Isle of Arrows

About

Isle of Arrows is a single player puzzle game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Gridpop and was released on September 8, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Build an impenetrable fortress, tile by tile. Place buildings, build roads, and expand your isle to defend against waves of invaders in this roguelike fusion of tower defense and board game.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 735 reviews

gameplay43 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Isle of Arrows offers a unique blend of tower defense and tile-placement strategy, making each run feel fresh and engaging.
The game's charming visuals and relaxing atmosphere enhance the overall experience, making it enjoyable to play for extended periods.
The challenge of adapting to random tile draws adds depth to the gameplay, rewarding strategic thinking and creativity.

The heavy reliance on RNG can lead to frustrating experiences, as players may find themselves unable to progress due to unfavorable tile draws.
The game lacks sufficient player agency, with limited options for customizing strategies or managing resources effectively.
Some players feel that the difficulty spikes, particularly in later levels, can be punishing and may detract from the overall enjoyment.

gameplay
101 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
52%
5%
The gameplay of the game is a blend of tower defense and roguelike mechanics, offering a mix of strategic planning and randomness that can be both engaging and frustrating. While many players appreciate the unique mechanics and minimalist design, some criticize the reliance on RNG, which can lead to repetitive and punishing experiences. Overall, the game is easy to learn but may feel limited or unbalanced, with a mix of enjoyable and irritating elements that affect long-term engagement.
- “Isle of Arrows is a delightful blend of tower defense, strategic planning, and roguelike mechanics, and it quickly became one of my favorite games.”
- “The simplicity of the graphics and gameplay makes this game work really well for mobile.”
- “Gameplay is fun and addictive.”
- “The once mechanic that's keeping me from coming back for more is the random spawning of new paths mid-level.”
- “I have a couple personal problems with the game: first I find the gameplay a bit repetitive, despite the randomness associated with the roguelite genre; and second, I find that the randomness of what 'tiles' you are offered is way too critical for the success of a game for my liking.”
- “However, after a while, the gameplay can start to feel repetitive, and the lack of variety can make the game feel monotonous.”
graphics
62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
37%
5%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the charming and minimalist art style that enhances the gameplay experience. However, some players find the visuals to be simplistic and repetitive, leading to a lack of visual variety. Overall, while the aesthetic is often described as beautiful and soothing, it may not appeal to everyone due to its minimalistic approach and occasional blandness in enemy design.
- “The graphics are bright and colorful, and the music is soothing and atmospheric.”
- “Visually, Isle of Arrows is charming and colorful, with detailed pixel art graphics that bring the game's world to life.”
- “The art style is smooth and defined, and the controls are great.”
- “If you like the minimalist visuals (not actually as charming as they look, by the way), the enemies are quite samey looking and bland, which does affect gameplay as it becomes just a big blob of red. The shaders never really looked as nice as the pictures in any of the levels I've played so far.”
- “Weak sound effects, no music, graphics are what they show on the box, no special effects of any sort.”
- “Graphics are cute, but it's not very interesting.”
replayability
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
40%
12%
Overall, the game boasts high replayability due to its card-based mechanics, daily challenges, and various modes that encourage players to adapt and strategize differently each time. While many players appreciate the randomness and depth it offers, some feel that the reliance on RNG can diminish the experience over time. Nonetheless, the combination of engaging gameplay and diverse challenges ensures that players will find plenty of reasons to return.
- “The card-based gameplay can add a measure of randomness which adds to its replay value.”
- “It has daily challenges with a leaderboard which makes this very replayable.”
- “Outstanding tower defense strategy with a ton of variety and replayability!”
- “Don't play this if you don't like RNG; it is a fun game, yet eventually the RNG catches up to you and it loses its replayability.”
- “Once you figure out the trick to each map, there's little replayability.”
- “I understand the idea of rogue-likes is to improve replayability, but to my tastes, this one has gone too far and made the fundamental actions (of making interesting choices) meaningless; for me, it's ruined any fun the gameplay might have had.”
music
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
63%
14%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its atmospheric and soothing qualities, while others find it repetitive and lacking in variety. While the soundtrack enhances the casual gameplay experience for some, others feel it falls short alongside weak sound effects. Overall, the music is described as minimalistic and fitting for the game's tone, but many players desire more diversity and depth.
