Tinker Island Reviews

So I just recently found bears knife in the swamp and so OF COURSE I equipped on of my survivors with it and went to the hidden hut only to find out you can’t give it to him like that. There’s no other option other than to spend 200 gems to bribe him and this to me is SO STUPID because why would that even be an option. I can’t do anything with it now and if it’s replaced it won’t come back. The gameplay is mid but I was ignoring all the flaws like (ridiculous gem prices, time restrictions, FORCED PARTICIPATION IN THINGS YOU DONT WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN) I don’t understand why you don’t have the option to NOT participate in the Christmas event and monster fighting. Ever single time I open TinkerIsland I get 5+ forced story reading of the same thing over and over again. The amount of ads is not even the problem it’s the restrictions you have on the game with absolutely no going back. This game needs some serious work and maybe for someone who doesn’t know anything about the game play, and tell you how it went. I also feel like of course ur gonna know everything in the game you produced so just try to think abt ppl who no nothing about the game getting demolished with no coming back from it.

This was a game I previously played a couple years ago. I did use Facebook but forgot it was even part of the game until they used it to scam me out of the 8 dollar pack they are advertising. They popped up the 8$ sale that is half of of 16$ and I said okay sounds like a plan to me so I can get back where I was a lot quicker. Then IMMEDIATELY after I paid for it they popped up something saying I should sign in to Facebook. I do so and my 8 dollar package disappeared, I try to find a restore button with no luck, I then try to delete the game and retry from the beginning to see if that would reset my purchase, nope. As a result I am so disappointed and disgusted by TinkerIsland not having a restore purchases button very clear and available to their customers, especially when they charge this much for simple characters. Until you add an ACCURATE restore purchases button, I will not be buying any more packs and I will be in touch with apple about getting this “purchase” taken back. If apple still wants to charge me then I will be calling my bank and letting them know I’ve been completely and totally scammed by both this fraudulent app creator and apple together. Simply adding a restore purchases and turning this scam into an actual game would otherwise turn this game into a 4 star game in my eyes

Update: Dropping my review even more. Later on in the game you have to mine the “reef” and “haberdashery” points hundreds and hundreds of times to earn materials to improve your village, and the game punishes you by making you wait for a false “talking” … dialogue, click twice, AND open a chest. For the love of god, remove the dialogue after the first time you mine these point, it’s AGGRESSIVELY user-unfriendly Original: Tinker Island was a beautiful gem of a game, and stands easily as my favorite idler of all time. Sadly, they must have hired a new monetization consultant, because the newest update trashes a wonderful pixelated interface with massive 'buy with gems' buttons on almost every element in the game. I happily and willingly bought the DLC packs, but your gems are over priced and utterly useless in the late game. Now, you can't even see what the buildings you're trying to build DO, because you have to click away from a huge abrasive 'buy with gems' button to get to the description. A huge step backwards for the first mobile idler that motivated me to spend a pretty good amount of money on it because I was getting a benefit. Sad!

The game has really great mechanics, as I've been only playing the game for a few days now, but there are a few hints that really drag on the playability of the game, the first being the stockings for the holiday event. The stockings are a regular drop when exploring, which is fine, but the game keeps repeating the same boring monologue over a few stockings that are essentially worthless, because you need premium stockings to even upgrade the elf in the first place, so you end up with tons of red stockings you can't do anything with. Also, the game is a bit annoying when it try's to get you to connect to Facebook and review it. If you give it a semi negative review, it gets all passive aggressive and says 'um, ok, we are doing the best we can'. If the developers haven't figured out that you don't need to hear the same tutorial after getting a essentially worthless item (unless you are willing to spend the premium currency to try and get the gold stockings), and that not everyone even uses Facebook and dangling opportunities for connecting to it is bad practice for people who don't even have an account, then I am at a bit of a loss when they are 'doing the best they can'.

