Mo’s journey to revitalize the giants and purify the air on each island is neatly broken up into linear chapters, making Minute of Islands a focused adventure with a specific story to tell. The light platforming feels fine during these moments, and some clever ideas pop up towards the end of the game, but on the whole these moments feel like a bit of lost potential. There are similar issues when Mo hallucinates and needs to collect memories to come back to her senses. They’re infrequent enough that they never weigh down the experience, but a bit more variety and ingenuity during these segments would’ve gone a long way. This may be the weakest part of Minute of Islands none of the puzzles are necessarily poorly designed, but they’re all rather samey and rarely provide a challenge. On the flipside, the labyrinths beneath each of the islands are all aesthetically similar, but offer some variation via the environmental puzzles players need to complete to reroute the power for the giants. Most of the game is spent wandering around intricately detailed islands and collecting memories (signified by floating shapes) or inspecting points of interest to learn more about these devastated locales. The gameplay itself is slow and methodical, leaving plenty of time for reflection. It feels surprisingly “hands on” for a 2D game, and it helps players get invested in Mo’s role as a mechanic. In fact, be it scaling the wreckage around the islands, cranking air purifiers open, or directing surges of power, the combination of well-executed rumble and crisp audio feedback makes every action the player takes as Mo feel weighty and visceral. It’s a loop that’s simple to grasp and easy to execute, bolstered by grounded, tactile platforming that makes smart use of the Switch’s HD rumble capabilities. The road to restoration is straightforward: find and activate the air purifiers, delve deep into the heart of the island in question, and do some light puzzle-platforming to reconnect the power supply and get the giant the energy he needs to wake up and keep working. It’s Mo’s job alone to keep the air above clean, and when the giants all suddenly stop functioning at once it’s up to her to travel to each and get them going again. At a young age she was entrusted with the Omni-Switch, a staff that allows her to maintain a system of air purifiers created and operated by four centuries-old giants toiling deep underground. Among those who survived and refused to leave are Mo and-by extension-her family. It’s a strikingly mature narrative masked by incredible art direction full of color and life, and the fact that it feels so natural to play is just icing on the cake.Ī terrible airborne blight has stricken a set of islands and decimated the population therein. What starts out as a straightforward journey to save a set of islands quickly turns into an examination of pride and the damaging aftereffects of trauma. Minute of Islands is a somber, delicate tale that exemplifies the “tip of the iceberg” analogy.
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