I Noticed this game had an update pending so I was happy to jump back in, expecting a new zone or a new puzzle type, maybe even just some qol features fixing the well knows issues with the game.

So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the update was the removal of online functionality and deletion of my savefile.

Release date 13 feb 2024
Abandon date 30 october 2024
I will remember these people

I expect I probably have more hours in this game than most reviewers which should give my words some weight and I intend to keep it quite fair. $30 is quite high for a puzzle game and Island's of Insight was quite ambitious. Multiplayer is a feature that shouldn't be implemented if it doesn't enhance the end product and not a single puzzle in this game required two people. As of two days ago multiplayer was removed and all save-data for those who did not log-on between Sept. 30th, 2024 and Oct. 30th, 2024 has been deleted. As a result of this many reviews will be understandably upset as they lost their entire save. I am not as I previously completed 100% of mainline content(all enclaves, secrets, challenges, monoliths, etc.) This game has a massive puzzle count and truly solving all of them without assistance is a massive undertaking, with that said puzzle types can become stale and you may not want to complete many of the easier puzzles of a certain type after trying out the toughest. If you play through slowly over the course of years this game will be fantastic to revisit and slowly master. If you tend to get absorbed into a game and dump dozens of hours within a month you will get bored quite quickly and never touch 95% of the games 10,000 puzzles the game claims to offer. This game is truly one of a kind but the high graphical demands and failed multiplayer have tainted my perception of the game. I would recommend this over the Witness for example but even a simple puzzle game like "A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build" might be a better experience, despite having far less content. This game has good puzzles but you need to find them, some players may enjoy this others may view most of the game play as busywork.