If you like logic puzzles and the like, then this game will be like crack to you. However, please be aware of the following:

TL;DR: Game was supposed to be an MMO-like world of puzzle, then got closed and abandoned barely half a year later.

Initially, Islands of Insight was Online only. However, player interaction was incredibly minimal (you could emote and ping at each other, that's it), so people asked for an offline mode, which was eventually rolled out. Then, 3 months later, the devs announced that the servers would close and the game would be offline only, and no more update would be delivered. Also, we had only one month to backup our save file, which is way too short. Was it because the game did not perform as well as they wanted and the server costs were too high? Did they just get bored of it and wanted to move on to something else? We don't know. Communication from the devs has been quite minimal. Personally, it is hard for me to put much trust in Lunarch Studios after this.

Most of the puzzles are good. Like, really good. They range from bite-sized snacks to full-on feasts. Most enclaves are really fun to go through, and then to 100% afterwards (to a point where sometimes finding the remaining puzzle is the reward in itself for the exploration).

However,

• There is no way to sketch/pencil your guesses. For a puzzle game this polished, that's a big QoL miss.
  
• The UI is sometimes a little jank, especially the Mastery tab, which will ding more often than you've actually leveled up. Also, don't go too fast between windows if you don't want to softlock yourself.
  
• A few of the puzzle types are pretty bad. It's not a big deal when there are so many types, but whenever I come across a memory puzzle, for example, I tend to skip it.
  
• The stats on the map are garbage. By default, puzzles in the open world can respawn between days, even if already completed, so there is no way to know which you have done already or not. Thankfully there is a mod that fixes that, which brings me to my last point:
  
• The only way to 100% this game is by using a third party mod (mentioned above). Without it, you can only 100% the enclaves.

Again, if you think a beautiful puzzle game full of logic puzzles and exploration is right for you, then you will love this game. Just be aware of the above.


Personally, I like it, and I will likely play more of it (even though I have to start from scratch since my save file is gone). But I don't know if I can recommend it anymore as it is now.

Was fun! Key word being was .

Lost all my progress with the removal of online mode. Do not buy.