This game has a lot of content. Lots of areas, cool characters, hunts, mechs (believe it), crafting, mini games, events, and it’s relatively easy to earn gems (in game currency). The text based missions/adventures are fun, creative, and at times humorous. Overall this game impresses me, and is much more than I expected. But the game does have some flaws that can greatly impact your progress/enjoyment in this game. Some of the missions/mechanics are nonintuitive and usually end up costing you a ton of your resources. The game can be imbalanced at times where you can’t progress for a long time because of lack of resources, due in part to the flaw mentioned above and just not receiving enough resources/opportunities while playing. There is also real jerk move the game makes where you will have to pick a dialogue but they are all the same (‘place block’ 8 different times for example) and if you don’t pick them in the right order then you fail the mission, but there was no possible way to know beforehand and it wastes all your resources.. Maybe the developers think it’s funny/clever but it just came off as ignorant to me. I’d still recommend this game and will continue playing it but to say that the game doesn’t have some flaws would be a lie, hopefully some of these issues get addressed.

Edit: -1 star because of ‘Tangle’ level, fix it or do away with it because it’s a load of crap!

At first the game was sorta difficult because I either didn’t have enough food or wood to do something but once i started to unlock more things to build it DID get easier UNTIL I needed something like a crystal or leather or anything else to be able to craft something and those things take FOREVER to get. It’s ridiculously tough to get any of these things without spending gems and I’m trying to save up for more survivors. Really seems like now I need to use real life money to be able to craft things. One crystal costs 90 gems and those things aren’t easy to earn. I did get lucky at one point and made around 300 gems but that instantly went away when I tried to get leather to be able to make Milson. The game’s decent, not great though. And nowadays I seem to notice a lot of bugs. The game freezes or just crashes. I also lost 90 gems last night because I made my stonemason, then updated the game. I guess my stonemason was deleted somehow but I never got my 90 gems back.

Edit: I emailed them and they actually gave me 100 gems back.

While the game begins just as any tutorial, you’re met with a very clean and pleasant looking interface which is where most of the game will take place. Unfortunately there isn’t any way to roam, but I do understand that’s not the type of game it is. Would still be nice to see though. Second the wait times are excessive, while towards the beginning you are met with a lot of skips and free timers, after your past the so called tutorial phase, you’ve now entered excessive wait times. As when you sit down to play the game the wait times can very from 5 minutes to a few hours for a charter you come upon very early in the game. The only way to skip these how ever is by using your gems, but we all know there’s only a limited supply and at a point you will need to spend money, which I do understand is how they make money from this game, it would just be nice to see a decrease in wait times or at least for basic things such as exploring and gathering. But like a said the game is actually quite enjoyable and I like the adventures/decisions you are able to make which will result in different outcomes. But what really brings the game down to a 3 and loses my focus is the time I spend waiting, as all I want to do is sit down and grind and enjoy a hour or two of gameplay, without draining my wallet.

This game is so much fun and doesn’t require WiFi to play it, unlike most games that take a lot of data and still require WiFi. Almost everything about this game I enjoy, from the battles, to the story, to even the garden mini game. But the one thing I would really like fixed is level 68 in garden. No matter how many times I play, I can never get the cactus and I’m forced to create bugs, which stop me from doing anything else! No matter what I do, save the cactus, clear the whole area, ALL I GET IS THE SUN AND WATER. I can’t continue and the level ends because I run out of turns. I’ve been stuck on this level for days and it really destroys my love for this great game. Please fix this issue because I would not want to add this to the hundreds of of other games that I’ve deleted because of such bogus stuff. I will keep playing this game but I would like to continue in the garden and not be stuck on that level. Thank you for your time in reading this.

The game is fun and I recommend it.

Lots of good content, different angles, good for long term time killing. Once you unlock the garden mini game it goes beyond being just an idle game. However, the flaws in the mechanics of the garden mini game become painfully obvious the further you progress (E.g. need 5 tulips to win the game in less than 25 turns but you only receive 3 seeds).

Trading tool out on the survivor deletes the previously equipped tool. I don’t understand why anyone thought this was a good idea for the game design.

Get attacked often enough, hard to make potions to heal, survivors “faint” often. Rewards for handling a tough fight is usually gems, not that many. Would rather skip the fight.

More to be said, but I uninstalled it without finishing it or really delving into the backstory when I got Bears knife and had it equipped on another survivor and couldn’t complete Bear’s quest so I tried to switch out the knife (+7 to all stats) for some other small tool. It deleted the knife so I had to use gems to bribe Bear to join, lost the knife anyway (probably would’ve gotten to keep it). It was my blunder, but that was my limit. I tolerated a lot of other bs and I do appreciate that there were real choices with consequences but this one just doesn’t even make sense. Neither from a gaming perspective nor from a storytelling perspective.

