City builders and strategy games can get a little bit fussy, especially when it comes to consoles, but it looks like Islanders: Console Edition could be a chilled-out solution. This indie title dropped on Steam in 2019, where it was very warmly received, and it's now being made for PlayStation 5 and PS4 for us dirty controller-wielders.
As you can see in the above trailer, this is a minimalist city building game in which you'll build out procedurally generated islands. Placing complementary buildings and structures near each other nets you points with which to, well, build more stuff, and this simple approach looks pretty relaxing. There's some strategy involved in how and where you put down certain things, but we appreciate the chill vibes here.
Islanders is arriving on PS5 and PS4 later this month, on 26th August. What do you make of it? Will you be building towns on rocks with this game? Tell us in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments 8
This looks like a game that should be in VR.
Will be a good psplus game,
I played it on PC some time ago. A very chilling but catchy strategy indeed.
You have different types of buildings and a very limited area to place them (a small island). Each building gives you a bunch of points and you need to reach a certain points' checkpoint to finish the level and travel to another island. But each building has its own synergies and requirements, e.g.: lumber mill gives you additional points from all trees nearby. But you can place some villagers' houses instead of those trees. Which benefit from different types of entertainment - saloons, temples, etc. But mining plants would force houses nearby to give you less points. The game is basically about synergies and correct placement. After finishing each level you can expand your building roster choosing a set of thematic buildings - e.g. living buildings, entertainment, productions and so on.
As a conclusion - some nice game mechanics and neat gameplay to have a break from work or some big AAA titles.
I absolutely loved this on PC, glad to see it’s making its way over to PS! I’m hoping that Dorfromantik, a similar puzzle-based environment builder, also makes the jump. More chill games about natural landscapes, please!
I love these sorts of games but too often the menus and text are far too small to read. Couldn’t play Frost Punk, Surviving Mars or Sim City recently because I just couldnt read the tiny UI properly. This looks cool!
I've been playing this on Switch and I'm really enjoying the general mechanics and pacing of the game. It's pretty chill.
My only gripe is the controls feel very poorly mapped to the gamepad and there appears to be no way to remap or edit them, and I assume they will be the same for Playstation.
Some of them are fine, the main issue is the sticks. My brain expects the camera movement and the item placement to be one and the same on the left stick, with the item I'm placing stuck in the middle of the screen. However the camera movement is on the left stick, whilst the item placement is on the right stick and the two move independently. It sounds more flexible but it's not really and means there is no way to tilt the camera for a more top-down view as the right stick is taken, which feels restrictive. It also means rotating the island is now on the triggers, which means that zooming in and out is mapped to the d-pad. It all works, it's just never when your brain expects it to be.
It also means that rotating the camera causes things you've lined up to place, to move about the island as you rotate. As the rotation point is the centre of the screen but the item I'm building is off-centre though keeps it's position relative to the screen not the island, so the island rotates underneath it. If that makes sense?
I'm slowly getting used to it but it does make an otherwise super chill game occasionally and unnecessarily, mildly frustrating. Hopefully they will patch in alternative inputs or input mapping.
This seems like a game I will enjoy playing, but not enough to justify spending more than £10 on, maximum
I really like the style and music if its digital i will get it at a lower price physical ill probably bite day one.
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