ISOLAND 3 Dust of the Universe Reviews

I’ve been playing point and click adventure games for a long time, and I throughly enjoyed the first two of this series. But this one is driving me crazy! It really doesn’t make any sense, and it’s becoming incredibly frustrating. I can’t seem to make any progress without buying hints, which is ridiculous, and so far there doesn’t seem to be a full walkthrough online. I guess no one else can figure it out either. I play these games to relax, not get angry.

Update: I used a few hints to get the game going, and then it was over before I knew it! The game is so short! I’m very annoyed with the whole thing. Very disappointing!

I had tried to give the light tube to the boy who was fishing but apparently one has to click his face not his torso after selecting the item? Or maybe I was accidentally hitting the words the boy was saying. Either way it is too finicky for me, the clear intention was to give up the item. I had to use a walkthrough, which ruined the experience for me. (iPad Pro, iOS 13). I loved Isoland 2 by the way.

Lots of bits are missing from the game, I got stuck and watched a walkthrough. The woman is mussing from the ship, there are no flowers to collect... is there an update to fix this?

This game is ridiculously opaque. I’m not new to point and clicks OR to cotton games, so it’s not that I just don’t know how they work. But it’s frustratingly non-intuitive, and what’s more aggravating, the free hints are USELESS. Utterly useless. Don’t buy this game until they either improve the free hints (and I refuse to buy hints, if your game is so unsolvable that it can’t be played without them, you don’t deserve the money!) or someone cones out with a walkthrough.

And I came in ready to love this game... The artwork is still charming, the music is beautiful, a lot of effort clearly went into it. Maybe too much effort, though, because it’s like a brick wall in terms of playability. I’m heartbroken to have to leave this review after how I’ve loved and supported this game company and their other games. I’m hoping that the makers read these reviews and have a change of heart, because it wouldn’t take much for it to be a five-star game! Just... make it playable, by people who don’t already know the “happy path” through the game’s dependency chart.

I’ll come back and update this review if they make changes, because I do believe in this game company, and I did want to love this game.

I’ve been enjoying the ISOLAND series, but it’s seriously irritating to play all the way to what must be near the end of the game, and find no way of getting past a puzzle. After googling a walkthrough, I find that my game doesn’t actually HAVE the clue I need to solve the puzzle I’m stumped on (the faces on the poster, needed to open the cabinet and find film, apparently). What’s up with that? I have no way of finishing the game at this point, (since even using the googled info doesn’t work) unless I get lucky and guess the right combination at random. Very frustrating.

Not as good as the first game, but WAY easier than the second.

This is so much tougher from the start than the others... or maybe it just looks that way because I don’t have the handy screenshot button of the Switch. Well the side bits seem a lot more concealed than before.

I was excited to see this in ISOLAND3DustoftheUniverse Store because I’ve liked all the other games by this developer. However, It didn’t take me long to get stuck and frustrated. The free hints are zero help and I refuse to pay for “better” hints when I’ve already paid for the game. Why not just charge a dollar more for the game and eliminate IAPs? Also, I turned off the music and sound in settings, but it didn’t do anything and both are still audible in the game. The artwork is excellent, just like the other games. I’m hoping to resume playing once someone creates a walkthrough.

Could be a really good game with great graphics and sometimes tough puzzles, but you have to replay essentially the same game with mostly the same puzzles to finish. Second time around was boring despite the few differences. I wish this dev would stop doing this and make one really good game inclusive of all. Definitely not worth the money.

I found the repeat the game for a newish experience to be less than engaging. The graphics are wonderful but I would have liked more variety.

First page, I can’t pick up the scissors no matter what I do! What is the trick? The hand shows up to hold the scissors but I click or drag and nothing. Updated so scissors work. I will give another star if no more bugs.

Update: there was an update pushed very recently as the button on the page in search said update, grabbed that and it’s fixed now.

Um so I’m giving this 4 stars for now because Isolands 1 & 2 are some of my favourite mobile games of maybe all time... but for some reason with this one I’m extremely confused and I can’t imagine that it’s fully the games fault. Some of the puzzles are really good, but others.... not as intuitive. I looked on line for some sort of help because I feel like I’ve hit a dead end however,

SPOILERS kinda:

Once I’m in the space ship / house I find that some of the things from the walk through very GREATLY from my version. For example in the video there is like a moth that goes to the light to reveal a solution, however in my version there’s just a robot. Am I missing something...? Any help would be appreciated

— a fan

I love the Isoland games. Love them! But ... I have met the first five characters in this one, and they are all male. What’s up with that? I would give 5 stars if not for this weird sexism.

But this one had a puzzle toward the beginning I had to brute force open. The symbols didn’t match the hints.

Wonderful game, beautiful graphics, well designed puzzles. I really enjoyed this sequel. The only things I don’t like about it is:
a. You must buy the hints, which I feel is really annoying considering that you need to buy the game
b. The soundtrack is not available. I loved the soundtrack for Isoland 2, but the soundtrack for Isoland 3 still is not available, which is a pity, I would pay for the soundtrack.
But overall, the game was great, can’t wait for the next one. Keep on creating the quality work Cotton. :)

I love the Isoland series. I am stuck however and the free hints aren’t helping. But I can’t seem to figure out where to buy hint coins.

After about four hours of gameplay, Curiosity finally got the better of my 10 year old son and he came to see what I was getting so frustrated over. I handover the phone and tell him to give it a try. He enlisted the help of my husband and before long all of us were spending quality family time playing the game together. That alone made downloading the game totally worth it. But it was also A lot of fun... until we got stuck.

New update fixed the game! Very challenging but fun! Thank you for fixing!

It has so much goodness... challenging puzzles, lovely scenery, charming artwork, a mysterious mood, etc etc. It can be tricky, too, so be prepared to think creatively and try everything! I did need help in places and was lucky to get it from friends. A walkthrough will be a big help at whatever point one is made. The free hints helped sometimes but not always. It’s a substantial game and it kept me busy for days. At the ‘end’ it turns out you can start over and play again and it’s different! And that’s also where the rest of the achievements are hiding. I wouldn’t have figured this out myself... a friend told me and I’m so glad they did. Overall a really wonderful offering from a great dev who continues to show us their delightful and creative spirit. Thanks, Cotton!

I see others are complaining about hints. Here’s an idea... don’t use them. The game is totally solvable without hints, but it takes some thinking and investigation. As with the whole Isoland series, the art is fantastic, the game play is smooth and the puzzles range from simple to challenging.

Keep it up guys, don’t let these complainers discourage you, the game is awesome.