Imagine your perfect island retreat. Perhaps there’s white sandy beaches, possibly lush green forests, or maybe mountainous terrain is more your jam. Now imagine a quaint town, with fountains on every corner and houses built straight into the cliff-face. You head to the harbour to watch the fishing boats and look out to the picturesque horizon. Feel more chilled? Me too.
No, you haven’t just fallen into a relaxation exercise hosted by your court-appointed therapist because you went too far with your road rage. Again. This is Islanders: New Shores.
Islanders: New Shores claims to be a minimalist city-building game, but I’d argue this description is too simple in its own right, because there’s nothing minimal about the joy this relaxing game brings to the player. The gameplay is gloriously simple and beautifully accessible, not needing to mess around with complex menus and long-winded tutorials. Dropping you straight into the first of twenty levels, you receive a quick overview of the basics of camera movement and placing buildings and you’re off.
As the levels progress, you unlock new and exciting buildings to add to your island. Each new building has its own specific placement requirements, including variations in height, light levels, nature and accompanying buildings. It’s easy to get the hang of which buildings go where to rack up the most points. Plus, the more points you gain, the more boons you unlock to help you on your paradise-building adventure.
Even though Islanders: New Shores is a score-based game, it feels in no way competitive. You find you want to rack up more points because then you get to keep on playing. Because Islanders: New Shores is addictively relaxing. And if the point-scoring feels like it gets in the way of you achieving your chillest form, there’s a tranquil sandbox mode to potter around in too.
So how does Islanders: New Shores manage to be so darn soothing? The original soundtrack sets the mood with peaceful vibes for you to unwind to. Plus, the gameplay visuals truly are stunning. The combinations of vibrant colours are serene and dreamlike, the building designs intricately detailed. It’s important to also mention the islands themselves. With each new level, the player gets to choose which island and feature they’d like to play with next, but even if the basic features are similar, you’ll never see the same island twice. New layouts and landscapes keep each level fresh and interesting.
The same goes for the buildings. The more of each structure you place, the more variants you’ll get to see. Each new harbour has different boats in it. Each new mansion has a different rooftop configuration. For some structures, like the houses, seaweed farms and platforms, the game provides you with different building shapes and encourages you to slot them together, tetris-style, to maximise your points. The game guides you by clearly marking when your building can or can’t fit into certain spaces and displaying the score you’ll gain – or lose – when you set it down. Choose wisely, because there’s no moving your buildings after the fact and hitting “undo” too much can reduce your score multiplier at the end of the level. This can be a bit tricksy, especially when the subtlety of the selection highlight occasionally makes it unclear as to what you’re going to come out with once you’ve tapped your controller button.
You would think with the requirement for jigsaw-puzzle precision placement you need to be able to get in real close to slot your buildings in with accuracy to maximise your score. Sadly, the zoom option can be a little hit and miss at times. The taller your island, the less you’ll be able to see of the items you place closer to sea level. This is a real shame because the intricate details of the building designs deserve to be admired up close and personal.
So now you know, Islanders: New Shores is so much more than just a minimalist city-building game. The radiant visuals and atmospheric soundtrack add a sense of tranquillity to this easily accessible and relaxingly straightforward paradise-builder.