Recent reviews by AFTR Cyrus

I've been looking forward to this one for a while and it did not disappoint. I highly recommend this game to both factory builder newcomers and veterans alike. The cozy, non-punishing environment alongside the potential for large-scale optimization makes for an experience that can be enjoyed by all.

You may notice reading other reviews that the online servers for the game were shut down and that many people permanently lost their save files, and I agree that the game deserves some negative attention for that. However, I think a review should be an opinion piece addressed towards people who are interested in purchasing a game and what their experience playing the game might look like going forward, so this controversy will not impact my final recommendation.

That being said, I think it should still be talked about to some degree. I believe that (after the final update fixing the SSD wear issues) the offline mode is genuinely better than the online mode was while the servers were still active. While an interesting idea conceptually, the online mode didn't actually add to my enjoyment of the game, nor did it really detract from it. It felt like an unnecessary addition. There were no cooperative puzzles to complete, no way to speak to other players, and barely any way to communicate to other players at all (small ping system with a few options, a couple emotes).

So where does that leave the game? From my viewpoint, exactly the way it probably should have been when it was released. Islands of Insight is an extraordinary puzzle game with a massive variety of puzzles to complete. Not all puzzles are created equal, but I actually think that adds to the appeal. The game is a perfect balance of challenging and interesting puzzles alongside more relaxing puzzles with only minor thought required to complete, which allow your brain to take a small break in preparation for the next challenge. The open world itself adds another layer of depth to the game; instead of simply navigating menus, which actually detracts from that perfect balance I was talking about earlier, each puzzle must be interacted with as an object in a world (not to mention several of the puzzle types would not work in a game where puzzles were accessed via menu).

All there is left to mention is precisely who am I recommending this game to. I truly do believe that if you enjoy puzzle games at all, you will find some enjoyment in Islands of Insight. Despite the decision to make the game online only on release, despite the half-baked implementation of an offline mode to the game that destroyed people's SSDs until it was fixed months later, despite the death of the online servers mere months after the game's release, Islands of Insight is one of the greatest puzzle games to ever exist and I cannot recommend it enough. None of the controversies are relevant to new players of the game, so give it a try.

P.S. Download rushin and team's Offline Restoration Mod (available in the discussions as of writing this review). It fixes some of the lingering bugs the developers failed to fix before leaving the game behind. Disclaimer: My opinions of the offline mode may have been influenced by the use of this mod.