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Yoku's Island Express Announced - Pinball meets Platforming

An interesting looking game got announced this morning by Team17, Yoku's Island Express. It reminds me a bit of Sonic Spinball with the aesthetic of Toki Tori.

You can view the trailer here.

It's coming to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4 in 2018.

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Today's big announcement is that Villa Gorilla has teamed up with Team17 to publish the game.

[QUOTE="Press Release']UK – 16th May 2017 – Award-winning international games label Team17 and Swedish developer Villa Gorilla today announced that charming pinball platform game Yoku's Island Express has joined Team17's games label.

Meet our hero Yoku the Dung Beetle who has arrived on Mokumana Island to relieve the resident pterodactyl postmaster of his duties. He's ready for the easy life, soaking up the sun and delivering parcels on a tropical paradise!

However, he'll quickly discover that an ancient Island deity is trapped in a restless sleep, and a host of colourful, quirky islanders are plagued by quakes and storms brought forth by its nightmares. It's all down to Yoku to traverse the island using a unique blend of pinball mechanics and open world exploration, in an amazing quest to help those in need!

Flip and bump our pint-sized protagonist around the stunning hand-painted island on your quest to rebuild the post-office, discover the mystery of the Fruit Altar, and wake an old god from its deep slumber.

Stockholm based, independent developer Villa Gorilla are headed up by veterans Jens Andersson (Starbreeze, LucasArts, Collecting Smiles) and Mattias Snygg (Starbreeze). Both have a solid AAA pedigree, and worked on titles like The Darkness, Chronicles of Riddick, Syndicate and Colors! 3D.

”With Team17 we've found a publishing partner that cherishes innovation and style – something we recognized way back when we played Alien Breed on our Amigas. We feel that their commitment to quality and fun gameplay is a perfect match for us, and we are incredibly excited to be working with Debbie and the team to finish and release Yoku's Island Express." said Jens Andersson, Co-Founder of Villa Gorilla

Debbie Bestwick, MBE, CEO of Team17 added, ”Yoku's Island Express has such a beautiful, distinct style with a unique twist on the platform genre. It's a true gem, we're looking forward to working with the very talented Villa Gorilla and welcome them to our growing games label family."

Yoku's Island Express is coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch™ and PC in 2018.[/QUOTE]
 

sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
Looks fun!!!! Anyone else first see "Yoshi's Island Express Announced - Pinball meets Platforming" when they first saw the thread title? lol

EDIT- Apparently i'm not the only one!!
 
Announced a few months back for "PC and consoles," but the publishing deal and specific console platforms are new. Anyway, looks intriguing.

It already has a Steam page, FYI:

 

Tizoc

Member
Should b coming o pc as well roght? Will keep an eye on it thanks for the info op.
Edit- nvm wshlisted with quickness :3
 
This looks absolutely fantastic. I could personally use more games that relieve stress instead of bolstering it, so this looks like a great candidate.
 

Lijik

Member
i knew about this game from the first announcement and i STILL got tricked by the title lmao

looking forward to it tho, it looks neat
 

wouwie

Member
Wow, this looks great and the gameplay concept looks fun and fresh. Seems like something i would love to play. I can't wait.
 

Kyuur

Member
Looks a bit too dark in places graphically but overall fantastic! First time I've heard about it, excited to try it out!
 

grim-tales

Member
Looks fun!!!! Anyone else first see "Yoshi's Island Express Announced - Pinball meets Platforming" when they first saw the thread title? lol

EDIT- Apparently i'm not the only one!!

I did too! :D

The game reminded me a bit of Soul Bubbles from the trailer, for some reason.
 

wouwie

Member
I keep thinking what a great idea this seems to be: an "open" world pinball game with platform (and puzzle?) elements. Has this been done before?

And i love the artstyle. I wish it was already out. It's going to be a long wait.
 
Peléo;237006363 said:
There was a game called Metroid Prime Pinball for the DS back in the day. Somewhat unknown to many people, but a really a good game.

That was just a conventional pinball game using the Metroid IP. This is apparently a hybrid of Metroid-esque exploration-based platforming and pinball mechanics.
 
A pinball game starring a Yoshi egg by Team17 would've been so odd, but so neat. Still, the game looks cool! It's nice to see them do something besides Worms for once.
 
Digging the art and music but pinball has never gone down well with me as a gameplay mechanic, intrigued yet cautious.

...also initially read it as Yoshi.
 
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