Yoku’s Island Express

What is this? This feeling, it seems so familiar but almost forgotten.
Could it be... joy?

This is for me to practice English. I apologize in advance for bad grammar, lack of English skill, and bunch of jibber jabber!
- I got this game from August 2019 Humble Bundle Monthly.
- Heartwarming and uplifting pinball game. It's one of unique style like Rollers of the Realm.
- The game vibe reminded me of Monkey Island, Beatbuddy, Rayman Adventures, Ori and the Blind Forest, Trine, and Lili: Child of Geos. Like others mentioned, gameplay-wise it's 2D, open world, Metroidvania, pinball game.
- Yoku, the tiny dung beetle is a memorable and lovable character. He pushes pinball ball instead of usual dung, he can fly and speed hack using beeline, good samaritan for helping those in need, dives underwater with no oxygen like a champ, bounces everywhere and can take the motion sickness, is a passionate fruit collector, grapples like a ninja, birthday everyday carrying noisemaker, knows how to vacuums slugs. What more can I say, Yoku is full of surprises and jack of all trades.
- It feels like you are on vacation at exotic jungle rain forest with pleasant sounds like moist rain, waterfalls, birds chirping. It's very magical and mysterious. I was surprised there are many biomes like the beach, hot springs, snow mountain, cave, lava, and jungle. I also liked sound effect of breeze/snowstorm, seagulls, rumbles in the cave.
- The music in this game was one that kept me mesmerized. It suited the game with different use of instruments to give the vibe of island, funk, chill, jazz, beat, tropical, mystic wanders. I think there was even one with elevator waiting sound. (when riding the beeline). The right amount of danger during boss music (felt like dungeon crawler) and different color palettes of experimental music made my ears very happy :)
If you like to check out the interview who made the music here it is :
Steam store don't have soundtrack purchase for this game yet so I listen from youtube :
- Colors are vibrant and refreshing. It's hand-drawn, 2D layered design with nice use of light and shadows such as lights coming out from the hole in the cave biome. The atmosphere and animation of the characters feel alive because the objects like grass blow softly and characters are breathing. Snow falling effect on snow mountains is a nice addition.
- My most favorite part of this game is the bosses and the mechanic of destroying the bosses. The first boss is named Screetch is where you work with NPCs you found. They will turn into red balls and locating them at each sword symbol slot allows attacking the Screetch's laser beam eye. The second boss spider, you have to have good use of slugs and also find the right timing when it tucks its legs. Missing the pinball on the flippers will push you down to the lower table and need to go up again. Final boss, you have to knock off the boss while hearing the claw sound for the right timing and use the ping pong like flipper system to bounce left and right for damage. I wish there were more bosses if there is a sequel and adding multiplayer would be twice fun :)
- It's family-friendly. However, the part that can be a bit scary for kids are the bosses, self exploding annoying slugs, piles of bones in cave biome.
- Quirky looking and helpful NPCs (sometimes gives useful tools) with a cute storyline. (NPC Lonka can help paint beetle's pinball ball when you find sprinkle bauble or Kickback can help prevent getting hurt by thorny pits.)
- You can collect fruits to unlock mini chests for goodies or flipper that can reach certain places. You can also buy secret useful items from NPCs too. There are also bigger chests for special items.
- Many uses of interactive items. The main mini dung beetle's pinball ball can float above water allowing to cross over, slug vacuum is useful for breaking the path by shooting vacuumed slug, dive fish makes you dive underwater for hidden areas or where you couldn't enter before, noisemaker can surprise jars or objects around and drops hidden fruits. Another item is sootling leash, which identifies you as a friend of the sootlings (They look like Susuwatari - dust bunnies from My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away). When you get your own sootling, you can swing on carnivorous plants in the air to grapple and release to reach higher areas of the map.
- The map layout reminds me of formicarium (ant farm) plus amusement park. You can spin, go zig zag, hit the ball at the right timing so the wind blowing statue doesn't push you off, riding the beeline, using noise maker to spin the pinwheels to open certain area, bouncing on floating balls, collecting pieces of purple gemstones to open blocked gate, pushing blocked rock or wooden board. Also, there is a path that allows you to the water slide.
- Non repetitive quests that are puzzle-like such as gathering certain items, deliver all overdue packages, putting mails in the mailbox, bringing toolbox, catch all the sootlings hiding up the tavern, waking up sootling to close the hatch so you fly and reach to the top. Saving Spina in the boiling underbelly using the minions was fun.
- If you like finding hidden things, finding all the wickerlings is one idea.
- Plenty of achievements to try
- It's possible you can get stuck in the same area to find the right path and can be frustrating.
- There's something like a thorn pit, and it's good to be careful because it deducts the number of fruits you have.
- There is a part where you have to grapple up to the high tree that was a bit tedious for me.
- It is possible to die from thorn pits, but when you pass the red flower, you can manually save the checkpoint and respawn.
- If you have trouble finding where the quests are, want to check out where you are or to go, just check the world map or use the telescope.
- When swimming underwater, the control for diving is enter key. Pressing repeatedly when going deeper or moving around. You don't lose oxygen, health, or die.
- The sound of breaking the balls, hitting the flipper, grabbing the fruits, is very satisfying to hear like Pinata.
- You can't teleport one place to another so you either have to manually run there or use the beeline for shortcuts.
Suggestions & Ideas
- If there is new project, I would love to see more of this themed open world story type of pinball game! Maybe with more of Indiana Jones + Tomb Raider like challenging puzzles, interactive activities/items, multiplayer (trade items/work together), biomes, quests, bunch of mini-bosses. Gathering ingredients and crafting system. Some themed world might be : Music world (rhythm, beats, collecting different sounds to make your own), Farming World (farming,harvesting,cooking,building), Fairy Tale World (Hansel and Gretel, Jack the beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood), Travel World (travel through different themed places like Egypt,Japan, anywhere,collectables,culture,learn history,language), WW2 or historical World (tanks,soldiers,accurate history,roles), Zombie world (zombies,hostile people,gathering resources,weapon crafting,shelter,rescue survivors), Mining world (mine cart,ores,minerals,gems,trading,crafting), Underwater & Sea World (submarine,ships, pirates, treasures), Sky world (using grappling hook or aircraft) or Space world (spaceships,exploring and landing on different planets to meet friendly or hostile extraterrestrial NPCS), Dungeon Crawler / Rogue-like World. Choices matter, choices that have consequences. Having own crib with collectibles. Workshop so people can design their own pinball layout. More cosmetic options for the ball and the character.

