Game: Minute of Islands
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, PS4 & Xbox)
Developers | Publishers: Studio Fizbin | Mixtvision
Age Rating: US Teen | EU 12+
Price: US $19.99 | UK £19.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: June 13th, 2021
Review code used, with many thanks to Mixtvision
Minute of Islands is a new adventure, puzzle game released on the Nintendo Switch, Steam, PS4 and Xbox. Developed by Studio Fizbin and published by Mixtvision.
Minute of Islands
Mo is a mechanic who lives underground, on a chain of islands that was once inhabited by a race of giants. A devastating blight wipes out much of the life on the islands Mo calls home. Islands that are now covered in yellow fungal spores that pollute the air.
Mo’s brothers, who themselves are giants, run weird machines to keep the air purified. But Mo’s brothers and the dilapidated machines they run are no longer working. The machines must be kept running in order to keep the fungal spores and a mysterious threat at bay.
Omni Switch
As Mo, you will explore strange, wonderful islands and dark labyrinths in this narrative puzzle platformer. Mo has been tasked with maintaining four giants who manually keep the islands a safe place to be. To do this she must use the Omni Switch. A wand of sorts that has the power to channel energy to the biomechanical devices that the brothers are meant to be running.
Memories to Find
Across the islands, you’ll find memories, which provide brief snippets into Mo’s past or what the world was once like. Better still, you’ll meet Mo’s family and hear about their relationships with one another. There are even some dream-like sequences that explore Mo’s psyche as well. It’s these more personal moments that really drive things along in the game.
Minute of Islands is a mix of puzzles to solve mostly using the Omni Switch and some platforming. It’s a good mix and breaks the puzzling up nicely. None of the puzzles are hard and you mainly explore the islands, looking for hidden memories and the air purifier. It is not the most complex game puzzle wise, but I quite enjoyed the beautifully drawn backgrounds and easy and relaxed gameplay.
Narrative Tale
While Minute of Islands isn’t a long game, about six hours roughly of a playthrough, it’s more about the story and the narrative, which is fully voice acted. That tells a short, charming tale about finding one’s purpose in the world. I enjoyed visiting the islands and listening to the narrative. Minute of Islands would not be a game to play with a young child as there are a few sights that are pretty gruesome for a child to see.
Visuals and Controls
Minute of Islands is full of colour and some beautiful but weird scenes. The story is told as you play the game with the narrator talking as you play. The music is lovely and it’s backed up with appropriate sound effects.
Controlling the game is done with the joy-cons and the controls work as they should. There is a little platforming involved in the game, but it is not much. Any ledges Mo can climb up are highlighted white which is a nice touch by the developer.
Conclusion
Minute of Islands is a decent adventure game. Visually it is good to look at, minus the gorier scenes, which I could have done without. The gameplay, while good, gets a little repetitive going in a loop off: travel to an island, activate the purifier, find the giant, activate the giant.
If you’re a fan of the aesthetics and enjoy relaxed gameplay then Minute of Islands could be just what you are looking for.
Final Verdict: I Like It 