ISLANDERS

A weird combination of challenging and relaxing.

A building good game to play while chatting with your friends. There are different peaceful environments and the bgm is relaxing.

never expected to be so into this game to the point of having it on multiple platforms but here we are

a very very cool strategy based game, once you kinda figure out which structures work with what its super fun to plan ahead and think up your own layouts and go-to strats
really enjoy the visuals and the random islands that pop up, occasionally i think to myself theres no island layout i havent seen yet, and then the game surprises me with something new, i also love that theres colour and weather variation so things always look a bit different
all in all a great game, and i really cant wait for the sequel
(do wish there was a little more to the sandbox mode though)

quite enjoyable, despite the small amount of content and mechanics

"Just one more round..." [*blinks*] "What the fuck do you mean it's been 3 hours?!"

(A great time-spender. Your hours will vanish but definitely not wasted.)

one of the more relaxing strategy-based games out there

Its fun and all but its a bit too much RNG with some of the islands, which just makes getting the achievements a bit tedious

Personally not a fan. I was looking for a city builder game and didn't love that you are constantly starting over. If I had known the full extent I'd probably have skipped this one. If you're interested in a city builder game specifically i'd skip this. If you're okay with starting over and not having a consistent island to continue, definitely pick it up on sale. I wish I could give a more neutral rating vs yes recommend or no... but personally it wasn't what I was looking for.

100 times more addictive than it looks. Lovely visuals, mesmerizing soundtrack and great progression mechanics. You can play it a thousand times and never feel bored by it. Also the price is too low for something this enjoyable. 10/10

What a wonderful little time that can be had in this cozy game.

I can't believe how great this little game is. I'm afraid to open this game because I know I will be sucked into a set for days!

I recommend this game if you're looking for a total chill-out experience. The game is not hard to learn; it's pretty straightforward—you place buildings, and each one grants points based on its surroundings. Some buildings benefit from being near specific structures, while others impose penalties if placed too close together. Your goal is to accumulate enough points to progress to the next island.

The scoring system encourages strategic placement, making each decision matter. Since the islands are procedurally generated, every playthrough feels fresh, adding to the game's replayability.

The soundtrack is great and perfectly suits the game's relaxing nature—chill, lofi-style music that complements the atmosphere. Visually, the game looks nice; everything connects well, and the art direction is clear and cohesive. The minimalist design is simple but effective, ensuring a clean and aesthetically pleasing experience.

While I didn't feel the urge to play for hours on end, it’s an enjoyable experience that I can see myself returning to from time to time. "Islanders" isn't about deep, complex strategy—it's about creating, relaxing, and enjoying the process.

The game is above all a minimalist and beautiful-looking puzzle, rather than a classic city builder. I really love the design and the mechanics. You can create wonderful cities on the randomly generated islands, but to make progress in the game you have to place and combine the buildings wisely in order to generate enough points to reach certain thresholds. Progress in the later stages of the game increasingly depends on RNG while generating the islands, but I personally wasn't too bothered by starting a new run after landing on an "impossible" island due to bad luck. For me, the game is a very clever mix of relaxation and challenge.

Honestly, this is THE MOST relaxing way to do hood rat stuff... NOT with your friends, but by yourself. As Donna says "TREAT. YO. SELF." So please, treat yo'self to some time alone, doing hood rat stuff.

This game is very interesting, so far i'm just building things trying to figure out the points. But I will keep playing to show my support.

Finish review on my youtube channel Ryu Potter. cool simple

great game to chill, relax and play mindlessly while you're listening to someone yapping in the background and barely paying attention to them, 10/10

🌿 A Perfectly Relaxing City-Building Gem! 🌿

ISLANDERS is an absolute delight! If you're looking for a chill, minimalist city-building experience without the stress of resource management, this game is a must-play. The mechanics are simple yet deeply satisfying—place buildings strategically to earn points, expand your island, and unlock new structures.

The gorgeous low-poly art style and soothing soundtrack create a perfect atmosphere for unwinding. There's no rush, no pressure—just pure creativity as you shape beautiful island towns at your own pace. Whether you're playing for a quick session or getting lost for hours, ISLANDERS is the perfect game to relax and enjoy.

Highly recommended for fans of cozy, strategy-lite games!

Found this from the demo of the new game, new game seems much improved but this one is still fun

Great game for those who enjoy what is essentially a puzzle game. Controls are a bit finicky at least on macOS with trackpad (rotate building is the same gesture as zoom).

nice puzzle-like city builder.

Islanders is a very well made, relaxing, cozy and fun game, to play for a few minutes or hours, Can totally recommend, especially with the low price. :3

can be chill or grindy, you decide

gamenya mirip dorfomatic (kalo judulnya ga salah) tapi ini lebih bebas aja sih, kalo dorfo jauh lebi mikir lagi, seru buat nemenin gabut kalo lagi nungguin temen online wkwkwk

This is one of the most peaceful builder games I have played, and it's mechanics are simply elegant and excellent. The game itself doesn't burden itself with an excess of features that would have added too much fluff to the game. The core of the game is it's emergent adjacency score puzzle feature, which is honestly so much fun and where they stand above the rest. So many games overcomplicate the adjacency bonus feature, while ISLANDERS let's it speak for itself by having numbers go up followed by informed choice. While I believe there are SO MANY things to explore in this genre, I appreciate this one over almost all of the other chill city builder type games...save maybe Dorfromantik, which arguably popularized this trend.

If you are unsure wait for a sale...but it's also the price of a (downtown city) coffee.

sometimes this game made me feel like the dumbest person in the world. I respect that.

all in all, it's a very relaxing and unobtrusive game. the most that brought me to a twitching eye was the generation of islands. it's unbearable sometimes.

