Isopod PC review — Let the good times roll

Does rolling around as a pill-bug and using a magnet to swing between metal objects sound like a good time to you? Well, it should and Isopod is very focused on it. Taking one look at this game piqued my interest in a big way and, while I do wish the game was longer, it gave me exactly what I wanted from it. The controls are pretty good even if there are some issues here and there and the world is fun to explore, in addition to a surprisingly well-told story and lots of things to collect. If you’ve ever wanted a 3D platformer where you play as a semi-realistic bug, then this one is well worth picking up, despite some issues.

Isopod is centred on a pill-bug called Winston. He’s the head of an isopod worker’s union that’s negotiating with the Fire Ant Conglomerate (or FAC) who have recently arrived in the Australian Bush and are attempting to take it over. Upon realising that the FAC intends to basically force all the insects into servitude all while destroying the land for its own profit, Winston decides to start a rebellion. The game’s dialogue is all very well-written and carries a lot of Aussie charm that I enjoyed (and read to myself in my very poor attempt at an Australian accent.)

The game unfolds in a linear way as you ferry Winston to a few areas to try and recruit other insect factions to combat the fire ants. There are a few open areas where you’re given tasks to perform in order to progress. For instance, one has you shutting off fuel pumps, while another sees you delivering letters to mailboxes in a town. There are also side quests, including breaking fire ant billboards or destroying pots. You’ll find scrap all over the place, usually in crates, but you’ll often get it as a reward for side quests or the game’s few races. The story takes about four or five hours, so it doesn’t last all that long either, but this time can be extended by trying to find the 30 jigsaw pieces scattered around.

As Winston, you can walk, jump, do a circular attack, and roll by default. Your default walking speed is quite slow, but rolling is completely momentum based and much faster, so that’s what you’ll be using to get around typically. While rolling you can boost forward briefly (which also functions as an attack,) or slam the ground if you want to get land under you right away. After you finish the starting area in Isopod, you’ll receive a magnet device that lets you pull yourself to most metal objects, which makes getting around even easier. Toward the last section of the game, you get a glide ability as well.

Overall, Isopod is mostly very entertaining to play. Winston is fast and the controls are fairly responsive, but things can feel floaty and inexact some of the time. The momentum is finicky, as you can completely screw up a jump or lose your speed by bumping into something in your way. The magnetism can also be an issue since you’re sometimes supposed to keep your momentum up by pulling yourself to metal objects with the correct timing. However, using the magnet for too long will cause you to stop dead or swing around in a circle, so it’s often necessary to just hold it for a second and then release.

You can also execute a little wall jump, but this feels the most inexact of all. It can be frustrating to try and reach certain areas because of how finicky aspects of the controls can be. While delivering a letter in the city, I had to start a bit of a trek from the beginning because I very slightly overshot a landing. There’s a race in this section that’s pretty poorly designed because if you don’t play it in the exact way intended, you’ll need to start over. These aspects are exceptions to the rule, though, and Isopod‘s controls and gameplay are mostly pretty decent, but it can still be frustrating to wrestle with the controls and physics during certain sections. The glide itself is kind of difficult to use too, but part of that might be how briefly I got to use it.

Isopod is weirdly locked to 60 fps unless you copy and paste a new line into one of the game’s config files, but this is going to be fixed down the line. Moreover, the game doesn’t have any resolution options and I had to swap to fullscreen and back to borderless windowed in order to actually get the game to run at my desktop’s resolution. Otherwise it seems to default to 720p. Regardless, the game runs incredibly well when you get past these issues and I had a rock solid 120 fps even in open areas, which really helps for the game’s fast, linear platforming sections that are a rush when they go well.

Suffice to say, the game could use some work. In addition to my previous complaints, the map you can bring up to find your objectives is awkward and confusing, but objectives are also thankfully identified by a glowing light out in the world. I also wish it was easier to find the jigsaw pieces. I only found half of them during my playthrough, and it’s impossible to know how many you’re missing in each large area. The only thing you can use the scrap you’ve found on is new colours for Winston’s shell, but you’ll also unlock specific ones by finding items. If you wish to return to previous areas, Isopod has a sort of warp system that has you use an interconnected series of spider holes that the game doesn’t do a good job of explaining.

I like Isopod overall and enjoyed my time with it, but it does have a lot of odd design choices and functionality that make it tougher to vibe with. Its general gameplay, story, and world design definitely hit the mark despite all of this, so it’s well worth a playthrough. Plus, it’s fun to explore the environments again once you grab the glide ability toward the end of the game.