ISOLAND 3 Dust of the Universe

It has so much goodness... challenging puzzles, lovely scenery, charming artwork, a mysterious mood, etc etc. It can be tricky, too, so be prepared to think creatively and try everything! I did need help in places and was lucky to get it from friends. A walkthrough will be a big help at whatever point one is made. The free hints helped sometimes but not always. It’s a substantial game and it kept me busy for days. At the ‘end’ it turns out you can start over and play again and it’s different! And that’s also where the rest of the achievements are hiding. I wouldn’t have figured this out myself... a friend told me and I’m so glad they did. Overall a really wonderful offering from a great dev who continues to show us their delightful and creative spirit. Thanks, Cotton!

But this one had a puzzle toward the beginning I had to brute force open. The symbols didn’t match the hints.

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This game is ridiculously opaque. I’m not new to point and clicks OR to cotton games, so it’s not that I just don’t know how they work. But it’s frustratingly non-intuitive, and what’s more aggravating, the free hints are USELESS. Utterly useless. Don’t buy this game until they either improve the free hints (and I refuse to buy hints, if your game is so unsolvable that it can’t be played without them, you don’t deserve the money!) or someone cones out with a walkthrough. And I came in ready to love this game... The artwork is still charming, the music is beautiful, a lot of effort clearly went into it. Maybe too much effort, though, because it’s like a brick wall in terms of playability. I’m heartbroken to have to leave this review after how I’ve loved and supported this game company and their other games. I’m hoping that the makers read these reviews and have a change of heart, because it wouldn’t take much for it to be a five-star game! Just... make it playable, by people who don’t already know the “happy path” through the game’s dependency chart. I’ll come back and update this review if they make changes, because I do believe in this game company, and I did want to love this game.

I was excited to see this in the App Store because I’ve liked all the other games by this developer. However, It didn’t take me long to get stuck and frustrated. The free hints are zero help and I refuse to pay for “better” hints when I’ve already paid for the game. Why not just charge a dollar more for the game and eliminate IAPs? Also, I turned off the music and sound in settings, but it didn’t do anything and both are still audible in the game. The artwork is excellent, just like the other games. I’m hoping to resume playing once someone creates a walkthrough.

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I’ve been playing point and click adventure games for a long time, and I throughly enjoyed the first two of this series. But this one is driving me crazy! It really doesn’t make any sense, and it’s becoming incredibly frustrating. I can’t seem to make any progress without buying hints, which is ridiculous, and so far there doesn’t seem to be a full walkthrough online. I guess no one else can figure it out either. I play these games to relax, not get angry. Update: I used a few hints to get the game going, and then it was over before I knew it! The game is so short! I’m very annoyed with the whole thing. Very disappointing!