My Experience with the Demo (and other thoughts)

[The Sojourner]

The game is now less than 24 hours from its official release. After spending about 28 hours in the Demo across 6 days, I reached Level 27+ and thus have a variety of experience to share.

When I saw that this was an MMO Puzzle game during the Steam NextFest, I was very, very, very intrigued! MMOs are seldom puzzle games (let alone nonviolent or sandbox games), and puzzle games are seldom multiplayer (generally co-op at the most), so I had to see what all the fuss was about.

My first impressions for the first few days: I was excited! My heart was soaring!! Whether it was the music, the visuals, the narrative, the movement (such as the ability to glide), the feeling that the game emanated "ancient wisdom of gods" (which would very likely be marred if there were weapons like a more traditional MMO), the ability to see other players, or the ADHD-esque solving of many simple puzzles, I was... in awe (some of which is by design, but still, if it's true, awe is awe). I completed quite a bit before even getting my wings, including a giant two-red-star puzzle. Next thing you know, I was in the enclaves I had unlocked, solving their puzzles with keen curiosity. In time, I took an interest in 100%ing them. This I managed to do by the weekend. My heart was (and still is) aching like all hell to experience what is behind those Demo borders. Feb. 13 couldn't come soon enough — it felt like a second Christmas to me!

...and then the grind set in, optional as it was. I knew the lay of the land inside those Demo borders, and knew that I could not progress the main questline because the next Enclave was behind those borders. It wasn't the worst feeling, but the routine had become: solve puzzle types that refreshed for the day (be they logic grids, matchboxes, pentads, etc.), maybe do some of the daily quests (which weren't always possible in the demo zone), and then... get bored while spectating others and solving more Armillary Rings and Skydrops I guess. Over time it took 1-2 hours to get to this feeling of boredom. I feel like this will be a bit less of a problem in the full release tho, with so much more to explore, and so much more that will refresh.

I did sense a concern over the puzzles, however. The developers say there are over 10000 handcrafted puzzles, and it seems like the game cycles through them. A few puzzles were repeated, and others still felt like a computer could've generated them. One of my fears has been that, with all the puzzles so simple (they take mere seconds to solve), it would actually not take too long to run through those 10000 puzzles (or close to it). We're talking a matter of days here. This game will need live-service-type updates to keep itself fresh.

Without any sort of cooperative puzzle solving (and I and others have made suggestions here on the forum), the MMO aspect was... lacking. It was always fun to spectate a player, watching to see if/when they solve a particular puzzle (sometimes before solving it myself), or sometimes watch and learn from them. However I never felt compelled to even so much as interact with anyone — in fact, most of the time I avoided them, for I don't like to distract or disturb others nor spoil any puzzle solutions (this is part of why I let players with a lower level than me solve a skydrop or armillary rings puzzle). Judging by the lack of pings and emotes from other players, I suspect they felt the same. Plus, any pings I would've sent out would probably have been ignored for the most part. I kept thinking to myself that this game should've taken a page or two from Journey's book on how to do an effective nonviolent atmospheric multiplayer game (that isn't some mere citybuilder or sandbox game either).

Come the weekend, I experienced what others had been experiencing (prior to that, I got lucky): rubberbanding (i.e. that phenomenon where your position get "snapped back" to a previous point, whether that's 1m or several). It wasn't too bad, but for the movement-based puzzles it was hell. It also made freely hopping across some structures a little uncomfortable. I suppose the developers wanted everything to look smooth by matching the player coordinates to those stored in the server, but with the way everything's optimized right now (the servers are due for another reset/flush I think), it made me wish that my player position would just stay client-side and only be sent to the server. The sight of teleporting players be damned, I just want a smooth experience from a gameplay perspective!