This is a puzzle game, not a City Builder, Strategy, or Building game.

It is more similar to Tetris than to anything called a "City Builder"— the "City", "Builder", and "Buildings" aspect of this puzzle game are esthetic and have no baring on gameplay.

The "Buildings" are blocks that are inert once placed but which dictate what things you want to put around them; there is no "City" or town or village except in the way a Tetris game can look like stairs if you put the pieces in a particular way; and the strategy is abstract point-maximization—there is no population count, no happiness, no economy, no people.

Once I started playing this game I enjoyed it for what it is. And the price point at $2.50 is absolutely reasonable. However, I would not have bought it if I understood what kind of game it is.

really addictive! small in scope but what it does it does extremely well :)

This is a game that seems simple in concept but works-out your brain really nicely.

When a building fits just right in the spot you need it to for a big amount of points? That gives such amazing scritches on my brain.

The graphics are pretty and colourful. The music is chill. It's a nice calming way to distract or entertain yourself for a while.

Great building game!! Love the art and architechture styles. Enjoyed the mouse point and click style and the procedural generation is a plus adding a unique little starting challenge each time. I like both modes and enjoy that you can keep moving on to different types of islands. I wish that the scroll/zoom out for the view would go out even further. I also wish there were bridges and more roads and also boats!- would be even more cool for sandbox mode. overall great game

Good little puzzle game, but has trouble combining its mechanics with its aesthetics.

If you're looking for a relaxing game to wind down with, this is a solid choice.

It only takes a few hours to learn all the buildings, and there aren't really any monkey wrenches in the works. This is NOT a good choice if you're looking for a challenging puzzle or simulation game. However, as something to chill out with for half an hour to an hour after a stressful day, it's fantastic.

At time of writing, the sequel isn't out, but it sounds similar plus some extra features to make the gameplay a little more complex. Probably worth taking a look at that before you decide. (I'll update if/when I play Islanders 2, but no promises as to whether/when that'll happen.)

Indeed relaxing and very interesting, i will be coming back to this game for a long time, it is fairly priced and if you get it for sale it is a steal

honestly a great game its perefect when you need to calm down and its hella fun, 10/10

I love this game. It's clear and simple. But it's wonderful and so relaxing and chill game. This game looks like kinda city builder or something like that. You can just create your own island. You can make cities, small villages, neighbourhoods etc. So it also like sandbox game. Where you can do, crate, build, whatever you want. This game gives you freedom of actions and choices. And this game so relaxing and peaceful. You don't need to do a lot of actions here. You just enjoy the process of building and creating. So if you like city builders games or some kind of strategies you have to play this game. I believe you like it! Best of luck and take care!

Such a great limited scope casual game!

For each building type, putting in proximity to others is worth some positive or negative point value. That's it. You can plan zones ahead of time, but it's mostly a chill builder that puts slightly more game-ification on top of Townscraper

It's a really fun, calming game and I love picking it up for some casual play when I don't have much time to sit down with something more complex. I love the simple, minimalist art style as well

This is currently my favourite game. It's so simple and beautifully designed. Gameplay is relaxing, but engaging. It's the perfect game to chill and unwind. 10/10!

This game, with it's simplistic graphics, reminds me of those classic retro games of my youth. There are some similar games like it but this i would say is the best. It's a perfectly balanced, relaxing, city-building, puzzle game. Definitely one of the best games around and probably the best value game I have ever bought (via a Steam 'sale').

ISLANDERS scratches that deep itch for a dopamine hit from effectively min/maxing your building placements. I almost feel guilty buying this game on sale because even at full price it's a steal for the brain-massage it gives you.

A very beautiful and surprisingly addicting game. The difficulty ramps up pretty significantly the farther you get, but I am still determined to make it to island 21.

Its a very calming game. I was only gonna try it out for a little bit and i ended up playing like 6 islands. That's a good hour for sure. Especially if you're trying to make a nice city lol.

A pleasant little game. Some reviews have problem if this is a proper city builder or a puzzle game, I think the trailer shows everything you need to know. Also the full price is fine, and with 75% sales it's basically a no-brainer.

Very calming. A thoughtful and beautiful puzzle game. I found I spent more time than expected playing.

my mate luke would struggle at this game, bit hard for the poor fella (his not all right in the head)
but good game, 11/10

Very cute and relaxing puzzle-city-builder. Great to unwind. One session is not that long and it is exciting to discover new score-combinations.
10/10

I bought ISLANDERS on sale for a little over 1 € and it's a stratetic game I had way more fun with than I initually thought, considering the fact I already spent almost 12 hours playing shortly after the purchase and got all the achievements as well.
I did "cheat" on both the Master and Conqueror achievement though as there's only so much fun in constant repeated grinding so I'm glad I saved myself the "trouble".

This game really surprised me by how good it is! It's super relaxing, sucking you into a deep concentration where time just feels like it's slipping through your fingers and one hour suddenly feels like one minute. But at the same time it gives a good level of challenge to the brains, which allows this game to stay interesting and not get too relaxing to make it boring.

ive never been so relaxed yet satisfied and challenged by such a simple gameplay loop in my life, this game is such a great way to wind down but keep your mind occupied. Yes the gameplay loop is simple, but its a good mix of challenging and fun, and the game very visually pleasing, i will never get bored of the music, sounds and graphics. Well Done Devs!

Extremely cute game. I don't think I'd buy it at ~5 dollars but for 1.24? This game is a steal. Would love an update or two in the future.