bumping thread to alert all the wizards to a great Steam game I just got in the last month's Humble Bundle:
Yoku's Island Express, $19.99(or semi-free in my case) is a pinball game similar to Sonic Spinball, with some metroidvania elements. The controls are pretty basic, you can move left & right with your analog stick, and left & right triggers activate all blue and yellow flippers & bumpers on screen respectively. The entire game is one large series of interconnected tables and chutes, with a town hub, side quests, fast travel that can be unlocked, and additional movement perks to earn(like a grappling mechanic on certain flowers and a dive button in water where you would otherwise float) as progression.
The game is set in a watercolored, kid-friendly nature island similar to
Ori & The Blind Forest, and your character is a small dung beetle pushing a pinball instead of a turd in a semi-cutesy, semi-Grimm's atmosphere. As an adult, it feels pretty fair with some of the taller climbing segments and I'm constantly making progress at a satisfying rate. There's a map that gets filled in but the amount of directions you could go is almost daunting. Good achievements to chase, chill soundtrack but nothing amazing. Ball physics are above average, you can pretty consistently make shots that visually make sense if you have any reflexes at all. No deaths, the very minor penalty for draining a ball completely is falling through a path of thorns and dropping a few "fruits," the island's currency for unlocking new paths/fast travel points/minor upgrades, which is easily earned back by bouncing on a few bumpers.
I never see modern games mixing these two genres, so I
highly recommend it even if you are turned off by the setting or presentation like I was initially. Go beg for a free key in the giveaway thread if you're interested, try the demo, or just buy it yourself, you should get a good 10-15 hours out of it, and it's fun enough to replay in 6 months to a year.
Meet Yoku, the pint-sized postman protagonist of Yoku's Island Express! Use a unique blend of pinball mechanics, platforming and open world exploration to unlock the secrets of Mokumana Island, help the locals, awaken ancient deities and much more in this amazing new tropical adventure!
store.steampowered.com
