Yoku's Island Express

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Yoku's Island Express is a platform pinball adventure game from Swedish studio Villa Gorilla, published by Team17. It released in May 2018 for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with an Amazon Luna version arriving in October 2020.

Story and gameplay
You Control Yoku, a dung beetle who becomes the island’s postmaster on the tropical Mokumana. A looming disaster threatens the island as its deity is attacked, and Yoku must save Mokumana. The game blends side-scrolling platforming with pinball mechanics. You don’t jump; instead, you use pinball paddles scattered around the map to launch a ball attached to Yoku, pulling him along as you reach new areas. The world is an open, Metroidvania-style island filled with bumpers, tracks, and ramps that you use to explore.

Development and release
Villa Gorilla was founded in Stockholm in 2013 by Jens Andersson and Mattias Snygg. They initially planned a one-year project about a ball, but pivoted to an open-world pinball adventure and built their own game engine. The project, then called Pinball Stories, shifted to an adventure game with pinball elements. It was announced in February 2017, and Team17 was announced as publisher in May 2017. The game released worldwide on May 29, 2018, and a version for Amazon Luna followed on October 20, 2020.

Reception and awards
Yoku's Island Express received generally favorable reviews, with critics praising its unique blend of genres and how it combines pinball with exploration. Some players found backtracking or early progression unclear, and the Nintendo Switch handheld map was noted as hard to read by some reviewers. The game earned several award nominations and wins, including Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards 2018 and Debut Game at the BAFTA Games Awards in 2019, which it won. It also received other nominations and won NAVGTR’s Original Family award, among various other recognitions.