It’s probably for the best that land masses don’t float in the air, assuming for a moment that gravity functions in the expected planetary manner. Anyone underneath is in constant danger of a shower of rocks coming down from a few thousand feet up, not to mention erosion wearing the islands down into floating dirt-clumps that the wind eventually tears into dust. Then again, planetary rings like Saturn’s are also temporary features so maybe a little beauty is worth some impracticality. The romance of the islands is as big as the endless sky they drift through, and in Islands of Insight almost every square foot is covered in puzzles.
A scenic sky filled with brain teasers
Islands of Insight is a first-person open-world puzzle game that’s got more than a little platforming kicking around its DNA. Starting off on a small area the game throws a few starter puzzles at the player, gently guiding them down a path towards the expansive map visible in the distance. Floating cubes have tile puzzles inside where black and white squares need to be laid down in just the right pattern, or other cubes lying around the environment need to be joined by finding the one spot where both are visible. Mostly invisible gates shimmer in the air and get tagged as having been discovered once you walk through, while a large platform with columns on it needs you to find the one spot where all of them can be seen at once. None of the puzzles are particularly hard to begin with, but there’s a huge open world past the starting zone packed with challenges ranging from beginner-easy to mind-bogglingly difficult.
Caught Up in the Puzzle Cycle of Islands of Insight
Once on the main island the world opens up and a good number of other puzzle types join the mix, scattered throughout the world waiting for an inquisitive explorer to find them. The islands are as vertical as they are horizontal, though, and the first ability earned with the XP from solving puzzles is a double-jump. Following the main quest-line leads to earning a glide, opening up environmental secrets or just letting you feel nice soaring through the air. Either is good, Islands of Insight isn’t going to rush you no matter how easy it is to zip from puzzle to puzzle like a particularly inquisitive squirrel. The world is designed to be as much a place to enjoy being or playing in as it is to house its challenges, which range from pure logic to playing variations hide & seek or tag.
Islands of Insight launches today on Steam and isn’t one to be missed. For more details here’s adeveloper breakdownof its systems, but the important thing is there’s a big sky up there and it’s filled with more puzzles than its drifting islands feel like they should be able to hold.
