| Islands of Insight | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Lunarch Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Behaviour Interactive |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release | February 13, 2024 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle-adventure |
Islands of Insight is a shared-world puzzle-adventure game set in a fantasy realm. It is developed by Lunarch Studios and published by Behaviour Interactive. [1] A free demo that served as an open playtest [2] was available from September 7 to 21, 2023. [3] The full game was released on February 13, 2024. [4] [5] [6]
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2023) |
In Islands of Insight, the player is a Seeker on a peaceful journey rich in puzzle-solving. [1]
In a preview, Wesley LeBlanc of Game Informer called the game "something I look forward to going hands-on with in the future", describing its themes as "intriguing" and its setting as "vibrant and diverse". He explained that he was curious why the game was shared-world multiplayer. [7] Jody MacGregor of PC Gamer stated that it stood out for its lack of combat, saying that the puzzles seemed varied. She stated that there was a "Windows wallpaper vibe" to the game's locations. [8] Ken Allsop of PCGamesN called the game "breathtaking", with a "stunning" environment. [9] Both MacGregor and Allsop compared the game to The Witness , citing its mixture of exploration and puzzles. [8] [9]
Xseed Games is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. It later became a subsidiary of the Japanese game company Marvelous, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related materials.
Numerous video games were released in 2016. New hardware came out as well, albeit largely refreshed and updated versions of consoles in the PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 4 Slim, and Xbox One S. Commercially available virtual reality headsets were released in much greater numbers and at much lower price points than the enthusiast-only virtual reality headsets of earlier generations. Augmented reality also became mainstream with Pokémon Go. Top-rated games originally released in 2016 included Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Inside, Overwatch, Forza Horizon 3, Madden NFL 17, WWE 2K17, NBA 2K17, Dark Souls III, and Battlefield 1 and Doom 2016. The top five highest-grossing video games of 2016 were League of Legends, Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor, Monster Strike, Clash of Clans, and Dungeon Fighter Online.
Nacon is a French video game company based in Lesquin. It designs and distributes gaming accessories, and publishes and distributes video games for various platforms. In 2020, Bigben Group was consolidated to form Nacon.
In the video game industry during 2019, both Sony and Microsoft announced their intent to reveal their next-generation consoles in 2020, while Nintendo introduced a smaller Nintendo Switch Lite, and Google announced its streaming game platform Stadia. The controversy over loot boxes as a potential gambling route continued into 2019, with some governments like Belgium and the Netherlands banning games with them under their gambling laws, while the United Kingdom acknowledging their current laws prevent enforcing these as if they were games of chance. The first video cards to support real-time ray tracing were put onto the consumer market, including the first set of games that would take advantage of the new technology. The Epic Games Store continued its growth in challenging the largest digital PC game distribution service Steam, leading to concern and debate about Epic Games' methods to seek games for its service. Dota Auto Chess, a community-created mod for Dota 2, introduced a new subgenre of strategy games called auto battlers, which saw several games in the genre released throughout the year. Blizzard Entertainment faced criticism due to their involvement in the Blitzchung controversy, which began after they had banned a Hearthstone player for making comments during a tournament regarding the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.
Satisfactory is an upcoming factory simulation game created by Swedish video game developer Coffee Stain Studios. It is a 3D first-person open world exploration and factory building game. The player, a pioneer, is dropped onto an alien planet with a handful of tools and must harvest the planet's natural resources to construct increasingly complex factories for automating all resource needs. The initial goal is to build a space elevator and begin supplying the company the player works for with increasingly numerous and complex components for their unknown purposes. Those exports unlock new buildings that make the next export possible. The factory building aspect of the game has been described as a first-person and 3D version of Factorio.
In the video game industry, 2022 saw the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, slowing hardware sales for most of the year as well as development delays for major titles. The industry continued its trend of acquisitions and mergers, highlighted by Microsoft announcing its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. The industry as a whole continued to deal with issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination, alongside crunch periods, leading to at least the quality assurance staff at three separate studios to vote to unionize.
In the video game industry, 2023 saw significant changes within larger publishers and developers. Microsoft, after having satisfied worldwide regulatory bodies, completed its US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, making them the third largest game publisher in the world. Embracer Group, which had been in an acquisition spree over the previous few years, had an estimated $2 billion deal fall through, causing many of the studios under Embracer to either lay off staff or close entirely. Similar layoffs were seen at Unity, Amazon, ByteDance, Epic Games, Bungie, and Ubisoft, leading to over 9,000 jobs lost in the industry in 2023 and part of a larger trend of layoffs at technology companies in 2023.
Company of Heroes 3 is a real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega for Windows. A sequel to Company of Heroes 2, the game features new mechanics and modes and is set in the Italian and North African theaters of World War II.
One Piece Odyssey is a 2023 role-playing video game developed by ILCA and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. A part of the One Piece franchise, it was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It is also set to release for Nintendo Switch in July 2024.
In the video game industry, 2024 saw many events including job losses extending from 2023, including large cuts from Microsoft Gaming, Electronic Arts, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, with over 10,000 jobs cut by May.
Bail or Jail is an asymmetrical multiplayer action game developed by Free Style and published by Konami Digital Entertainment. The game was originally released on the Nintendo Switch in 2019, and ported to Windows PC on July 21, 2022 under its new name.
In the video game industry, 2025 is expected to see the release of many new video games.
Palworld is an upcoming action-adventure, survival, and monster-taming game created and published by Japanese developer Pocketpair. The game is set in an open world populated with animal-like creatures called "Pals", which players can battle and capture to use for base building, traversal, and combat. Players may also assign the “Pals” to bases where they will automatically complete tasks for the player. Palworld can be played either solo or online with up to 32 players on one server. It was announced in 2021 and launched through early access for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in January 2024.
Galacticare is a 2024 business simulation game developed by Brightrock Games and published by Cult Games for the PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S. The game was announced in March 2023.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is an action role-playing video game developed by Microbird Games and published by Curve Games. Taking place in the fictional town of Hinterberg in the Austrian Alps, the game also features elements commonly found in dungeon crawling games and social simulation games. The game was released for Windows and Xbox Series X/S in July 2024.