Pinball Platformer Yoku's Island Express Launches May 29th

Published: April 22, 2018 9:30 AM /

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Yokus Island Express

Pinball platform adventure Yoku's Island Express launches on May 29th for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, developer Villa Gorilla has confirmed. The game was originally announced back in February 2017.

The news came via a press release given by Villa Gorilla and publisher Team17, in which they give the release date and also outline some of the game's mechanics and plot details. Yoku's Island Express is billed by its devs as "a unique blend of pinball mechanics, platforming, and open world exploration". Players take control of the titular Yoku, a dung beetle who travels to the fictional Mokumana Island to become a postmaster (hence "Island Express"). However, an ancient island deity is trapped in a restless sleep, so it's up to Yoku to wake the old god and save the island, rebuilding the postal service as he goes.

Villa Gorilla and Team17 also released a new behind the scenes dev diary-style video, detailing some of the thought processes the team went through while designing the game's aesthetics and its gameplay. Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTS_1nHwtdk

The devs describe the game as being "driven partly by pinball mechanics and partly by platform mechanics", in which the player "[doesn't] control the character so much as [they] control the environment". The trailer is somewhere between Sonic the Hedgehog, LocoRoco and underrated DS relax-'em-up Soul Bubbles, with a hearty helping of Ori and the Blind Forest to round things off. The devs also talk a little bit in the video about their democratic development process, the need to implement believable ways for Yoku and his ball to get around, and how they arrived at creating Yoku after the protagonist was initially just the ball.

Yoku's Island Express will be released for PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch on May 29th, 2018. The game will cost $19.99 at launch and will be available via the aforementioned platforms' digital distribution services.

Excited to get your hands on Yoku's Island Express? What's your platform of choice? Let us know in the comments below!

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More Info About This Game
Learn more about Yoku's Island Express
Developer
Villa Gorilla
Publisher
Villa Gorilla
Release Date
May 29, 2018 (Calendar)
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