The love child of metroidvania and pinball games :D
really enjoyable, very colorful, nice characters, different side-quests and collectibles, not too difficult nor too long..
so, keep an eye on it and think about it, because it's worth
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Il frutto dell'amore tra i metroidvania e i flipper :D
davvero gradevole, molto colorato, personaggi simpatici, diverse side-quest e collezionabili, non troppo difficile né troppo lungo..
insomma, tenetelo d'occhio e fateci un pensierino, perché ne vale la pena

Incredibly fun, innovative and well designed game. Very recommended!

I'm a simple man, i enjoy metroidvanias, i enjoy pinball, I enjoy the fact that i can enjoy both of these enjoyments in one game.

I'm mostly terrible at platformers (let alone metroidvanias), but make it into a pinball game and I have half a chance. Yoku's Island Express is cute, entertaining, charming and just generally utterly delightful. So creative and colourful, this is not the sort of thing I normally play but it has completely captured me.

Gameplay
This game features a mix of platforming and pinball. I knew this going into the game, but I was still amazed at just how well the game integrated the two and made it smooth. The focus is largely on the pinball mechanics and Yoku’s Island Express executes it extremely well. I’m not very adept at pinball, but I was able to pick it up rather easy. You are a happy little dung beetle with a… not really a dung ball but a round ball nevertheless, and you are the new postmaster. The whole postmaster thing is kinda on the back burner for most of the game but counts towards achievements and gives you upgrades. Yoku’s Island Express uses fruit as a currency to purchase items/upgrades/or other things to help you progress. The amount of fruit you are able to get is pretty substantial given most bumpers drop fruit when you hit them and they will reset after going to a different part of the map.
Controls
Yoku’s Island Express can be played with both keyboard and controller. The game will transition easy between the two. For the keyboard, it uses the arrow keys and the two shift keys (like pinball has done previously on the PC). For the Xbox controller, it uses the triggers and the left stick. I found that I preferred the controller. Each pinball…lever?.. has one of two colors, blue or yellow that are controlled by different keys or triggers. Some of the levers will have both colors meaning either can be used.
Visuals
As stated above, there are two colors blue and yellow. I did not see an option for colorblindness unfortunately, so bear that in mind. One thing I noticed that I was rather surprised by is that the resolution change in the menu is instant. I didn’t realize it at first as I was expecting a confirmation box or flicker of the screen. Nope. Instant. Done. That being said, I believe it defaulted to 1080p, and I run 1440p, so I had to switch to “Desktop” resolution. As for in game visuals. They are pretty good. The colors are great, the animations are fluid, and the environment looks amazing.
Audio
I really enjoy the background music. I felt it fit the locations extremely well. However, some places, especially the starting area, you can tell the music is looping and it can get a little old. Mostly in the starting area that because you are spending a fair amount of time there learning the ropes.
As for sounds, I thought they were responsive to the task being performed. Additionally, there are minor background noises that add to the feel of the game. Your little dung beetle also makes noises as he/she gets flung all around the map. The languages used for races are different and fit characters well in my opinion.
Miscellaneous
I found that the hardest bits were the non-storyline objectives. The difficulty for the storyline was challenging, yet forgiving. There were also quite a few funny moments for me as a result of my mistakes, usually involving me launching myself into the sky.
Summary
Yoku’s Island Express surprised me with how well it executed its mechanics. I found that I preferred to use the controller over the keyboard, which is great that it has the functionality. I rather enjoyed the world and was generally impressed by the game’s visuals and audio it presented in the game. Overall, I would definitely recommend this game