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A chill, island-themed puzzle game picks up where it left off.
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You ever have one of those days where you just want to get lost in, I dunno, something a little bit different? That’s kinda what ISLANDERS: New Shores feels like. It’s this follow-up to the original 2019 game, minus all the flashy titles. Picture this: you’re hanging out, building up islands with cities, lighthouses, shaman huts, all sorts of structures, and it’s all about stacking up points to hop over to the next island. No timers here — just… freedom. You can sit and think forever, placing each piece perfectly to up your score. Those tunes? They’re cozy, fitting the minimalist vibes perfectly. Just the sort of thing you get lost in. It’s like a deep sigh of relief in game form.
Anyway, so you start on a tutorial island — and yes, it’s all straightforward, showing off the mechanics. But you gotta figure out the little tricks yourself. Basically, you’re all about putting buildings next to each other to gather points. Pick from a couple of building set cards, like Brickmaker or Seaweed Farm. Sometimes you get a quirky building for whatever island theme you’re working on. From those beginnings, you’re just always chasing after more points, unlocking new card packs, and along the way — yeah, New Shores adds a bit here — you get special perks. Like, more points for your next build or duplicate a building, but there’s a twist with a temporary setback. And once you’ve scored enough? Off you go to the next island, or you decide to stick around and max out your score.
Oh, and when you move on? You get a score total with multipliers depending on how many boosts you used or how few mistakes you made. So then, you’re back at it, picking from a pair of islands, each with different climates and structures. That’s how it rolls in High Score Mode. But if that’s not your scene, there’s Sandbox Mode. You get to mess around, design your own space, pick your island size, shape, climate — all of it. You’re the boss.
So, I played it on Switch 2, pretty smooth except for a little stuttering when making those pinpoint placements. Kind of a pain, considering how often you’ll be nudging stuff around to get those points before deciding where everything goes. Seriously, a mouse option on Switch 2 could help — but yeah, New Shores is still just a Switch 1 thing.
The new menus and detailed buildings got me hooked more than the original — no surprise there. You keep your score from island to island, aiming for the top of the online leaderboard. That urge to go for “just one more run” is all too real, with the simple gameplay and the constant reward of seeing those points and card packs stacking up. It’s gonna keep hanging out on my Switch’s home screen for sure. A nice way to chill out at night. It’s easy-going enough to draw in fans of the first game and probably grab even more folks with its chilled-out island vibes.
