NatWest and Stormcloud have turned their hugely popular Island Saver game into a full console experience for mobile devices.
The game, which has been available for free on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam since May this year, is now free on Android and iOS.
Following its launch for PC and consoles earlier this year, Island Saver has been rated 10/10 on Steam, 4.6/5 on Xbox and 4.5/5 on PlayStation. It was also listed as 'new & trending' on Steam in May 2020 and in the top 20 downloads on Nintendo Switch in Europe and North America in June 2020.
Island Saver is an open world, non-violent first-person format game, set on the idyllic Savvy islands with an array of environments to explore. Designed for 7-12 year olds, players are armed with a ‘trash blaster’ and tasked with cleaning up the island of litterbugs that have polluted the paradise.
Learning through play is at the heart of Island Saver and woven into the gameplay are a series of money learning points. These range from a simple ‘work to earn’ as characters earn coins by cleaning up litter, to saving money in bank accounts. As players progress through the game they’ll also be introduced to the more advanced elements of good money management including paying tax to maintain the idyllic Island setting, borrowing money, and even elements of foreign exchange.
Thom Kenrick, Head of Social Strategy and Programmes at NatWest, commented: “We’ve been blown away by the interest in Island Saver - with 1 million downloads in the first five weeks and we’re now on track to hit the 2 million milestone in the coming weeks. As a dad myself, I know families have been looking for free ways to entertain the children at home over the past few months, and with its educational slant Island Saver ticks a lot of boxes.
“It’s also just a brilliantly entertaining game to play - which is what we always set out to create. Kids are tough critics and we’re competing with lots of other great games. So these download figures show it’s been received incredibly well, and its migration to mobile means that even more families will be able to play and enjoy the game for free.”
Frank Arnot from Stormcloud added: “We’re confident Island Saver will have just as much appeal on mobile as consoles. For one, it’s a full console experience on a mobile device and players can see the quality and depth of the game from the get-go. Secondly, it’s a free game as opposed to free-to-play, so there’s no monetisation or adverts which appeals to parents but which is rare to find in mobile games.”
With a wide range of features the gameplay is multi-dimensional and involves character upgrades, a range of new skills to be learned and utilised, as well as taming the various ‘bankimals’ to unlock different parts of the whimsical world. In addition, spread across the island are the collectible items of Kiwi’s (the parrot guide on Island Saver) lost Nest Eggs that require exploration and platforming skills to collect them all.
If players want to purchase an expansion pack for the mobile game, this can be bought for a small ‘pocket money’ cost of £4 per game. The DLC is completely optional and there are no intrusive adverts.