Love is the reason so many people go on each day, whether it be for their parents, their spouse, their kids, their pets, or even themselves. Without love, people can fall into very dark places, and even when that love is given, it’s not always accepted. Of course, it’s not that they don’t want to accept another person’s emotions, but they may not know how; it can be quite complicated, as pretty much every form of media will explain. It’s a bit like solving a puzzle, which this just happens to intersperse among its journey that speaks to your romantic life, whatever you happen to make that out to be.

Starting out, Solo: Islands of the Heart asks some probing questions which then determine how the rest of the game plays out. It wants to makes sure that it’s personal, requesting you choose how you really feel. So if you’re a guy but want to be a girl, choose that. If you’re in a relationship with a woman but think you should be with a man, do that. Do you feel as though you are male, female, or non-binary? It’s not all inclusive, especially when it comes to the questions regarding relationships, but there are enough options that you get what it’s going for in the end. The game seeks to hit home by relating to what you know about your relationship, or what you hope to get out of one, and then challenges it. Depending on your mood, it can definitely hit the right notes – likewise though, it can also fall very flat.

The majority of the game consists of you going to lighthouses and lighting them so that you can be asked a question about relationships. You will come across a specter that’s meant to represent the other half of the relationship, and most of the time it’s very negative. By that I mean it almost always opposes whatever you answered. So for instance, if you’re asked whether or not it’s possible to love someone else more than yourself and you say yes, the ghost will say that’s sweet, but what if they want to do something that will hurt you? I have nothing against devil’s advocate, but it becomes trite when it’s literally the only response you receive, regardless of the choice.

Traversal is simple enough, as there isn’t any real threat to your existence. Even going in the open water with turtles and the like doesn’t yield anything scary, unlike the recent Sea of Solitude, or anything from older generations that wanted to avoid swimming without the excuse of drowning. The puzzles in the game for actual progression are typically just block challenges, but there are also side quests that you can do which add in additional elements. The block puzzles start out exceedingly simple, but soon amp up with the addition of a parachute for gliding and a magic wand for manipulating block placement and direction. The camera can be rather problematic in close quarter areas, not allowing free movement and forcing you to move your avatar to a different location so that the wand will be able to place the block where you need.

Each puzzle is broken into pieces divided by territory, so don’t expect to bring blocks from other puzzles into your current challenge, as they will disappear. I feel this limits the execution of some puzzles, although I understand the need for thinking within the confines of the challenge. Watching the trailer at the top of this post, I noticed I actually solved an air puzzle differently than the developer, which I’m not certain was what they wanted, but I always appreciate when you can break a puzzle to completion. The game also provides you with a camera and guitar, both of which aren’t all that necessary. You’ll learn songs for the guitar, doing things like changing the color of the world, but it’s not vital to the experience like the instruments or baton in the Zelda series. I’m sure there are probably some cool Easter eggs involving these items, but I didn’t witness them. I will say that the style of the game is charming; I just wish that bled into other parts of the game.

When it comes down to it, this feels like a Buzzfeed quiz with predisposed answers within a cutesy puzzle game. I really liked the idea of the questions in my first twenty minutes with it, but quickly saw where it was going. At first I was thinking I’d have a similar experience to when I first played Catherine, which hit me in the gut more than a few times with what was going on based on my choices. While this requests you be as true to yourself as possible, this seems to be a bit too dependent on the player buying into the “what if” scenarios it throws at you.

I really wanted to like Solo: Islands of the Heart, but it fails to keep me engaged on the puzzle front as well as with the emotional portion. This could’ve been something special despite going in an obvious direction, like RIME, but instead falls short with technical issues and shallow responses.

5 out of 10

Pros

• Atmosphere
• Relaxing
• Side Quest Challenges

Cons

• Camera Issues
• Shallow Responses
• Limited Puzzle Depth

Solo: Islands of the Heart was developed by Team Gotham and published by Merge Games. It is available on NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on NS. If you’d like to see more of Solo: Islands of the Heart, check out the official site.

 

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