And by the way, I've read all the complaints about the "always online" requirement, and how there's no singleplayer mode that's possible to play offline. Here's my thought on this: if there were a singleplayer mode, I feel like the overwhelming majority of players would just use that and the MMO aspect would look bleak af. Therefore, I embrace the "always online" aspect of the game — at least for a time. I hold out hope that one day the game could be updated with cooperative puzzles to remedy this, but if it's been a few days past release and there's been no sign of an update, I'll feel like I've wasted my money. This will be especially true if the servers go dark and we don't even get word of a singleplayer mode that's possible to play offline from the publishers (or even the developers). It'll only serve to increase wariness should another like-quality MMO puzzle game come out.

(Side note: the publishers suggest essentially that "your journey is yours and no one can take from you," and that that's why it's "singleplayer." It's even so much as listed on the Steam store page! However, if I have to join a server for whatever reason, it is NOT in fact a singleplayer game. It almost feels like the publishers have been a little delusional about what "singleplayer" means, and doubtless this only adds to the conspiracies of that this game's an MMO because that's somehow another form of DRM.)

My ranking of the puzzles I played:

1) Grid-based puzzles (I especially love the logic puzzles). It was fun solving those puzzle pillars, even though the Demo had only 3 of them. Although they're not in the demo, I also looked forward to solving the Match 3 puzzles (and perhaps others as well).
2) Perspective puzzles: matchbox, then the light motif, then the sentinel stones, then the skydrops, then the armillary rings. The last two not only are fairly abundant, but constantly regenerate, so even if a player steals it from you, it will always come back. I saw the Temple of the Rings and was excited that it was basically possible to farm mastery in this category... and also came to feel exhausted because of it.
3) I loved the crystal mazes, including that one enclave dedicated to them.
4) Then the hidden objects: rings, arches, pentads, and those dastardly, tricky-to-find cubes, in that order.
5) Then the glide rings. There's no time pressure associated with doing them, so they became easy to perfect.
6) Then anything else with movement: flow orbs, wandering echoes.
7) And at the bottom: Morphic fractals. Very pretty (I love that this game uses Julia/Mandelbrot sets! Fractals also appear in the Mirabili, among other places), though at times very finicky (and a little confusing in some sense) to solve. The kaleidoscopic ones could be particularly mean.

I was also intrigued by those things to awaken the central Monolith (though it could not be done in the Demo unless some hacky stuff is done).


Above all, I want this game to succeed, as I believe it could well set a precedent in how any other beautiful-looking (and sounding) MMO Puzzle games will be perceived. Should the servers come to be shut down one day, players WILL demand a singleplayer mode they can play offline. If this does not happen, the whole genre-intersection of MMO Puzzle games could be marred for life!

I don't like MMOs, many of which tend towards being MMORPGs. They always have some sort of combat system, and call me based, but combat systems in games are overrated, especially if they have guns. Combat after all is but only one puzzle type (there are 99 other reasons as well, but "I'm against the idea of violence in video games" ain't one)! But even if the violence is light and instead the narrative is heavy, it always feels just a little too fantastical for my taste (oddly enough though, I loved Hades because its narrative was literally grounded in the history books). Either that, or "gritty"; or perhaps lacking polish.

I like puzzle games, as well as atmospheric games, but it always feels so lonely to play them solo. You're done with the game and then what? Find secrets? Find new ways to play the game? There's little incentive to revisit the game, as the genre generally does not lend itself to a high degree of replay value. The best you can do is share your experiences and thoughts on the game with other fans of the game, and that's a little hard to do when the game is very niche (plus, there may only be so much to talk about).

Games like Journey and Sky: Children of the Light on the other hand alleviate this feeling of loneliness. They're wholesome-making, surprisingly replayable, and you feel like you could be friends with strangers! However it never feels like there's much to actually do — in Journey for instance, you may get a different experience each time due to there being a different player, but outside of that, each Journey feels the same.

Islands of Insight seems to be the chosen one right now to remedy both those issues. And that's why I will (probably inevitably) be heartbroken when (ideally more "if" then "when") it fails some number of days, weeks, or months after release... unless a singleplayer mode that's possible to play offline becomes available post-release.


