You can put meat, raw fish, and even cheonggukjang into bibimbap. But not jjajang. That is a kind of black magic. One day in 2013, Swedish indie developer Villa Gorilla set out with a plan to blend pinball and Metroidvania. It was reckless. One is a game where you let the ball bounce as it will, while the other is a genre where you memorize paths and expand the map. The joy of relinquishing control and the joy of building control do not usually go hand in hand. The price of using forbidden magic was time. The development period, originally planned for one year, stretched into five years. That is how 'Yoku's Island Express' was born.
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What Was the Motivation Behind Development?
Developer Villa Gorilla is a small studio that opened in Stockholm, Sweden, in July 2013. Co-founders Jens Andersson and Mattias Snygg both hailed from Starbreeze Studios, which gained fame for its first-person action games. Their goal was modest: finish a game within a year. The problem was that the team had no animator. Since there was no one to draw characters walking, running, and fighting, they just needed to create a protagonist that required almost no animation. Their solution was a ball. Things did not roll according to plan at first. After testing their early prototype 'Pinball Stories', the two felt that it leaned far too heavily on pinball and adjusted their direction. They concluded that rather than a pinball game with adventure elements added, it had to be an adventure game powered by pinball mechanics.
How Does It Play?
The protagonist, Yoku, is a dung beetle. Although he looks closer to an ant, that is the setting given by the developer. The only difference is that he rolls a ball instead of dung. Rolling a ball larger than his own body, he arrives at Mokumana Island to take up his post as the new mail carrier. While the player controls Yoku, it is actually the ball that moves across the screen. Flipper paddles placed on the left and right launch the ball, dragging Yoku along as he climbs higher up the island.
The entire island is one giant pinball machine. The real genius of this game lies in the fact that pinball sections are not split into discrete stages. The whole island forms an interconnected pinball table, where cliffs, caves, and swamps each serve as tables with different properties. Where Metroidvanias open doors using keys and abilities, this game substitutes aiming and launching. The player decides where to go, while the ball determines how to get there. As a result, even the feel of failure is unique. If you miss your timing, the ball rolls back down the path it came, but rather than feeling frustrating, previously unseen branching paths catch your eye. To begin with, there is no combat, no death, and no game over screen in this game.
Awards Received for a Debut Game
The game won Best Debut Game at the 2019 BAFTA Games Awards. In essence, it won an award for first-time creations with its very first creation. UK outlet Eurogamer awarded it a 'Recommended' rating, and prior to its release in 2017, it was named 'Best of The MIX' at the Los Angeles event for indie game showcase The MIX. Review scores support this acclaim. Its Metacritic score stands at 84 for PC, and its Steam user reviews are 'Overwhelmingly Positive', with 96% of 1,836 reviews being positive. While these figures might not rival blockbuster titles, considering that it is a debut release from a small studio and currently priced at 2,050 won, the perspective changes.
Gamers It Might Not Suit
If you prefer games where you advance efficiently toward a clear objective, this game might feel frustrating. The ball often bounces in unwanted directions, the map is not overly hand-holding, and it does not explicitly tell you what to do next. It is also not for those looking for a sense of progression gained through combat. What grows here is not Yoku, but the player's ability to read the island. As Marcel Proust said, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." For anyone with a perspective that finds a journey within wandering, this is the most beautiful object 2,050 won can buy this week.
