Islands of Insight Preview – Puzzle Paradise

Behaviour interactive and Lunarch Studios unveiled Islands of Insight at the PC Gaming Show today. The 20-minute demo gave me a better idea of this open-world, idyllic puzzle game. While I still have many questions, especially concerning the game’s shared world cooperative multiplayer aspect, Islands of Insight is something I look forward to going hands-on with in the future.

Behaviour Interactive pitches Islands of Insight to me as an “epic open shared world, puzzle adventure game,” and I’m immediately intrigued. I didn’t get to see any of the shared world elements during my demo, but after seeing what players will be doing in the game, I’m even more interested to learn how this shared world will work. The game is played by a Seeker, a person who seeks knowledge. You wander around an island mass that’s vibrant and varied. Each seems to be inspired by some aspect of the ancient world and a spokesperson for Behaviour Interactive said the ancient wonders of the world are some of the primary inspirations for Islands of Insight’s visual style.

A massive Egyptian pyramid is floating above Egyptian ruins decorated with Anubis statues on one of the islands. Elsewhere, there’s an island that looks a lot like the floating gardens of Babylon, and in the distance, ancient Japanese pagodas stand tall on another.

To advance from island to island, you must solve puzzles and if what I saw in 20 minutes is any indication, it won’t be hard to find puzzles to solve. The number of puzzles in this world is staggering. Walking 50 feet, I saw half a dozen and what’s most impressive is that there are many different types.

On a tutorial isle called Seek 5, I first see this type. The bubble shield forms after the interaction with the spire. I’m told this shield is the parameter of the puzzle and you have to find five hidden objects within it. It’s a straightforward puzzle, but I can see how more advanced versions of Seek 5 can be much more difficult.

Up next, I see a hidden archway – it’s translucent and blends into the scenery but walking through it reveals its true form and adds a completion to my puzzle count. I watch as the person who was demoing the puzzle moves onto the Sentinel Stones. The goal is to line up so that the laser-like lines shooting out from each stone touch you. It’s almost like every stone could see you.

I’m told that there is no linear path through Islands of Insight; you only need to complete puzzles to move on to new game areas. I ask about a campaign briefly mentioned during my demo but the team doesn’t have more to share. On screen was a golden target to go inside the pyramid.

We’ll get there after solving some more puzzles like Matchboxes (which asks players to find matching symbols in nearby buildings) and Match 3 Puzzles. There’s a lot of verticality across the islands and it seems like you can climb up virtually anything that’d made logical sense. With magical wings, you can glide, jump, sprint or double jump. And fortunately, there’s no fall damage, so you can parkour easily throughout Islands of Insight.

The shared-world aspect was of particular interest to me after this demo. The team wouldn’t tell me how many players are in a server, but they did say each instanced puzzle is solved on the player side, even if you’re playing on the same server with friends. My solution to a problem only counts for my own game. However, my friend could watch my solve the puzzle in order to solve it later in their game.

If so, I’m curious why this game features a shared-world multiplayer aspect. What is the benefit of playing multiplayer when the game can also be played as a single player? Puzzle progress only affects the individual player and not the server.

In the future, I would like to know more. Islands of Insight should be available on Steam soon.