My heart soars in awe, and then it sinks in concern knowing the long-term issues (as well as the player reputations those are causing in turn). I have been so anxious for the full release of this game, even losing a little sleep over it. I might still buy it because I think the price point will be worth it, but like many others here, I have reservations.

But I also have hope — updates are possible. Updates that could fix so many issues and make the game a real dream come true.


If you read all of what I wrote, from my heart I thank you.

[ChitsaEQ]

Good Insight (heh). Thanks for sharing your thoughts/experience. I'm super excited for the game's full release on Tuesday, but have also been recently experiencing the rubberbanding issues and now server inaccessibility with no way to get into the game (only been about an hour, but still). I hope they change the fact that you can't even choose which server you're put on, so you might not even be in the same instance as your friends. I'm in America and have seen Titles (Student of the Rings, etc) in other languages, so you know it's a worldwide available game.

I was kind of bummed about not being able to chat with other players, but the current system does allow for communication between people not speaking the same language, so there's that. Speaking of the communication ring (Q) (bow, shrug, help, not that etc), I accidentally hit the bound keys for those occasionally & haven't figured out a way to turn off the 'request for help' once it's been activated. Well, you can run up to where you assigned it, or just wait for it to wear off, but they should implement a cancel function. I eventually just had to reassign those keys to somewhere further from the movement keys. lol.

I love a game where nothing is trying to kill you. With regard to your possibly getting bored, if push comes to shove, you can always just use the game as an after work wind down instead of a playing for 5 hours at a time kind of entertainment. Gorgeous graphics & I like that the puzzles de/respawn occasionally, because then when you revisit an area, you'll still have new things to do/find, rather than a been there, done/finished that, gameplay.

The price is very good IMO. I'll drop more than $30 on a meal for two people, and then it's gone. This is something to get hours and hours (months and months for me) of play out of. Just waiting to see what the difference is between the basic and deluxe editions. :)

[The Sojourner]

Originally posted by ChitsaEQ:

Good Insight (heh). Thanks for sharing your thoughts/experience. I'm super excited for the game's full release on Tuesday, but have also been recently experiencing the rubberbanding issues and now server inaccessibility with no way to get into the game (only been about an hour, but still). I hope they change the fact that you can't even choose which server you're put on, so you might not even be in the same instance as your friends. I'm in America and have seen Titles (Student of the Rings, etc) in other languages, so you know it's a worldwide available game.

I noticed that too — titles in German and Spanish. Could've been the time of day I was playing. I also suspect a lot of the server-side issues will disappear (at least temporarily, but hopefully permanently) once the game's out.

Originally posted by ChitsaEQ:

I was kind of bummed about not being able to chat with other players, but the current system does allow for communication between people not speaking the same language, so there's that. Speaking of the communication ring (Q) (bow, shrug, help, not that etc), I accidentally hit the bound keys for those occasionally & haven't figured out a way to turn off the 'request for help' once it's been activated. Well, you can run up to where you assigned it, or just wait for it to wear off, but they should implement a cancel function. I eventually just had to reassign those keys to somewhere further from the movement keys. lol.

The Esc key is your friend. Shame though you can't press Q again to close the wheel (or do it like in Portal 2 coop and have a hold to select).

Originally posted by ChitsaEQ:

I love a game where nothing is trying to kill you. With regard to your possibly getting bored, if push comes to shove, you can always just use the game as an after work wind down instead of a playing for 5 hours at a time kind of entertainment. Gorgeous graphics & I like that the puzzles de/respawn occasionally, because then when you revisit an area, you'll still have new things to do/find, rather than a been there, done/finished that, gameplay.

Indeed. It's a nice chill space. Personally it's a boredom I can get past (or maybe even get comfortable with), but for those who like a little more chaos and action in their games, it simply won't be for them (unless maybe they like to speedrun stuff).

