Islands

How islands plays

Island mode drops you onto one of 8,000+ named islands above one square kilometre. Islands are arguably the most learnable terrain category in the game — most have a distinctive shape, and the surrounding ocean colour, reef structure, and connection to a mainland all carry strong regional cues.

The pool covers everything from continental fragments (Tasmania, Sicily, Hokkaido) to volcanic chains (Hawaii, Galápagos, Canaries) to coral atolls (Maldives, Tuamotus) to fjord islands (Lofoten, Tierra del Fuego). The biggest skill jump in this mode is learning to read the ocean before you read the island.

What you'll learn

• Reading reef structure to distinguish coral atoll, fringing reef, and barrier reef
• Using ocean colour and depth gradient as a regional clue
• Distinguishing volcanic, continental, and sedimentary island origins
• Placing islands by their relationship to the nearest mainland

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