- “The game's soundtrack is also a standout feature, providing an atmospheric and immersive backdrop to the gameplay.”
- “The graphics are bright and colorful, and the music is soothing and atmospheric.”
- “And finally the music is very atmospheric which is perfect for this type of game.”
- “Weak sound effects, no music; graphics are what they show on the box, no special effects of any sort.”
- “The biggest flaws are its repetitive soundtrack and the fact that some abilities are hilariously unbalanced at times.”
- “The graphics are unimpressive, the music and sound effects are lackluster and missing things like health bars and upgrade paths other than progression (which relies on lucky draws vs good adoption of strategy) sucks the fun out of this one for me.”
story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
67%
20%
The game's story is minimal, lacking significant character progression or a cohesive narrative, which some players find makes it feel shallow. While the campaign offers around 20 hours of content, players often encounter frustrating difficulty spikes and reliance on RNG in later missions, leading to a tedious experience. Despite the initial fun, many feel that the lack of a compelling storyline and the repetitive nature of missions detracts from overall enjoyment.
- “The game has a lot of content for its price; first, you go through the tutorial and campaign missions, and then there is an 'ascension' mode where you take all of the towers you unlocked in the campaign and there are 6 levels per guild.”
- “After the patch, I was able to complete both merchant missions with only a handful of restarts.”
- “Don't expect any storyline or character progression.”
- “Additionally, the lack of a storyline may make the game feel a bit shallow for some players.”
- “Unlocks don't happen often enough, especially when you're stuck in the rut of level 20-40 for the first story; if you do get lucky and move past it, there's not enough new mechanics to keep the game interesting.”
atmosphere
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
44%
The game's atmosphere is consistently praised for its cozy and elegant design, featuring clean graphics and soothing music that create an immersive and relaxing experience. Players appreciate the bright visuals and the calming soundtrack, which enhance the enjoyment of gameplay and make it ideal for unwinding. Overall, the atmosphere is described as a joyful and serene backdrop that invites players to engage for extended periods.
- “The atmosphere is cozy, the art is clean and elegant, and the 'just one more tile' feeling is real.”
- “The game's soundtrack is also a standout feature, providing an atmospheric and immersive backdrop to the gameplay.”
- “I love the graphics and the atmosphere; it is perfect to relax after work or start the day smoothly with a coffee.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience. While the campaign is enjoyable and lasts around 20 hours, the post-campaign gauntlet missions can feel tedious and heavily reliant on RNG, leading to a sense of repetitiveness. Although some players appreciate the challenge and the satisfaction of completing everything, many agree that the grind becomes less enjoyable after extended playtime, particularly due to the lack of variety in maps and modes.
- “Fun game for the campaign (~20 hours), but when you start doing the gauntlet (extra missions after the campaign), it's just RNG and tedious.”
- “There's a lot of enjoyment to be had, but once you get all the towers and it's just grinding against the chance generator, it starts to sour.”
- “It becomes very tedious after maybe 5 hours, which for the price is decent, I suppose.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the humor in the game largely stems from its absurdities, such as the unbalanced abilities and the frustrating randomness that leads to comically repetitive scenarios. The combination of these elements creates a lighthearted frustration that adds to the overall experience.
- “I tried so hard to get to new areas of the game, but RNG was just laughing at me while I created the 16th water world with 5 towers to my name, as I'm butchered by the ruthless waves.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while the card system introduces RNG that prevents players from creating identical, highly optimized strategies each round, the overall approach to enemy encounters tends to favor a singular, effective damage path. This balance between randomness and optimization adds a unique twist to the tower defense genre, though it may lead to repetitive solutions.
- “It's a great little mix-up on tower defense games; there is a certain amount of RNG with the card system, but that prevents you from building the exact same, highly optimized path every round, which is typical in the genre.”
- “While there is an effort to have distinct enemies, they largely can be solved the same way, by building a long optimized damage path.”
- “While there is an effort to have distinct enemies, they largely all are solved the same way, by building a long optimized damage path.”
- “It's a great little mix-up on tower defense games; there is a certain amount of RNG with the card system, but that stops you from building the exact same, highly optimized path every round, which is typical in the genre.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is not directly addressed in the provided text, which focuses more on gameplay mechanics rather than emotional engagement or experiences. Therefore, it lacks sufficient information to summarize the emotional impact of the game.