Shakes on a Plane
Shakes on a Plane
Game
Game2024
These Doomed Isles
Developer Triplevision Games Limited
Harvest cards to raise land from the sea, build settlements and rain fire upon invaders in this survival city-builder with roguelike deckbuilding mechanics. Choose from 4 gods with unique cards, playstyles and abilities to lead their civilisations to victory in strategic run-based gameplay! From the Steam store page
132 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Oct 11, 2026 · last updated Oct 12, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
74
Fresh
88 positive · 31 negative
95% range 65–81%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 88 | 31 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
90 of 124 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
74% recommend · 89 yes, 32 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 121 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (165 of 234 positive).
Players praise the unique blend of city-building, deckbuilding, and roguelike mechanics. [1][2][3] Some reviewers note the game is fun but lacks content and can become repetitive after a few hours. [4][5][6] Several players criticize the RNG and poor balance, which can lead to frustrating experiences. [7][6][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
The "roguelike" tab added to this makes me leave a negative review. Its about 5 hours of content before it runs dry. (wait for more content)
- [1]
Nice mix of genres! Oddly enough although it is a very different kind of game it reminds me a lot of Against The Storm though turnbased, the island expansion reminds me of expanding to glades and the enemy invasions are similar to the hostile events. Also similar to Populous series if you are as old as I am and remember that era of "god games". You will likely like it if you like: *Deckbuilders (if you hate cards in …
- [3]
Right, so These Doomed Isles is absolutely cracking when you're actually playing it. It's like someone threw a deckbuilder, a city sim, and Civilization into a blender, pressed the button, and somehow it didn't explode everywhere. Proper clever stuff. The Campaign's basically an extended tutorial where you learn how not to completely c0ck everything up. You're slapping down cards to build your little island …
- [16]
Pretty fun but absolutely infuriating when you can't win because it doesn't give you enough wonder cards. A little rough around the edges and buggy. The pacing is off (in my experience, I'm either in the hole or absolutely crushing it, nothing between). I'd wait until early access is over. Update: Obviously the developers are active and paying attention - that's always a nice touch :) I'd also like to note that, if …
- [2]
These Doomed Isles is a captivating fusion of survival city-building and roguelike deckbuilding mechanics. This Early Access gem lets you play as a god, tasked with creating and defending a civilization against relentless waves of invaders. In These Doomed Isles, you choose from three unique gods, each offering distinct playstyles and abilities. Starting small on a series of islands, your goal is to expand your …
Summarised from 34 of the 139 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked These Doomed Isles talk about unique and engaging genre fusion; those who didn't talk about limited content and repetitive after a few hours. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 132 · most liked firstSkip this one, check out dotAge, Reus 2, or Against the Storm instead. I like the concept here, but it's a solo developer and there is not a lot of content. After about two weeks of silence, the the publisher has clarified that there won't be any content updates, only some bug fixes and polish which is unfortunate to hear. Hope their next game gets filled out a bit more.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice mix of genres! Oddly enough although it is a very different kind of game it reminds me a lot of Against The Storm though turnbased, the island expansion reminds me of expanding to glades and the enemy invasions are similar to the hostile events. Also similar to Populous series if you are as old as I am and remember that era of "god games". You will likely like it if you like: *Deckbuilders (if you hate cards in games you might not enjoy this, although the way you pick your hand is also…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The "roguelike" tab added to this makes me leave a negative review. Its about 5 hours of content before it runs dry. (wait for more content)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game until you milk out all the content about 5-6h in. Game is repetitive and really slow paced. Max Ascension Mode got cleared in second try after the tutorial. Horde mode need more content than two effective build to survive. Building and growth is awkward during the advanced years, nothing to build and only waiting for haverst and military card. Wait until full release to buy.