Yoku’s Island Express

I love a metroidvania. And I love a game that doesn’t rely on combat for the challenge but rather uses another mechanic to complete objectives and create that difficulty spike (see me waxing lyrical about Ori and the Blind Forest!) Yoku’s Island Express by Villa Gorilla is something completely different to anything I’ve played before – a adorable metroidvania-style, side-scrolling platformer with pinball mechanics. Oh also you play as a dung beetle postman. And I’m willing to bet that’s either entirely put you off or seriously piqued your interest.

The visuals are colourful and cartoony, the world’s full of strange characters that make cute noises when you speak to them and it’s pitched well in that way that won’t age as poorly as games that strive for a more detailed or realistic style. The world is neatly broken up into sections that have distinct styles and environments making it reasonably simple to work out where you are and where you’re going. Really it’s just pleasant to look at and everything seems well thought out.

You’re a beetle rolling a huge ball around (we’re assured it’s NOT dung but that simply raises more questions about why our beetle friend is tethered to a huge marble…), navigating the world in your new job as the island’s postmaster. The game handles well as you make your way to the village without a jump or attack ability but thankfully the world has handy-dandy pinball flippers everywhere (a completely unreasonable gripe on my part is that they’re Portal colours but they’ve reversed which side trigger buttons control which…) that allow you to fire yourself towards bumpers and across the map. Truthfully I have no particular talents in pinball. I’ve never used a pinball table and, besides a brief obsession with Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire Pinball on the GBA, I’ve not played enough to have a real opinion let alone any skill to speak of. Despite this it’s certainly easy enough for anyone to access. Some of the sections require accuracy of a level that can be frustrating but with perseverance it’ll come. (Honestly, some parts seem impossible at first but stick with it and it’ll happen.) Boss battles require feats of pinball control rather than strength and agility and I LOVE unconventional boss battles. (Don’t get me wrong, I also love beating the living daylights out of bosses with a big sword but variety is the spice of life and all that.) Without any attack to speak of (except when you wrap an explosive slug around your ball…yup…) Villa Gorilla had to be smart about fights and the bosses all have slightly different techniques required to beat them that need you to change your style of play. This is pretty damn refreshing, especially in a game that’s tied itself so completely to one mechanic throughout.

It’s a simple but engaging plot: you’re travelling to the island to become the new postmaster. You get there and everyone in the village is up in arms because the god of the island has been attacked and you need to bring some powerful magic users together to save him and the island as a whole. It’s genuinely charming and there’s a definite drive to save this poor suffering creature. All of the characters are interesting and cycling through their dialogue to make sure you’ve heard everything they have to say is a must because some of it’s pretty funny and interesting. The dung beetle thing is never really addressed. No idea where that came from. I also find myself questioning how many of the other inhabitants get around. A few are generally round in shape and do make use of the pinball mechanic but I can only assume most of the villagers are stuck there forever. This is also never brought up and indeed is possibly a little dark for such a pleasant game… Probably best to not ask. They all seem happy anyway!

The story itself can easily be beaten in a day. Considering this the game may seem a little pricey at £16 on Steam. But the post-game can definitely keep you busy for far longer. There’s so much to see and do and complete – there are postboxes all around the island for Yoku to ram a huge wad of letters into – and this will certainly take you some time. Despite this I’m yet to 100% this game despite finishing the story multiple times. The story is so charming and fun to play and I’ve finished it in a single (long!) sitting because I was so engaged. After this the post-game is a bit dull. There are a few shining moments but even as someone usually driven by finding that one last collectable I struggle to keep interested long enough to get all of the additional colours for my ball. My advice would be do as much as you can before you finish the game so you have the story to fall back to if you begin to get bored.

Yoku is a different, charming, fun little game. Truthfully it hold such a place in my heart simply for picking a gimmick and committing to it so thoroughly that it works. It’s a special game and I honestly think everyone could have fun with this. Some of the pinball challenges can get frustrating and it’ll require some perseverance but skill level really doesn’t matter here. I will admit Yoku seems to be lacking content compared to similar games of similar prices but if you’ve got the cash I promise you’ll have a wonderful time and if it’s on sale just grab it.

8/10