"Yoku's Island Express," the pinball-based platformer being developed by a Sweden-based game studio, Villa Gorilla, and will be published by Team17 Digital Ltd., is scheduled to release in the second quarter of 2018 for personal computer (PC), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Xbox One.
PC Gamer reported on Feb. 27 that the upcoming game will release sometime in 2018's Q2.
According to Villa Gorilla, "Yoku's Island Express" is an open world/Metroidvania-style pinball adventure. Players take on the role of Yoku, a dung beetle who had arrived on Mokumana Island as the island's new postman. However, his transition to his new job will not be as easy as he first thought as the ancient island god is trapped in a troubled sleep and the island dwellers are tormented by the quakes and storms brought forth by the island god's nightmares. Players will get to experience soaring in the air, vacuuming explosive snails, fighting a Screetch, feeding famished lemurs, discovering the mystery of the Fruit Altar, waking up the ancient island god from his troubled sleep and rebuilding the island's post office.
Villa Gorilla released a list of some of the abilities on Steam Community that will be of great help for Yoku to accomplish his job as a postman. The list includes Slug Vacuum (Yoku can use this ability to capture highly-explosive purple slugs that he can use to blast obstacles), Dive Fish (a friendly fish that can partially swallow Yoku to give him a mermaid-like tail that willa allow him to swim underwater and discover underwater secrets), Beeline (a transport system that will allow Yoku to travel fast with style), Noise Maker (Yoku can blare his party horn whenever he likes for fun and for some practical applications Villa Gorilla is keeping secret), Sootling on a Leash (an ability that will allow Yoku to latch onto grapple points in the island, swing around them and send him hurtling through the air) and Ball Sparkles (an ability that will allow players to customize Yoku's ball to help him access certain areas).
