Game: Penguin Isle by Habby

Genre: Simulation game

Platforms: Android and iOS

It is not common to find a game that relaxes you. But lately, with a number of people wanting to try out different games, developers have been experimenting with new and interesting ideas. Penguin Isle is the culmination of one such idea. Here, you can lose yourself in the wonderful world of penguins as you build a new habitat for them.

This is an idle game, which means that you keep getting points even when you are not playing Penguin Isle. If you actively engage with it though, you earn more points. The goal in the game is to build your own penguin habitat. In order to do this, you have to build mini habitats such as a Fishing base, Hot Spring base, Antarctic base and so on. With every new base, you get a different type of penguin. There is a lot of research put into the type of penguins that you unlock. However, it’s not completely realistic. As you progress, you can unlock Duck Tube Penguin and Antenna Penguin and the likes. This adds a lot of charm and goofiness to the game. Even though this is a penguin habitat, you can unlock other animals such as seals and reindeer as well. You can get them through treasure boxes in the store.

The overall feel of this game is relaxing. Everything that you collect gives a visual flair to the snowy landscape, through mild colours. The music score is also very soothing and adds to the relaxed feeling. The penguins themselves are beautifully designed and each different type has a set of unique and extremely cute animations.

After playing the game for a while, the main thing you need to do is chase the coins. You can earn these per second and there are multiple ways to do that. Every new base that you build increases your capacity. Every new penguin that you acquire adds to it.

This is a game of numbers and it is cleverly thought through. After a while, there is a pressure to upgrade and, at the same time, the game provides multiple opportunities to earn coins. A lot of these opportunities are through ads. For example, if you do not play the game for a while you get coins when you come back but if you watch an ad, you can multiply the number of coins that you get. There is also a sunken ship that you can call from time to time by watching ads. And, of course, you can always speed things up if you pay money.

VERDICT: Penguin Isle is a relaxing idle game that you can get lost in. It might seem simplistic at first look but with the number of things that you need to upgrade and keep track of, the game does become a bit complex. However, it is a unique experience for anyone wanting to get lost in the world of penguins. I would give it an eight out of 10 rating.

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