If only the gameplay accompanying it came across as heavily-invested in and considered.

The game can’t be knocked for drawing up a sharp, pungent subversion of a visual style. How it all seems uncomfortably normal in the far-flung, island-hopping world of Minute of Islands. It’s how Minute of Islands‘ children’s picture-book aesthetic, now flipped on its head, allows the presence of illness, toxicity and the bio-mechanical, possibly-xenological tendencies of its environments, to take hold where the positive first impression stems from. Even if that intrigue doesn’t lead anywhere special. But as noted, the early, introductory sections do spark both intrigue and an invitingly-unsettling aesthetic that could lead to a curious discovery. Positive an attribute you might think “well, it isn’t bad” might seem, the reality that Minute of Islands is rather sub-par in that regard, makes it seem less so in retrospect. Minute of Islands neither meets that high bar, nor does it fall spectacularly low of such a standard to be considered note-worthy or deserving of vast ridicule. The result, however, isn’t so clear-cut and in the end, not so absolute to be regarded as either a solid recommendation or an easy dismissal alike. But in the wake of games like Forgotton Anne and GRIS (and let’s face it, a game like Sayonara Wild Hearts can slot under such a descriptor on the basis of its own themes and message) needless to say the bar - not least for a very specific and targeted type of story-led game Minute of Islands is aiming to slot amidst - has been raised immensely in recent year. There’s always room for more of these types of games though, despite any and all dysphemisms that might get flung their way. Providing you have the visual accompaniment and a way with presentation to make the trek - involuntarily forced to a crawl or otherwise for thematic purposes - worthwhile. What kind of subject matter, though? The game, for long stretches, remains vague on that detail. Intending to paint the subject matter as harder-hitting than its brief four-to-five hour run-time ends up manifesting as. Not to discredit any of the developer’s modest intentions here, even if the preliminary warning - indicating that what one is about to play through covers less-than-pleasant subject matter - feels unnecessary and a tad misleading. Which, in one sense, has come to define both one’s expectations as much one’s concerns on what this game could (and all likelihood, should) turn out to be. As strong a first impression one could get, providing you were willing to cast aside the simplistic and straight-forward gameplay. Back in February, I spoke of how eye-catching Studio Fizbin’s Minute of Islands was in its opening section.

Minute of islands switch review