{"id":323998,"date":"2025-10-18T09:47:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T09:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/article.php?article_id=2163660"},"modified":"2025-10-18T09:47:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T09:47:47","slug":"islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Islanders: Console Edition review &#8211; a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You never just drop a brewery somewhere. No-no-no. Not at first, anyway. At first, you should take it for a walk.<\/p>\n<p>Or rather, you should take it skating. I like to grab a brewery and sort of skim it over the landscape, like a skater describing dreamy arcs on the surface of a frozen pond. It&#8217;s capitalism &#8211; it&#8217;s potentially even empire-building &#8211; but at this stage it&#8217;s also speculative, a quiet thing of drooped eyelids and keen hearing. You are waiting for the land to speak to you. You are waiting for the land to tell you where the brewery should best be placed.<\/p>\n<p>\nUltimately, I like to think of these early stages of Islanders, a city-building game like no other, as if I am dowsing. But that thought journey seems important in itself. Walking, skating, listening, dowsing: this is one of those magical games that is broad enough to be absolutely about what it claims to be about &#8211; building civilisations on a series of lonely islands &#8211; but can also serve as an analogy for numerous other things. How best to store different teas in a cupboard. How to entertain fractious kids of a long holiday. How to formulate an argument with rigour and a certain kindness, a certain willingness to have your mind changed by something you subsequently learn. (Granted, I was having a pretty cosmic playthrough when this one occurred.) What could be nicer?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2021-08-19-islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2021-08-19-islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You never just drop a brewery somewhere. No-no-no. Not at first, anyway. At first, you should take it for a walk. Or rather, you should take it skating. I like to grab a brewery and sort of skim it over the landscape, like a skater describing dreamy arcs on the surface of a frozen pond. It&#8217;s capitalism &#8211; it&#8217;s potentially even empire-building &#8211; but at this stage it&#8217;s also speculative, a quiet thing of drooped eyelids and keen hearing. You are waiting for the land to speak to you. You are waiting for the land to tell you where the brewery should best be placed. Ultimately, I like to think of these early stages of Islanders, a city-building game like no other, as if I&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":323999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Islanders: Console Edition review - a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You never just drop a brewery somewhere. No-no-no. Not at first, anyway. At first, you should take it for a walk.Or rather, you should take it skating. I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Islanders: Console Edition review - a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You never just drop a brewery somewhere. No-no-no. Not at first, anyway. At first, you should take it for a walk.Or rather, you should take it skating. I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-18T09:47:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"269\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Islanders: Console Edition review &#8211; a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-18T09:47:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":256,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/\",\"name\":\"Islanders: Console Edition review - a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-18T09:47:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"You never just drop a brewery somewhere. No-no-no. Not at first, anyway. At first, you should take it for a walk.Or rather, you should take it skating. I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":269,\"caption\":\"Islanders: Console Edition review \u2013 a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Islanders: Console Edition review &#8211; a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Islanders: Console Edition review - a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building | Arcader News","description":"You never just drop a brewery somewhere. No-no-no. Not at first, anyway. At first, you should take it for a walk.Or rather, you should take it skating. I","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Islanders: Console Edition review - a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building | Arcader News","og_description":"You never just drop a brewery somewhere. No-no-no. Not at first, anyway. At first, you should take it for a walk.Or rather, you should take it skating. I","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2025-10-18T09:47:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":269,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Islanders: Console Edition review &#8211; a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building","datePublished":"2025-10-18T09:47:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/"},"wordCount":256,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg","articleSection":["Eurogamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/","name":"Islanders: Console Edition review - a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-18T09:47:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"You never just drop a brewery somewhere. No-no-no. Not at first, anyway. At first, you should take it for a walk.Or rather, you should take it skating. I","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building.jpg","width":480,"height":269,"caption":"Islanders: Console Edition review \u2013 a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/islanders-console-edition-review-a-gloriously-dreamy-approach-to-city-building\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Islanders: Console Edition review &#8211; a gloriously dreamy approach to city-building"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1361840,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323998\/revisions\/1361840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}