This game is quite enjoyable and I don’t deny spending hours on it. However, it has quickly become apparent the discrepancy in non payable play and in app purchases. For example, you can continue to explore a part of the map in hopes of getting that diamond resource or pay 90 gems for it. I’ve explored that part 10 times and still haven’t gotten it. I understand the developers wanting to make a profit, but the necessary amount of gems needed jumps extremely high and quickly. Same goes for the amount of resources needed to upgrade parts of the camp. The garden game feels, at times, extremely chance related rather than strategical. I’ve played one level 20 times to finally progress because the game just would not give me that needed water, seed, or sun. When it gets to fighting the monsters, the first one costed resources, the second is automatically gems. As someone who avoids in app purchases to progress, this game is stretching my ingenuity to the max. I do like that they implement a chance to earn gems, but it’s like collecting water droplets to get a full glass. I’ll still play, as it is a fun game and the design is wonderful, but as more and more progression costs gems, I’ll probably stop playing in time.

I used to play this game a couple years ago and loved it. very fun and interesting storyline, cool missions, and i love the garden mini game. its a great way to spend time, especially while youre waiting for your survivors to finish a mission or harvest materials. however, the game has a few issues. for one, the loading screen frequently freezes, and sometimes i cant even get into the game. you are also constantly bombarded with ads. in the past, you used to be able to choose to watch ads in order for a little prize or temporary power up. now, ads constantly appear just while youre doing the standard gameplay. it gets highly frustrating, especially as you cant skip them and they pop up ALL the time. all these ads have made me want to delete TinkerIsland theyre so annoying. another issue for me is that once you reach level 170 in the garden mini game, it’s virtually impossible. ive tried to beat it countless times but there’s basically no way. very disappointing bc i loved that mini game and now i cant even play it. overall a solid game but desperately needs some tweaks

I recently downloaded it and am enjoying it so far! The first day I was able to put a lot of time into it due to the low resources and short wait times - as I have advanced it has quickly become the click-and-wait type of game I expected (perfect for work breaks). I am enjoying the content overall, and think the story part of it is very cute and well done. However, there are a couple of mechanics which need improvement - for one, the survivors health can only be increased by a crafted item or after dying completely. I see no reason why villagers shouldn’t naturally build health over time *without* dying first! This would make battling feel like less of a hassle. The other thing that could use some improvements is the garden game - occasionally I will run out of plants to sun/water and then... keep getting sun & water items, which are totally useless without seeds... and I have to sit there and dry/water the ground over and over, eventually running out of turns before getting another seed? Seems like it was set up to frustrate players into using gems to get moves.

This game is overall very enjoyable with what you can do & explore & build in the beginning, but as you continue in the game, it just gets very repetitive after a while & takes a lot of time to go through things as the timer on building & adventuring goes higher the more you progress through the game. I liked it over all tho & I did finish the game as well but once you finish it there’s not much to if you built everything there is.
I roughly finished this game in around2-3 months without using any Of it’s in app purchases & I just played on and off. This game isn’t hard by any means but wish there was some sort or more thrilling aspect to it other than its boring fights with beasts & waiting on the units to be done exploring.
There’s supposed to be a chapter 2 coming but it’s been about year since this games release & still no update to that or news when a chapter 2 will be released.

This game is fun and all, but at the same time it’s hard, and some of your survivors get hurt often by just exploring the woods. For example: One survivor got a splinter -20 life. And at the same time, to heal them, it costs way too much knowing that you will be impaled by a skunk. Also getting more survivors are way too expensive dealing with how hard it is to get diamonds. Getting resources is hard, in order to explore, you need to pay 120 meat so that you can get hurt by bumping to a tree -50 life and just get a couple mushrooms and then you’re done exploring that area. It would be cool if you never finish exploring the area and didn’t cost too much meat to make a expedition. About 10 meat would be the approximate amount to make a expedition, and also not to make a healing potion costing way too much meat knowing you don’t get much. Other than all this, the game graphics are cool and the game itself is educational and really fun, including that it’s really creative.

