Yoku's Island Express

Yoku's Island Express is a platform pinball adventure video game developed by Swedish studio Villa Gorilla and published by Team17. The studio's debut project, the game was released in May 2018 for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A version was released for Amazon Luna in October 2020.

Yoku's Island Express
Cover of Yoku's Island Express
Cover art, depicting the protagonist, Yoku
Developer(s)Villa Gorilla
Publisher(s)Team17
Designer(s)Linus Larsson
Programmer(s)Jens Andersson
Artist(s)Mattias Snygg
Composer(s)Jesse Harlin
Platform(s)
ReleaseWindows, Switch, PS4, Xbox One
29 May 2018
Amazon Luna
20 October 2020
Genre(s)Platform, pinball, adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

In Yoku's Island Express, players control Yoku, a dung beetle, who becomes a postmaster as he arrives at a fictional island of Mokumana.[1] The player is tasked with saving the island from a looming calamity, as the island's deity figure is attacked.[2]

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot

The gameplay of Yoku's Island Express consists mainly of side-scrolling platforming. The player can move Yoku left and right, but unlike most platform games, they can't jump. Instead, the player uses pinball paddles (flippers) placed throughout the map to launch a ball attached to Yoku into the air, pulling Yoku with it.[3] Yoku's Island Express takes place on a Metroidvania-style open-world[3] island with many bumpers, tracks and ramps to utilise the pinball mechanics.[4]

Development

Villa Gorilla was founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 2013 by Jens Andersson and Mattias Snygg. They wanted to make a game in one year, choosing to "make a game about a ball" as they did not have an animator.[5] Eventually, they started calling their project an "open-world pinball game".[5]

The developers created a proprietary game engine suited for the needs of their project.[5]

Yoku's Island Express was announced on 20 February 2017.[6] On 16 May 2017, it was announced that Team17 would be the game's publisher.[7] Yoku's Island Express was released worldwide on 29 May 2018. The game was released for Amazon Luna on 20 October 2020.[8]

Reception

Yoku's Island Express received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[9][10][11][12]

Critics called Yoku's Island Express "unique".[3][13] and "ingenious"[1][4] They praised how the developers managed to combine several genres, with GameSpot's Alexander Pan stating "Yoku's Island Express takes two unlikely genres and combines them into one playful, natural experience".[13]

Reviewers criticised the occasional retreading or backtracking in the game's world as sometimes being tedious or even causing frustration.[2][13][3] Jon Mundy of Nintendo Life stated that "figuring out exactly how to get from A to B in the early to mid-game stretch can feel like groping around in the dark".[2] Critics who reviewed the Nintendo Switch version complained about the in-game map being hard to read in handheld mode.[4][2]

The game was nominated for "Best Debut Indie Game" at The Game Awards 2018,[14] and for the Central Park Children's Zoo Award for Best Kids Game at the New York Game Awards,[15] and won the award for "Game, Original Family" at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards;[16][17] it was also nominated for "Best Debut" with Villa Gorilla at the Game Developers Choice Awards,[18] and for "Best Sound Design for an Indie Game" at the 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards,[19] and won the award for "Debut Game" at the 15th British Academy Games Awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Family".[20][21] In addition, it was nominated for "Best Visual Art", "Best Game Design", and "Best Original IP" at the Develop:Star Awards,[22] and for "Best Arcade Game" at The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards 2019.[23]

References
  1. Donlan, Christian (29 May 2018). "Yoku's Island Express review - a pinball/platforming hybrid that works brilliantly well". Eurogamer. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  2. Mundy, Jon (29 May 2018). "Review: Yoku's Island Express (Switch eShop)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  3. Marks, Tom (29 May 2018). "Yoku's Island Express Review". IGN. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  4. McClusky, Kevin (31 May 2018). "Review: Yoku's Island Express". Destructoid. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  5. Handrahan, Matthew (29 May 2018). "Villa Gorilla's five-year journey to make a one-year game". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  6. Whitehead, Thomas (20 February 2018). "Yoku's Island Express, an 'Open World Pinball Adventure', is Coming to Nintendo Switch". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  7. Whitehead, Thomas (16 May 2017). "Yoku's Island Express Developer Partners With Team17, Set for Switch in 2018". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  8. Gartenberg, Chaim (20 October 2020). "Hands-on with Amazon's Luna game streaming service". The Verge. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  9. "Yoku's Island Express for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  10. "Yoku's Island Express for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  11. "Yoku's Island Express for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  12. "Yoku's Island Express for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  13. Pan, Alexander (5 June 2018). "Yoku's Island Express Review: A Breath of Fresh Air". GameSpot. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  14. Grant, Christopher (6 December 2018). "The Game Awards 2018: Here are all the winners". Polygon. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  15. Keyes, Rob (3 January 2019). "2018 New York Game Awards Nominees Revealed". Screen Rant. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  16. "Nominee List for 2018". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 11 February 2019. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  17. "Winner list for 2018: God of War breaks record". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  18. Good, Owen S. (4 January 2019). "Red Dead Redemption 2 tops list of Game Developers Choice nominees". Polygon. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  19. Lagumbay, Emmanuel (14 February 2019). "2019 G.A.N.G. Awards Finalists". Game Audio Network Guild. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  20. Fogel, Stefanie (14 March 2019). "'God of War,' 'Red Dead 2' Lead BAFTA Game Awards Nominations". Variety. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  21. Fox, Chris; Kleinman, Zoe (4 April 2019). "God of War wins best game at Bafta Awards". BBC. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  22. Blake, Vikki (16 May 2019). "Shortlist for Develop:Star Awards 2019 revealed". MCV. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  23. Stephenson, Suzi (19 September 2019). "TIGA Announces Games Industry Awards 2019 Finalists". The Independent Game Developers' Association. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
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