Solo: Islands of the Heart Review

Let’s talk about relationships, specifically a loving one or one that you thought was a loving one. Are you still with that person, do you wish to see someone else, do you feel that the love has slowly gone away. These are just a short amount of questions that Solo: Islands of the Heart asks as it tries to pick you apart.

The game is noted as a “contemplative puzzler,” and it lives up to that moniker as Solo: Islands of the Heart is all about forcing you to look at your real life relationship, at how your partner looks at you and if they agree with you, or if they think you’re holding them back or vice versa.

Solo places you in the shoes of a Sailor and at the beginning you’re given some simple questions to build your character, what’s your gender, what is your preferred partner, are you currently in a relationship. This is all set to tailor the game by setting you up with an avatar and a ghost-like figure that is designed to be your significant other.

From here, the game is a simple exploration game as you travel to a series of Islands and triggering lighthouses that will activate a totem, the totem then gives you your question. There is no wrong or right answer to the questions but they will make you think, and the ghost of your partner commenting on your selection will make you question on how your own partner may feel about the choice as well.

The puzzles in the game are fairly easy at first, as the challenge is to get to the lighthouse or totem to activate the objective. Unfortunately your Sailor cannot jump so you’re required to lift and drop blocks in placement to move ahead. After some time, new mechanics such as the magical staff (which allows you to pick up and place blocks from a distance), and new variations of blocks to use.

The problem from here is that the puzzles really start getting challenging closer to the end of the game and then it’s just finished. The game is short, taking about 3-4 hours to complete, but the islands do have little additional puzzles, like building a bridge for a cute animal couple to get back together, or playing music or taking a photo for a creature for achievement/Trophy purposes.

While Solo runs smoothly, the controls can be a little frustrating, the camera is the worst culprit as I found it would move the worst position possible when attempting to use the staff to move bricks. It’s an annoyance that would be more serious if the game had a more action oriented design, but it shouldn’t be a challenge to move items around due to a bad camera.

I’m not entirely sure if I recommend Solo: Islands of the Heart, in one way it was an interesting experience and did make me think about my relationship with my wife, but I honestly think because of my relationship the game had a bit more weight and I’m curious how it would be if I wasn’t with her. Sadly because of that, despite its touching concept, it almost feels shallow.