Yoku’s Island Express Review: Fun, Friendly Frivolity Is Worth Checking Out (PS4)

Yoku’s Island Express is a side scrolling Metroidvania designed as a platforming pinball style adventure game. As you and your pinball explore the island, prepare to hit flippers, bumpers, slide through rails and solve puzzles as you help the island with its problems….. and maybe save it in the process.

This quirky game was developed by Villa Gorilla and published by Team 17. It is available for the PlayStation, Xbox, Windows and Nintendo Switch. Yoku’s Island Express is also available with Amazon Luna.

If anyone is looking for different types of Metroidvania’s out there, Matt Fuller discusses 6 such games for people who hate them. 

Story: Simple but Effective

Yoku is a dung beetle who has turned up at the Island of Mokumana to replace the old Postmaster. When he sees commotion upon the island, it culminates in a tidal wave which throws him onto a sandy beach. Some welcome! 

An evil entity has attacked the island’s deity, trapping him in a restless sleep and riddled the island with plagues and storms, shrouding it in darkness.

As the postmaster, your job is to send parcels to various people and fill the post boxes. You also have to meet some of the residents who have their own problems which need dealing with. Along the way you will naturally uncover more of the island and it’s secrets. With its unique blend of gameplay styles, it allows the island to be a character within the journey.

The island itself and the journey ARE the story, but its small story is told fine, even if it’s bare bones. There is also a decent twist at the end I didn’t see coming. You are the only one that can help and there is a small smattering of backstory here and there. The characters mostly just serve as fodder to say, “this need done, take this/you need this” but they are charming. There is the odd piece of environmental storytelling to go with it, which would have been nicer to see more of.

The beginning of your quest. Seems the Old Boy leaves quite the mess behind!

Gameplay: Easy Going, Deceptively Deep

Yoku can move left or right but can’t jump. To get around, Yoku has a trusty sidekick – his ball, which goes everywhere with him. You need to use pinball flippers to launch yourself around the map, as well as solve puzzles scattered around the island.

As well as solving the mystery on the island, you are now the postmaster and your job is to deliver the post, as well as help the island’s denizens with their own problems – unclog a shelter full of ants, free an eel from the ground.

With it being a Metroidvania, doing more of the story unlocks more abilities for Yoku as well as more island to explore. The game, unlike a lot of its brethren, is a very chill, serene experience – no normal enemies to take on, health bars to manage, skill trees to upgrade. It’s for the better. There are things which do upgrade your character, but they are given to you or you can find them.

Your job is to naturally fill all the post boxes but the game opens up to include a few collectibles. There are plenty to keep you going if you decide to do them and it is not overwhelming.

Talk to the island citizens for quests, background information and their charming demeanour.

The Map: Bee-Line Your Way Around

The world map is free form, you can go where you please and do what you like. There are certain markers on the map but actual progress and where to go is up to you. This can make the game initially unclear for the first few hours. However it eases off the more you progress. Once you obtain certain abilities, an important one is your ability to swim, more of the map was accessible and it’s easier to get around.

Being a beetle is pretty slow going, so prepare for a leisurely stroll. However you do unlock a fast travel system called Bee-Lines. These were very handy, even for reaching difficult places. Speaking of places around the island, the map is handy – to an extent. It doesn’t name any areas, except when you physically explore them. Weirdly, I found the map’s camera to be too close in for your main view – where things are in relation to Yoku, and too far out when it shows you the entire island. This usually was because I was looking for something specific. It’s a minor quibble overall, but will pop up repeatedly.

The island has several sections to explore and there is history to read about what has come before. It’s not extensive but is welcome for knowing who some of the locals are and what they are doing there.

Bee-Lines. You will be using these a lot during your adventure.

Up for a Game of Pinball?

