Puzzle MMO Islands of Insight Set to Go Offline Permanently In October

After what seems like just a brief flash of brilliance, Islands of Insight, the ambitious puzzle MMO from Lunarch Studios and Behaviour Interactive, is sadly shutting down its online servers on October 30th, 2024. First launched in early 2023, the game quickly garnered a niche following for its shared-world puzzle mechanics, but not enough to keep the lights on.

Initially announced with high hopes, Islands of Insight aimed to carve out a unique space in the MMO genre, blending open-world exploration with intricate puzzles. Players, known as Seekers, could tackle mind-bending challenges scattered across biomes, all while interacting with others in the world. However, the game struggled to find a broader audience, and by mid-2024, player counts were already dwindling. According to SteamDB, even after a brief spike from a giveaway in June, the game couldn’t hold onto its audience, and sales reportedly fell short of expectations.

The game’s community team took to Steam to deliver the news, stating, “Seekers, our final Islands of Insight update will arrive on October 30, 2024, which will permanently modify the game to be offline-only.” They explained that this shift allows the game to “live on” in a single-player format, but players will only have until the shutdown date to transfer their online progress to the offline version—a bittersweet consolation for fans.

Server shutdowns in MMOs are par for the course, but Islands of Insight’s closure feels particularly premature. The game had only been online for a little over a year, and although it was an intriguing mix of puzzles and multiplayer interaction, it just never hit its stride. The shutdown announcement comes on the heels of an offline mode being introduced in July, but even that couldn’t stem the tide of declining player numbers.

For those who are still fans of the game’s tranquil world and tricky puzzles, there’s a bit of good news: the offline version will retain all the core elements of the game, including its biomes and daily quests. However, social functions—what little there were—will no longer be available.

If you’re curious to see what the game is all about, be sure to check out the official Islands of Insight gameplay trailer below. Here’s hoping Lunarch Studios’ next project has a longer shelf life.