Islanders Console Edition, the minimalist city builder from developer Grizzly Games, is heading to Switch... right now!
Yes, as revealed in today's Indie World Showcase, the relaxing 2019 game has been shadow-dropped on Switch eShop by publisher Coatsink and is available to buy as you read these very words for the reasonable price of £4.49 / $4.99 / €4.99. It's coming to PS4 and Xbox One on 26th August, but Switch owners get the first chance to take the console version for a spin.
If you're unfamiliar with Islanders — or ISLANDERS if you want to get all-CAPS shouty about it — it's a procedurally generated and very chilled city-builder where you fashion villages on the game's rugged landscapes, with shorelines, cliffs, snowy mountains, parched deserts, grass... you know, all the earthly biomes. Ergonomic building will earn you points as you work towards a target which unlocks bigger and better elements to construct and expand your island metropolis.
Ahead of the game's Switch announcement, the team at Grizzly Games gave Nintendo Life some exclusive comments about this relaxing puzzler, its journey to Switch, and the feeling of seeing the game appear in a Nintendo Indie World Showcase...
Grizzly Games team introduction and roles on this console port:
We’re Jonas, Friedemann and Paul, also known as Grizzly Games. For ISLANDERS Console Edition we added some new content to the game such as new Island types and color-schemes. On the technical side the awesome folks at Coatsink handled porting the original game to the Switch Platform.
On what players can expect to enjoy in the Console Edition:
What makes ISLANDERS Console Edition stand out compared to other city builders is its extreme simplicity. The gameplay is all about planning and optimizing the layout of your city. There is no resource management, no skill trees and no unnecessary fluff, which is why some players describe it as the “Tetris” of city builders.
On initial inspirations for the game:
We loved the vibe of classic city builders such as ANNO or SimCity and thought it would be great to have a scaled down version of that for shorter play sessions.
On the excitement of being featured in the Indie World Showcase:
On a scale from zero to Christmas Eve, very close to Christmas Eve. Seeing ISLANDERS Console Edition on the Switch is something we’ve always dreamt of.
On how the game is a good fit for Switch:
ISLANDERS Console Edition is a cozy, beautiful and accessible game that invites everybody to build their dream city on a remote island. It’s a great game for unwinding with a relaxed play session at the end of the day and we think the Switch is the perfect console for that, because it allows you to take the game wherever you want.
While we really hope somebody gets to play ISLANDERS Console Edition on a deserted island under a palm tree someday, we personally are most excited to play it on our couch or on the train.
On the challenges of balancing the small handheld screen and docked play experience:
ISLANDERS Console Edition has only very minimal UI, so that helped because icons and other user interface items usually create the biggest challenges in this regard. The wonderful people who handled the porting at Coatsink did a beautiful job at adapting everything that needed to be altered to work on the small screen and we think the game works perfectly on both scales.
On technical performance (Elizabeth Manuwa from Coatsink):
ISLANDERS Console edition runs at a stable 30 FPS in both docked and in handheld mode and the resolution plays docked at 1080p and 720p in handheld.
And finally, on where Islanders places on a 1-10 scale of 'Chill':
We say 12, but we might be a little biased on this. It’s super nice that you can play ISLANDERS Console Edition everywhere you want to now!
Islanders Console Edition is out now on Switch eShop. Let us know if you're up for getting city with it with a comment below.
Comments 18
Ooooo, I need to know more about this!
Hopefully it’s also task based, sounds like it.
I need goals
This looks pretty sweet. Should make a really nice handheld game too as long as it runs well.
Less than a fiver? I suppose I'll fire up the Switch now and buy it instantly then. Nice
Ooh, I love Islanders on the PC. @Pikman It's not exactly task-based. It's more score-based. It's about placing whatever you have, then drawing from 2 selections to place some more until you run out of space. Then you move on if you score enough points. It's Roguelite, but also extremely chill. Totally worth the tiny price tag.
I like the game on PC, but after playing it, it feels weird to call it a city builder. It feels much more like a board game, where placing tiles in proximity to other tiles grants you bonus points. It's fun, but it doesn't really scratch the city builder itch for me. More puzzle like.
I do love a management game (I’ve sunk well over 40 hours into games like Planet Coaster) so I’ll love this
I've played 100s of hours in the PC version. It's a great game.
So it's SimCity: Island Edition. Glad this is not an EA game.
This is great fun on mobile, recommended!
@Specter_of-the_OLED It's not remotely. If you're looking for sim city clones, that would be Cities Skylines or Tropico for your island builder fix. This is still a great game, but not a sim city like.
It is a great arcade/score-chasing builder game. Having sunk dozens of hours into the PC version, I'll be happy to buy it on Switch and play it on the go.
This potentially could be a top class eShop indie if it turns out well on the Switch. Will need reviews but yet another one for close monitoring on the wishlist. A good idea for an Indie video game.
I found the line in the presentation about when your island is full you just move on to the next and start from scratch, bearing in mind is procedurally generated, highly off-putting.
Looks enticing!
@gcunit it's not your typical city builder as your goal is not to play on a map for days IRL and see your creation thrive on its own. There are no roads to build, no deep management tools. There are no people on the map. You're just given a few structures that you have to place, doing so will give you more or less points according to what you have already placed or what was already there (a lumber mill near trees, fields near water, a house next to another house...). You need to reach a certain amount of points to unlock the next island. If you don't get enough points you will run out of things to place on your map and then the game is over.
The incentive to go further is that you'll get more different types of structures and larger maps on the next islands, but once you run out of points you'll have to go back to island one, but as the maps are procedurally generated it will not exactly be the same. And since you get to choose which elements to place you're given next, a game can be totally different right from the start if you choose a different route.
It's a very cool concept which does borrow elements from a city builder but it's not completely that. I'm a city builder fan and i didn't find anything off-putting in restarting a new level every 10-15 minutes, thought it was a refreshing angle on the genre actually.
@echoplex Seems a very reasonable take on it - appreciate your insight.
Downloaded it last night and played for about 30 minutes.
It is a puzzle game.
It feels like a mobile game.
It's priced borderline expensive.
It is incredibly chilled out.
I had fun, but not rushing back - will dip in and out.
@roadrunner343 The idea of building civilization is still the same though but I guess it does had its own element outside of city building.
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