To unlock new paths within the map involved pinball sections. While certain ones were a little ambiguous, completing them was satisfying. You could collect fruit and certain barriers were unlocked by collecting orbs. Obstacles were cleared by using exploding slugs. These were fun challenges. However, one caveat is that they put barbed wire under the flippers for when you go “down the hole.” Do it too many times and you can die. For such a relaxing game, it can’t fathom why this was included. It’s unnecessary and doesn’t serve any purpose.

One highlight of the pinball arenas are the boss fights. They are inventive, slick puzzles having the extra layer of depth to a pinball areas. They were an enjoyable challenge to the normal routine and sometimes included help from others, which was satisfying. 

Yoku, as mentioned above, will collect a lot of fruit. Fruit is very important because it will be used to unlock new bumpers and buy quest items for your satchel. Your satchel allows you to keep quest items. Some will allow you to observe and manipulate your environment. A few are miscellaneous but they are satisfying to collect.

Some of the island story puzzles were quite intuitive. There is an important one about freeing your frozen friends. This involves navigating a loop which spins your ball and you can go in four directions, to solve a puzzle and free each one. Freeing each character unlocks part of a door blocking your progress to a boss.

The island scenery hides paths in plain sight, which were fun to find and explore when you came across them. I particularly enjoyed swimming once it was obtained and seeing things from a different perspective.

The Boss fights are great fun. They are a special occasion and stand out.

Control: Have You Ever Seen a Beetle Fly?

This one’s better seen in action than to explain. So, you’re friends with a pinball. It will follow you everywhere. Being so used to jumping in a metroidvania, it was initially disorienting. You get used to it though. Sometimes the animations when using a flipper meant he was programmed to do so at specific angles. This was a little frustrating, but overall, getting around was a liberating experience. With the jaunty music, it’s very relaxing. Other ways to get around were direct lines which propelled you specific direction of like a normal pinball table. There were also strategically placed bumpers, which are quite creative to getting you to a specific location.

Getting through the story did update Yoku’s arsenal of moves and alleviate the rigid structure created early on. This mostly involved dealing with interiors and pinball sections. It was cool to see the same areas later on in a different context because you could now do something different.

Overall though, getting around was fun – I just wish the island had been a little more “open” – but understand why it’s packed with things to do. Like any good Metroidvania, completing the map and obtaining all the collectibles is an option that is worth pursuing.

It’s a little repetitive considering the size of the map, but for completionists, it shouldn’t be too taxing and is enjoyable to get a full experience, considering it’s not a stressful game.

The meat of the game is the pinball sections – they are good fun & get quite creative.

Graphics: Very Bright & Cheerful

The island has a lovely hand drawn style quality to it, which I think accentuates it’s exaggerated nature, especially with things like collecting fruit.  There was also a good selection of locations, from the forest in the middle, to temples underneath and snowy banks high in the clouds. It made each area look similar but different to it’s surroundings and I liked the use of colour – when outside, most of it was bright and bold.

There aren’t many cutscenes, but there nicely done with good camera framing for whoever was talking to Yoku. Yoku itself was nicely animated, small arms and legs, what looked like wings on its back.

Animations were very nicely done, the island itself is simple but feels alive in a way. Getting nearer to the top resulted in it becoming windier and things shaking.

Another one of Yoku’s varied locations, high above the clouds.

Music & Sound: Bright & Bubbly

This was also enjoyable. Most of it was upbeat, perfectly fitting the games ambience and I really appreciated the catchiness of the songs. At times, it’s very groovy or funky. From it’s layered approach, where it would have a base line, then there’s a main verse but it also had a variety of different sounds to compliment each track. It’s a little hard to explain but the soundtrack is worth checking out. It was created by Jesse Harlin.

Not uncommon, all the characters talk to Yoku in a bunch of gibberish but it’s explained through text dialogue, which is perfectly fine. The sound effects are also fine, they were well done and sounded right. One of the standouts was the distortion of being under water. It’s a small thing but does show the studios’ attention to detail. As an actual postmaster, he has a horn that you can blast whenever you feel like, which was a cool addition. 

Yoku’s Island Express was played and reviewed on a PlayStation 4.