Islanders: New Shores

GameGrinAlana Dunitz

8.5/10

ISLANDERS: New Shores is a chill building experience, full of strategy, that requires a lot of planning to maximise your score, but it remains a calm and relaxing experience.

Nintendo World ReportJordan Rudek

8.5/10

The slightly more detailed and enticing menus and buildings of New Shores made me fall a little harder for it than I did the original ISLANDERS. You still retain your overall score from island to island to shoot for a position atop the online leaderboard, and that “one more run” feeling is as strong as ever given the simple gameplay and the constant dopamine drip of numbers going up and card packs unlocking. ISLANDERS: New Shores is almost certainly going to enjoy a lengthy stay on my Switch’s home screen as a way to settle into bedtime vibes at the end of the night. It’s a fun, approa…

TheSixthAxisLaura Hill

8/10

Imagine your perfect island retreat. Perhaps there’s white sandy beaches, possibly lush green forests, or maybe mountainous terrain is more your jam. Now imagine a quaint town, with fountains on every corner and houses built straight into the cliff-face. You head to the harbour to watch the fishing boats and look out to the picturesque horizon. Feel more chilled? Me too.

Metro GameCentralNick Gillett

8/10

A relaxing, minimalist and deceptively complex puzzle-style city builder, with surprisingly challenging gameplay if you decide to test yourself against its global leaderboards.

Checkpoint GamingErielle Sudario

8/10

In 2019, Grizzly Games released the “minimalist city builder” game ISLANDERS, where you slowly build a small civilisation from a procedurally generated island, using the building packs given to you each round. I got this game during the pandemic, and it was a great distraction from the stress of Tom Nook and his cronies, as it offered an alternative to the cozy island-building experience. Now, a sequel called ISLANDERS: New Shores is here, promising familiar gameplay with added elements. ...

GameSpewKim Snaith

8/10

Wonderfully zen and relaxing, Islanders: New Shores is the city building game for people who don't want to get bogged down with nitty-gritty. All you need to worry about here is placing buildings and getting the highest score possible — and if even that sounds too stressful, there's a sandbox mode that simply lets you design your own aesthetically-pleasing townscape.

SiliconeraJenni Lada

8/10

Welcome to Islanders: New Shores. Build your island retreat in a calm, minimalist world with exciting new features that keep the classic charm while inspiring fresh creativity. Switch version reviewed. Review copy provided by company for testing purposes.

TechRaptorBlair Bishop

6.5/10

It's cute in its minimalism, and remedial in its gameplay loop, yet despite promising to find that je ne sais quoi in the future, Islanders: New Shores doesn't have it now.