Originally posted by ChitsaEQ:

The price is very good IMO. I'll drop more than $30 on a meal for two people, and then it's gone. This is something to get hours and hours (months and months for me) of play out of. Just waiting to see what the difference is between the basic and deluxe editions. :)

I even commented somewhere that I'd even be willing to pay up to $40 for this title (NB The Witness is still $40, but Islands of Insight feels more justified to have a price point like this imo). There also doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the basic and deluxe editions — just a couple more cosmetics and some digital merch.

[76561199480684521]

Hello!
Wanted to take a moment to thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We'll be sure to share this with our devs.

[Hotcross]

Originally posted by The Sojourner:

I've read all the complaints about the "always online" requirement, and how there's no singleplayer mode that's possible to play offline. Here's my thought on this: if there were a singleplayer mode, I feel like the overwhelming majority of players would just use that and the MMO aspect would look bleak af....

I don't like MMOs, many of which tend towards being MMORPGs. They always have some sort of combat system, and call me based, but combat systems in games are overrated, especially if they have guns. Combat after all is but only one puzzle type (there are 99 other reasons as well, but "I'm against the idea of violence in video games" ain't one)! .

I played the demo. As someone who does like MMO's, the "MMO aspect" of this game was pretty bleak for me and boring. Not being able to chat, not being able to ask for help inside the game, not being able to move the stupid notification window or even just close it. I don't keep chat windows open all the time in other MMO's I play and typically only have the party chat open.

As an MMO fan, I am always interested when a company tries to break the WoW or fantasy MMO mold. There is an MMO named "Tales in the Desert" which I've always been interested in that is kind of like solving puzzles and world buildling so I was really hoping this would be similar in some ways.

I was still considering purchasing until I asked a community team member about larger puzzles that would require actual cooperation between people in the game. I was told that cooperation wasn't really required and that a bit of thought can help people solve the puzzles in the game.

I also played a lot of MMO's and server hosted games that died - and I no longer can play that game. I want to know I own this game even if the servers die. The only way to get this is an optional offline mode.

And last, I do notice the dev responds to a lot of positive comments and comments regarding in-game issues. But these posts from those of us concerned we will lose access to a game we have paid for are ignored and that is very concerning.

[The Sojourner]

Originally posted by Hotcross:

I played the demo. As someone who does like MMO's, the "MMO aspect" of this game was pretty bleak for me and boring. Not being able to chat, not being able to ask for help inside the game...

I feel like if this game went in any of those directions (except maybe chat between friends), it would ruin the atmosphere of the game. That's why I hope for some cooperative puzzle solving instead (à la Journey or similar — and more than just coop).

Originally posted by Hotcross:

As an MMO fan, I am always interested when a company tries to break the WoW or fantasy MMO mold. There is an MMO named "Tales in the Desert" which I've always been interested in that is kind of like solving puzzles and world buildling so I was really hoping this would be similar in some ways.

Never heard of that game. All I know is that this game breaks two molds at once (many puzzle games are singleplayer and many MMOs are... well, as you say). I think of it as an experiment worth supporting if nothing else. Next time a studio does something similar though, we'll have a decent comparison.

Originally posted by Hotcross:

I also played a lot of MMO's and server hosted games that died - and I no longer can play that game. I want to know I own this game even if the servers die. The only way to get this is an optional offline mode.

And last, I do notice the dev responds to a lot of positive comments and comments regarding in-game issues. But these posts from those of us concerned we will lose access to a game we have paid for are ignored and that is very concerning.

I think we all share those concerns. If there's even a threat of the servers going down, a patch to add in singleplayer would be ideal. But for now, let's enjoy the multiplayer aspect (and hope that maybe some cooperative puzzle solving will be added in).

Then again, if this isn't a so-called Live Service game, then having a singleplayer mode that can be played offline is even more crucial since, as many (even myself) can attest, the multiplayer aspect is really weak, with little incentive to even so much as give others a little gesture in-game.