So here’s the thing. Imagine plopping yourself down on a tropical island, not to sunbathe, but to build stuff. Yeah, like tiny cities or, I don’t know, shaman huts – which sounds kind of epic, right? A puzzle game called ISLANDERS: New Shores lets you do just that. It’s sort of the sequel to a 2019 game. Not like a Hollywood sequel, more like… a new chapter? Anyway, there’s no rush – you get to take your sweet time placing buildings to score points. It’s oddly Zen, with chilled-out music and simple graphics that are nice without being flashy. Kind of like wearing your favorite old jeans.
First thing you do is this tutorial island, which is like a gentle nudge in the right direction — kind of tells you the basics but leaves you hanging a bit to figure out the rest yourself. So, you’re plopping buildings down and, in some magical algorithmic way, points start rolling in. The game’s mechanics? They’re a bit of a mystery that you slowly unravel. You start with these building sets – think sets of cards like Brickmaker or Seaweed Farm (yes, seaweed farms are a thing here). And there’s always some cool, unique building kicking around. The goal is to stack up enough points to snag more cards. But there’s this added ‘boon’ twist – sort of like power-ups that give you extra points or let you clone buildings, albeit with a catch. Oh, and when you’re finally satisfied with your high score, you can either hop to a new island or hang around a bit, just to see how far you can stretch those numbers.
Once you’re done crushing it on one island, your score gets neatly tallied. Think back to school report cards… only fun. Points depend on boons, how savvy you were with your ‘undo’ button, stuff like that. Then, it’s on to two new islands with their own peculiar climates or features. This is just me talking about the High Score Mode here. There’s also a Sandbox Mode for the artsy types – you get to mold your own dream island and play God with the structures. You tweak the climate, shape, what have you. Free rein, basically.
I gave it a whirl on the Switch 2. Usually smooth sailing, though there were a few hiccups when I got nitpicky about where to place things. Occasionally the controls felt like they were stuck in peanut butter when moving buildings around – a bit annoying, sure. And speaking of controls, seems like a mouse would be nice, but that’s not on the menu yet. A heads up: it’s technically for Switch 1, if that’s your jam.
New Shores is definitely punching above its weight with slightly nicer visuals and all that. There’s something addictive about climbing those online leaderboards. Or at least trying to. It does have that “just one more run” allure – a perfect little bedtime ritual on my end. Overall, if you’re looking for something that pulls you into a relaxed, creativity-driven puzzle zone, this might be the one. Just one more hut, one more lighthouse, you know?