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Im on the fence with this one, its enjoyable for a bit and hopefully more content gets added to extend that fun. My biggest issue currently is that there is some sort of massive memory leak going on when i play. I have to constantly reload my game just to be able to scroll around the map at normal speed. I dont have a top of the line PC by any means, but i have been able to run any game i have purchased without any issues. until this is fixed the game will be on hold for me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this is very fun so far, Played 3 Runs so far on the lower Difficulty. cool mechanic of obtaining cards and fighting off the waves of enemies. I can see this game adding a lot content with more gods, cards, map styles etc. For the price of $15 this is a quality buy and will be quite fun for anyone who likes card based rogue likes and city builder thrown in. The building a deck then doing huge swing turns of playing like 20 cards to beef up your base is very cool to plan it all out, then…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3.5/10 the RNG ruins everything..... trees will get cut down fishing spots run out mines deplete the problem with this is you must replace what is lost with more of the resource from a card once you use cards they vanish and must be purchased again at the end of year random card purchase the deeper you go into the game the more cards you have to choose from the harder is is to find food/goods cards to keep up with your needs 6 years of never getting a single food related card everyone…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →These Doomed Isles is a captivating fusion of survival city-building and roguelike deckbuilding mechanics. This Early Access gem lets you play as a god, tasked with creating and defending a civilization against relentless waves of invaders. In These Doomed Isles, you choose from three unique gods, each offering distinct playstyles and abilities. Starting small on a series of islands, your goal is to expand your settlements, cultivate your lands, and answer your followers' prayers. Harvesting…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfinished, broken, and abandoned.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🎉 (Slightly over) 1 year at @fireshinegames.bsky.social! My first year in the games industry has been unforgettable: ✨ Gave a talk on community management @ WASD 2023 🎤 ✨ Showcased games @ Gamescom 2024 🌍 ✨ Earned 3 game credits: Reka, Gestalt, These Doomed Isles 🏆 Excited for what’s next! 🚀
neutral · AI labelView post →A really cute lil game where were as a god you build and grow your island and indulge your inner god complex. Pros: - The pixel animation was done so well - The card aspect adds strategy and a twist on the city builder - After you beat a level you can continue to play in a peaceful or aggressive mode as long as you want which is a feat more games should include TBH. Cons: - Some of the cards aren't explained well - Some of the building restrictions are infuriating - The ending can feel a bit…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →These Doomed Isles, a historical city-builder with deckbuilding and roguelike mechanincs, released on Steam.
neutral · AI labelView post →As much as I like card games and strategy games, this one is definitely not on my top picks so far. First, I had to repeat a tutorial mission 5+ times because I kept losing all followers in the first three turns. Then, in the fifth tutorial (which I haven't completed yet), the game crashed after spending two game-years worth of turns to use a card (delve). I would normally request a refund at this point, except that I had to return a different game previously and I don't want steam to get antsy…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →+Looks and sounds nice +Some player choice -Feels like a puzzle -Play is chore-like = Neutral review, but since I wouldn't recommend such game for myself = I won't recommend it for you either.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Wanted to Love It, But the RNG Ruined the Fun." I really wanted to love this game. A roguelike card-based city builder is exactly my kind of thing — the concept alone had me excited from the start. The art is gorgeous, full of color and charm, and the soundtrack is surprisingly beautiful. There’s a lot of creativity in the way the world grows and reacts to your cards, and at first, I thought this would easily become one of my new favorites. Unfortunately, the fun fades quickly once the RNG…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played for a while and remembered why I disliked the demo: It's a card game, but you get no deck management. The cards you randomly get are the ones you are stuck with for the entire run. They suck? Too f*cking bad! Eat sh*t and die! Absolutely no removal. Don't ever want to see a particular card again? Think again! F*ck you! Here's that same card, every single Harvest phase, every single re-roll!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It was a joy to chat with Triplevision Games, the developer of These Doomed Isles. ⛰️ We discussed how Ludum Dare helped kickstart his first game and how he separates himself from his game to avoid stress. READ: gamemaker.io/en/blog/thes... #GameMaker
neutral · AI labelView post →With every update I liked the game less.Is still in early access and I have uninstalled it and I doubt I will ever touch it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Right, so These Doomed Isles is absolutely cracking when you're actually playing it. It's like someone threw a deckbuilder, a city sim, and Civilization into a blender, pressed the button, and somehow it didn't explode everywhere. Proper clever stuff. The Campaign's basically an extended tutorial where you learn how not to completely c0ck everything up. You're slapping down cards to build your little island civilization, buying new cards at shops like you're panic-buying at Tesco, researching…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played half an hour, feels little bit jumpy and super simple it terms of deepness, I know that most probably system will develop, but I couldn't go through. Plus it not playable to seamdeck, one should use sticks as a mouse managing pointer, that's strange solution.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super addictive gameplay. Really scratches that Age of Empires itch while still feeling fresh.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →These Doomed Isles, a historical city-builder with deckbuilding and roguelike mechanincs, released on Steam.