I played this game back on my iPhone 5se and finally found it again! Which is awesome, however... the amount of ads is GOD AWFUL every single time you start it up, ad. Every single time you go to”Chamber” on the Pier, it takes you to a whole other website (Bone apetite) which is INCREDIBLY ANNOYING during the puzzle because you have to close out your app every. Single. Time. Then for the extra production you have to watch and ad every 10 minutes but you see 3 ads in that span anyways. I get that games need funding and sponsors, but it makes the game almost unplayable and unenjoyable because you have to sit through so many ads. I’d really like to see the magic brought back to this game.... as much as I love it, it’s just so annoying and frustrating when you’re trying to advance and do things but you have to watch an ad ever so often.

I played this game several years ago and beat it except for collecting all the mechs. Feeling nostalgic for it, I redownloaded. Unfortunately the devs have added double or triple the ads which makes me put the game down far more quickly. The steam engine used to run for an hour after watching an ad, keeping me hooked for about that long. Now with it being 10 minutes and having spontaneous ads after exploring (wasting precious steam engine time :/) I get irritated and stop playing. At this rate I may keep going, I may not, it's so annoying. Still a four star game from me, though, because the content is great and very engaging, the gameplay is sleek, and TinkerIsland very well could be a pay to play, but it's not and I’m thankful for that. Thanks Tricky Tribe for a great game, but please let up on the ads. I’m happy to voluntarily watch ads for in-game rewards, but the spontaneous ones are so irritating and really downgrade gameplay.

I love this game. It's simple. Love the puzzles and questions it asks but the only thing that bothers me is the garden mini game. I'm on a lvl where everything is full of bugs but it won't restart and I've already spent so many gems to switch pieces but they pieces that won't help. Like let's same you need a two piece part instead of a 3, because there's a bug in the way and you use gems but still don't get the correct piece. And also, like in my situation where the whole field is covered and you can't do anything but buy pieces for can't place. It'd be easier if you could put in a restart button for when someone makes a mistake the can restart. Please. I'll still buy gems from you guys but I'm not gonna waste them in a lvl I can't even work on

I’ve downloaded this once before, maybe three years ago or so, and it was my favourite game for a long time. It was a little dependent on gems and patience. Back then I lacked the latter, but since downloading it again for ol’ times sake, I’ve taken great notice to the changes! It’s not as dependent on gems as I remember it being, and even if it is, it’s much easier to collect them now. The stories have more of a puzzle feel, making you think intuitively about the game, and there are ways to decrease time needed for tasks, but also a great way to pass the time waiting. Otherwise it’s just a matter of patience. I would absolutely recommend playing this game, should you have a lot of time to spend on your phone, or only a little. Big thanks to the developers for making this game even better than I thought it already was. Keep up the great work!

With as much content as Tinker Island gives, all good things must come to an end. And eventually, yes, there is an end to the story.

So now what I’d really love to see is a chapter two. There’s still tons more content that I’ve left unfinished and of course, I’ll be going and completing that. I’ve played this game for months, every day. And although I’ve completed the main storyline, I’m still left with months more of content to complete. However, Id still love to see more of the content updated.

I think the most disappointment I’ve gotten from this game is the garden mini game. I love it. I’ve spent hours on it, it could practically be a game on its own. But level 239 is virtually impossible to complete. And as someone who’s played this game consistently for months, I finally gave up after two weeks of trying to beat that level. It’s really disappointing for me because there’s no way to skip the level or even go back to replay others. My other complaint about that is the inability to reset the board in the middle of the level. I think a reset button would prove useful.

I really loved the storyline and this is a really unique game that I’m going to continue playing until I’ve gotten every bit of it finished. I’d love to see more of our storyline progress, but for now I have plenty of loose ends to tie. Thank you to Tricky Tribe for an amazing experience!

This was already hands down my favorite iPhone game of all time but then although through a purchase I unlocked Gem Mining!!! I’m already more then happy to make purchase’s in this game the content speaks for itself, so anyway I can help to keep it going I’m down. But to have an even easier way to get gems like thank you guyz so much please keep making more content I love it. (Disclaimer I don’t know if a certain amount of purchase unlocked the option for me and that to was a purchase but it was like $3 so worth it for me and I’ve had the game for years making purchases here and there so def always support your favorite games and God willing they show some love Tinker Island does for sure)