''Island Saver'' is a

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

action-adventure An action-adventure game is a video game genre, video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements f ...

game developed by Scottish studio Stormcloud Games and published by

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it becam ...

. It was released on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

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and

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on 13 May 2020.

Gameplay

The game's objective is to traverse an island. New areas can be unlocked by spending in-game coins. These coins are obtained by cleaning up

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The waste is objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles, but ...

, cleaning up goop and in turn saving the bankimals—animals that can balloon up with coins like a

piggy bank A piggy bank (sometimes penny bank or money box) is a coin container normally used by children, featuring a slot at the top to insert coins or folded bank notes. The piggy bank is known to collectors as a "still bank" as opposed to the " mecha ...

. As the game progresses, the player learns about the fundamentals of using a

bank account A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or other financial institution in which the financial transaction A financial transaction is an Contract, agreement, or communication, between a buyer and seller to exchange goods, ...

, in addition to related topics such as the concept of paying

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es. Two downloadable expansions are available with the proceeds going towards the charities

SpecialEffect SpecialEffect is a charity based in the United Kingdom founded in 2007. It specialises in helping physically disabled people, specifically children, play video games. The organisation works with developers to create specialised game control d ...

and Young Money.

Development

NatWest aimed to create an educational video game to teach children about managing money responsibly.

Reception

The game received a positive review from ''TheXBoxHub'', with a 3.5/5 rating, and the reviewer commented "it plays well, looks all cute and cuddly, teaches kids about money and it’s free to download." ''Gamespew'' praised the educational elements of the game, "How exactly does Island Saver teach children about money? Well, every action you complete has a clear reward. ..It’s about balancing your earning vs spending, and not going too mad on those non-essential purchases." ''Gamepitt'' gave the game a 9/10 rating and was also positive with regards to the graphics and educational elements. Other reviews were critical of the game; Evan Norris of '' VGChartz'' wrote "Island Saver is not a good game but, considering its raison d'être, it could be worse." He criticised the platforming and combat features of the game, describing the latter as a 'chore' and the controls as 'clumsy'. Jonjo Cosgrove also criticised the gameplay and called it 'tedious' and closed with the comment " 'Island Saver'' is athoughtful game with little to no staying value beyond an initial play." A review on ''TheXboxHub'' lamented the game's lack of a two-player option and said that the game "does get repetitive after a while".

Related media

Tie-in activity sheets were added to ''MoneySense'' section of NatWest's website.{{Cite web, title=Activities {{! Island Saver, url=https://natwest.mymoneysense.com/island-saver/island-saver-activities/, website=MoneySense, language=en, access-date=2020-05-16

References

External links

Official website
2020 video games Action-adventure games Single-player video games Windows games Xbox One games PlayStation 4 games Nintendo Switch games Educational games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set on fictional islands Free-to-play video games NatWest Group