took me about 6 hours to 100%), but a lot of fun for what is given. The boss fights do pose a bit of challenge, but unlike in Hollow Knight, Ori 2, or similar combat metroidvanias, I only died 3-5 times at most on each of the bosses. Each boss guards an upgrade or island core that you’ll need to reach new places though, so well worth the fight.

Scattered around the island is 60 upgrade tokens to find, each one raises one of your stats, or gives you a boost to one of your actions or abilitites, or just gives you a bit of money, but heres the trick: Each upgrade token offers you 3 different upgrades, from which you get to choose one. I only took money upgrades when all three options were money, and I think because of it, I didn’t miss any of the more impactful upgrades.

Death works similar to in the Ori games: You just get returned to the most recent save point without losing anything. Very refreshing after playing a number of metroidvanias or souls-likes with corpse run mechanics.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1669420 £16.75
Humble Bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/islets £16.75
Switch: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Islets-2255832.html £16.75