Minute of Islands

I've bought and returned this game a long while back, because the visuals look so interesting and because the game was just so boring. I've recently gotten the itch for it again simply because of its visuals and wanting to know what happens. But instead of playing it I found a Let's Play video of it instead, to my surprise even watching somebody else play this game is just mind-numbingly boring even at just 4 hours. I will not spoil anything for you, I just want to share with you why I feel this game is so boring and that it did not needed to be this way. I think the biggest problem this game has is the narration, which was done by one woman, while her voice work is stellar its also the only thing you will hear all game. Even when in-game conversations happen all you hear is that woman explaining what is happening on screen instead of having other characters talk to break up the monotony. The second problem is the "platforming", there is a lot of platforming in this game and all of it feels tedious, you zigzag all over the place without feeling any progress and everything takes just a little longer then its needs to to pad out the run time. The third problem is pointless repetition of the plot, here go save this giant, then do it again, and again... Without the game play ever changing or evolving. And then there is the story itself and all the stuff that makes no sense, I can't go into this without spoiling the story for you but trust me that the actions of all the important characters don't make any sense. The supposed advanced race can't seem to design a room/base they can turn their asses in to get to critical infrastructure that keeps them all alive. It's just not well thought through. The protagonist is also very dumb, unwilling to wear protective gear against the main antagonist and unwilling to work with other people for solutions to save those people when saving those people is her whole goal. So ultimately it's not even a satisfying story.

If you're like me, you were instantly drawn to the visuals of this game. They are GORGEOUS, and obviously inspired by the art style of Adventure Time and the like, and they continue to impress from start to finish, although you can 100% this game in just a few hours. The gameplay is fine, it's mostly finding and activating air purifiers and energy conduits, with a little bit of secret searching thrown in. The setting and story are the main focus of the game, and I for one enjoyed it. The story is somber and grim, and the ending is not happy, but it's interesting and the setting is fascinating. I also love the nautical, norse, and taxidermy themes that are woven throughout the narrative. Very cool, and very fun to look at. There are a couple of flaws, however, that keep this game from being truly great. First, the pauses. It feels like for every ten seconds of controlling Mo, the game pauses to allow the narrator to speak for thirty, or maybe the camera will pan around the area to show off the beautiful artwork, or maybe Mo will start coughing or something for a while. It's very irritating--a skip button to allow you to fast-forward through the narration (which can often be kind of pretentious) would have been very welcome in the least. Second is the main character, Mo. Mo is not a nice person. Although we never hear her speak, the narrator tells us she is argumentative, mean, resentful, self-centered, and even goes so far as to attack someone who is standing in her way. It's implied that after the story ends she becomes a much kinder person, but it's a little hard watching her act cruelly towards her family members. Other than that, it's a good game, although $20 is a little steep for something that only will last you about four hours. I'm still glad I played it though.

"One could sit here a while, with the right protective gear. And mourn." After their Inner World series (2013/17), Studio Fizbin again take you to a world in air trouble, and again there's a chosen one destined to keep people breathing. The similarities end there though. Even if the protagonist looks endearingly childlike as she runs, jumps and climbs through Fizbin's signature style screens- hand-drawn comic-book art with a mind-boggling level of detail-, Mo is no charming naïve like Robert: You play a battle-hardened engineer pushed to breaking point by a war she alone is equipped to fight, but cannot possibly hope to win. If anything, the audio is even better than the visuals: With the calm narration, nuanced sound design and fantastic soundtrack (one of the rare ones I downloaded and listened to separately), it feels like the game could almost work as a radio play. It's a tad sad, if understandable on economic terms, that a game made in Germany, its locations tangibly inspired by isles in the German Baltic, doesn't have German narration, especially seeing that the written German is at least as lively and idiomatic as the English. The game's emphasis on story comes with trade-offs in other places: I'm fine with the lack of actual puzzles, but the game takes control away from the player far too often. Considering this is a platformer, you rarely ever get into a proper flow; ever so often, there's some animation that needs to end, some text box that needs to disappear, before you can go on playing. Explaining the real strengths of this game is hard, given character limit: Its deft and yet almost pedantic exploration of the characters' thoughts and feelings; the unstoppable descent into darkness, even breaking the fourth wall (Spec Ops: The Line, except you're fighting spores, not people); the thought-provoking and very up to date thematic content- Minute of Islands is not easy to love, but it's definitely worth the six hours of your time.

So first things first: Gameplay-wise the game is truly quite weak and I understand the other low rankings because of that. It has basically no challenge and "walking sim" is maybe the closest definition. The reason why I want to defend the game with a 5 star rating is, that it happens really rarely for me nowadays that the ambivalent meaning keeps me thinking for that long. The morbid visuals and the rather dark setting are painted beautiful and I don't think it would work in the shape of a comic, a novel or a movie. I still believe the game, coming together with it's "busy work" that somewhat underlines the story is the perfect format. I don't want to spoil any part of it, just want to give my statement, that people like me, who thought walking sims are not for them, suddenly saw in this game the one that changed their mind. Really loved it in the end

Minute of Islands is beautifully drawn, and has a very intriguing story; but gameplay is minimal. You go to a location, find your path up and down (there's no enemies or hazards); if you go off the path you mind some "memories" that enrich the story. There's a couple of items, but their use is obvious, there are no challenging puzzles. The story is told slowly, in a reminiscent manner, and every interaction is animated. It's pretty, but it can get on your nerves that every time to take a lift it has to do the whole animation, and every time Mo crawls out of a duct she has to take a few seconds to dust herself off. Still, from an artistic point of view it's very neat, like an animated comic. If what you're craving for is a challenge for your reflexes or your brain, this is not it, though.