neutral · AI labelView post →First couple of hours with the game and it's all of the strategy and none of the stress of an RTS. I love knowing exactly what is going to happen each turn and how I can balance resources accordingly to accommodate those challenges. Super fun game and can't wait to play more.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love playing this game and I am eagerly awaiting each new god release.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →GFN Thursday - 9/28/23. * These Doomed Isles (New release on Steam, Sept. 25) * Paleo Pines (New release on Steam, Sept. 26) * Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventure of Dai (New release on Steam, Sept. 28) * Pizza Possum (New release on Steam, Sept. 28) * Wildmender (New release on Steam, Sept. 28) * Overpass 2 (New release on Steam, Sept. 28) * Soulstice (New release on Epic Games Store, Free on Sept. 28) * Amnesia: Rebirth (Xbox, available on PC Game Pass) * BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle…
neutral · AI labelView post →For people into survival builders like Frostpunk and Rogue-lite survival builders like Against the Storm, think of this game as the turn based pixelated young cousin at the cusp of manhood ready to spend a year or so in trade school to refine a skill. This game has a lot of the resource management aspects that attracted me to against the storm but in turn based format. It is a bit more straightforward compared to against the storm and has more rudimentary supply chains. But this game allows…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While theres a good concept and a good game, its balance is not very good and suffers from serious issues with snowballing both in becoming unstoppable really easily if you get lucky with the right cards early on, and in the negative with horrible death spirals where if something goes wrong at the wrong time (often from rng) can leave you stuck in a situation where you require RNG to get the right cards to get yourself out of within a very short time before it becomes inevitable. This is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't bother buying it even on sale, the negative reviews are correct sadly.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's very cheap I'll give it that, and it runs ok, but it's just very nothingy. It's almost mobile game level of hand holding, do this, do this, do this, win level. If you want something just to play in the background it may be worth a go, but it's hard to say I had fun at any point whilst playing it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I liked this game quite a bit, however the "challenge mode" was completely broken for me. I could not buy any new cards which is the main roguelite aspect of the mode. Went to steam forums, their discord, totally silent on how to fix this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very good thinky kind of game, card roguelike Easy to play but hard to master Worth the price
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →These Doomed Isles, a historical city-builder with deckbuilding and roguelike mechanincs, released on Steam.
neutral · AI labelView post →Another great card based city builder, which also has some tower defense mechanics. I love everything about it except excessive card redraws. But seeing that it has a long way in EA, I'm sure it will only get better as they polish the mechanics. This game also has the best Steam Deck support among the card based city builders I tried, dotAge, Kingdoms Reborn, etc. It is a joy to play on the couch, so thanks for that!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very simple but easy to get complex, like a mix of Civ games and Slay the Spire. It hits the spots in my head I enjoy the most of both those games without over complicating them to a point I need to study for the finale exam.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's kinda boring at first but when u get used to this game, pretty fun to play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sweet art. Uninspired gameplay. Slow, boring, repetitive. You don't need most of the cards to achieve anything.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to love this, because the concept is great, but all the 3 factions i've played so far are so unbalanced its not even funny. Every one has one or two obviously overpowered builds that just give you infinite resources forever for free, and there are some neutral cards that just let you go infinite. The idea of civ-lite-deckbuileder is great, but the execution is so flawed. Also, over half of the campaign missions are tutorials for each faction and their unique mechanics, but most of them…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty chill deck building based on resource and space management, but it does require a certain amount of grind and can get repetitive. This is your game if you want a deck building that doesn't involve (constant) combats, or if you find some city builders too complex: here each card is usually a building and you just need to pay its cost and place it next to the resorces it harvests. Yeah, once in a while one or two enemies will show up and you need a couple of warrior or divine power cards…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just not enough depth yet to justify playing longer than it takes to skip through the few levels of difficulty currently available. Really need to work on repeatable game play elements, because at the moment this gets old very fast.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →im literally doing level one and the boss is doing 50 damage to everything i built and i do 3 damage here and 3 damage there... this is beyond unbalanced... on top of that when im about to kill the boss he what looks to be enrages and gets 250+ life... wtf is this dumb mechanic....this needs balancing badly for this to happen on the first level thats pathetic :S
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To this point. I'm unsure if they tried to build a card game, a strategy game or a civilization sim game. They took pieces of the three while commiting to none. The Tutorial seem to take you by hand and at the same time teaches you nothing. Could had been worse. 4/10
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game. It gets the survival aspect pretty right, but suffers from explaining itself to new players. Specially the card management and how to get new cards clicks after a few games, but is confusing at first. It has a steep price for what you get right now, but it is close to be worthwhile the price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty fun but absolutely infuriating when you can't win because it doesn't give you enough wonder cards. A little rough around the edges and buggy. The pacing is off (in my experience, I'm either in the hole or absolutely crushing it, nothing between). I'd wait until early access is over. Update: Obviously the developers are active and paying attention - that's always a nice touch :) I'd also like to note that, if you experience a bug, it might be worth submitting a report on the Fireshine…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Enjoyed this very much so! Played a handful of runs so far on the lower Difficulty just to get to grips with the system but the mechanic of obtaining cards and fighting off the waves of enemies and the different gods having certain perks makes this a great way to collect and grind it out! From their socials I can see this game adding a lot content in the future and is exciting to see how tricky some waves and maps and hopefully custom rulesets / map editors will make this a must have for all…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its not bad per se but it is so incredibly boring. Way too easy as well.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are a variety of modes that add to the replay value and longevity. The gameplay loop is zippy and addictive. I like how the objectives are approachable and sensible, making for quickly completable runs in an Against The Storm or Two Point-like way. The puzzle-like pieces are akin to Preserve, Growth, or Shanshui Haven. My only complaint is with card variety. There are many turns or phases of time wherein there just isn't anything great to place down, though I could see that shaping up…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Summary: The bones of the game are good, and very interesting. It is playable and fun in its current state, but really struggles with balance, and doesn't communicate well about how difficult various modes are, or what the intended challenge level is. That being said, its pretty fun if you treat it almost like a sandbox. If you don't mind old-school roguelike balance, a lot of rng, and having to figure out mechanics for yourself, there is a great game here. Detailed Review: Pros: Great core…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The games base mechanics are easy to pick up and understand, but each god's individual traits and cards are unique enough that it can take some time to get used to, especially if you play one god for a long time before switching to another. The different ascension levels are awesome too so you can choose how complicated a run you want to do, and the creative modes are fun to just relax with as well. This game is so, so good and i can't recommend it enough to everyone i talk to about it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm surprised that more people aren't raving about this game. The devs are pretty active, releasing multiple demos up until the early release. I enjoyed all the demos and could see the progress, so this is the first early release game I've bought. I haven't been disappointed so far. I like the deck builder, base builder gameplay. As someone who hasn't dabbled in that genre, the game is fairly straightforward, not overwhelming, while still being interesting and fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fantastically creative & immediately rewarding, with three distinct factions each offering their own puzzle to unfold. Great mix of base-building, deck-building, combat and puzzle gameplay - and it's only in beta!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very engaging, deeper than it seems at first with a good amount of content and variety. I think it could perhaps use more progression in difficulty, the enemy waves and boss fights really hit you hard on the harder difficulties in a way lower difficulties don't prepare you for.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still feels pretty early access and I don't know if I'd pay the full $15 for it, but I'm excited to see where it goes. With some more balancing and content it will be an awesome game! Pick it up if you can find it on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☐ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Easily my favourite card-based city-builder tower-defence game. It's certainly quite an experience escalating from pagans living off the land through hard labour, to hedonistic Grecian money-grubbers that ignore starving citizens to build more monuments, then to creating infinite resources powered by maniacal Aztec human sacrifices. I deeply look forward to future more playable gods in future updates. Also, shout outs to Loki who builds himself to be a bad guy in the intro, only to be just a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's Against the Storm but with mythology - what more do you need?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very interesting game. It scratches a particular itch in my brain to have land come together piece by piece. im just getting into colony sims and this on has got to be one of my favorites!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played the prologue for at least 40 hours and this game for around 18. This game is so much fun! These Doomed Isles is quite a surprise. If the mix of the following sounds interesting, I'd say you'd enjoy the game. Part Decking Building, part Base Builder, and part Tower Defense, all wrapped in a turn-base, title placement game system. Can't forget the perk system and roguelite elements to the game. There's also three gods with ability sets and a progression system. I MEAN COME ON!…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So several things. Game is good. Lots of potential, clearly derivative. Addicting. Needs some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ work. i just had a 40 min boss fight on my first run of the second god bc all these little ♥♥♥♥♥ have like 40 cards taht full heal, and increase max health. At the end game or near end of a run you're also being taken out of the loop to deal with the boss. So if they ♥♥♥♥ your infrastructure it's like... dear god I'd rather play anything else. Secondly when you load up the game...... who's…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(EDIT - saw another review saying there's no removal. Well there is. If nothing else, periodically Loki offers you removal for various resources. You also have various ways to remove existing items. After you complete a run you unlock more cards that give you more options. When you get your 'engine' going and have gold aplenty you can cycle through the harvest options to get what you need so you're not locked into just cards you don't want. There are some improvements to early RNG as well…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played the demo, and very excited to see the early access release now! Looking forward to what the future has in store!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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