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[calistan]

I got as far as the 'clean up the storage room' task and the lecture about not misgendering 'Fishy' in chapter two. It took over three hours to get to that point, and I was already skipping conversations to try to hurry it along, so basically it just isn't for me.

There's no gameplay whatsoever, and getting from one slow bit of story to the next is super dull. I appreciate the work that went into the graphics, but as an interactive movie it's badly paced. I checked out the rest of the story online.

Spoiler

Meh.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Gotta be chapter 1 still lol. I'm not bailing on it. I guess I just play really slow and look at everything.

Ahh yeah, chapter 1 is all world building. Everything pays off if you get into the character stories. I don't think there's a single character introduced that doesn't have a good resolution to their arc, except maybe Gunter.

I think the mystery picks up in Ch2.

I did record most of my play through. Maybe I will put it up on YT for those interested but not willing to shell out the cash. I need tor cap some parts as OBS crashed.

e: wells hit, the audio did not record for some reason, so scratch that idea.

I got as far as the 'clean up the storage room' task and the lecture about not misgendering 'Fishy' in chapter two. It took over three hours to get to that point, and I was already skipping conversations to try to hurry it along, so basically it just isn't for me.

There's no gameplay whatsoever, and getting from one slow bit of story to the next is super dull. I appreciate the work that went into the graphics, but as an interactive movie it's badly paced. I checked out the rest of the story online.

Spoiler

Meh.

Yeah the game is all story. If you're skipping dialog, that's the real reason to play, so it definitely is not for you.

For the idpol stuff, it's relatively minor. I don't recall anything else getting brought up outside of that one exchange.
In fact, the species don't even have gender in their world, so the humans wind up looking dumb for focusing on something trivial anyway.

 

[bender]

Downloaded on XSX yesterday. (52GB!). I'm only two achievements in so very early. The UI and animations are kind of bad (walking up/down stairs looks very awkward or interaction with objects leads to tons of clipping). The world and characters are all very nice though, except for one: Harold. Further, I think I understand that characterization they are going for but the voice actor they picked and the performance don't really match that so far. Maybe that will change as I press on and hopefully the game play does too as it seems more like a walking simulator (from a different perspective) than an adventure game. I do want to see more based on the trailer as I'm getting some Shape Of Water vibes.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Im a few hours in, this is a slow experience. I feel this could use some editing, for instance that Slippie commercial went on far too long.
Im not really finding any humor in the dialogue or in the situations. I dont think this is supposed to be funny ‘ha ha’ but funny strange.
Im invested at least to finish it.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Im a few hours in, this is a slow experience. I feel this could use some editing, for instance that Slippie commercial went on far too long.
Im not really finding any humor in the dialogue or in the situations. I dont think this is supposed to be funny ‘ha ha’ but funny strange.
Im invested at least to finish it.

Some characters definitely pay off better than others.

Slippie was one of my favorites alongside Tommy. Alon and Jim were the best bits imo. Shame the humor isn't landing as that was a big draw for me.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I finished the game. 15.9 hours. Got 74% of the achievements.
The game went all "Journey" there for a while.
I did all the side stuff I could find including delivering all the letters, which was the longest 'side quest'.
Nice introspection game about a guy who was not sure of himself.
As well as an entire crew that was unsure of what they were supposed to be doing.

I thought the setting and situation was very unusual, Crashed spaceship now underwater.
Even the spaceship was unusual, a core with all these modules that float around it.

I was not into the humor as I thought the tone of the story was more like an absurdist serious drama.
I did find some things funny, like the bubble fish situation and the mysterious lighthouse group shenanigans.

I am giving this an, I enjoyed this rating. I can't give it a number grade as I don't know how to describe it other than a series of talking cut scenes after traveling in water tubes over and over again. All Water thanks you for spending what seems like the majority of the game stepping in and out of water tubes.

Spoiler question for anyone that finished.

Spoiler: Library

The bubble library seemed to suggest we were actually on earth as the bubbles contained images of a memory of Earth. Was that a plot thing that I missed?

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Spoiler: Library

The bubble library seemed to suggest we were actually on earth as the bubbles contained images of a memory of Earth. Was that a plot thing that I missed?

Spoiler

You're definitely not on Earth since the beacon picked up a signal from earth saying the reason they left was fixed and earth was back to normal. Since it was all live action recordings, that's why it seems earth-like. The point, I think, was about treating the environment better.

Plus, it took however many years to leave earth and get to the new planet. Everyone going on the rocket back at the end there. If it was earth, they all would have made the same choice as Harold.

 

[Stafford]

Hmm, so far it's not really grabbing me. The more I play the more I get....well...bored? I now have to unclog a filter system, again. Is this going to get better?

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Hmm, so far it's not really grabbing me. The more I play the more I get....well...bored? I now have to unclog a filter system, again. Is this going to get better?

If the story doesn't have you by act 2, it's probably not for you. The art and story are the only draws.

 

[Stafford]

If the story doesn't have you by act 2, it's probably not for you. The art and story are the only draws.

I discovered a fish now, I guess it's going somewhere now, haha. We'll see. I don't give up too soon.

But this writing sometimes man, maybe it's just me but Harold saying "it feels unfair calling this fish it." breh, who says this?

And then he and the professor start calling it "them", such nonsense. Lmao.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I discovered a fish now, I guess it's going somewhere now, haha. We'll see. I don't give up too soon.

But this writing sometimes man, maybe it's just me but Harold saying "it feels unfair calling this fish it." breh, who says this?

And then he and the professor start calling it "them", such nonsense. Lmao.

If it makes you feel better, that’s the only time it comes up other than the fish thinking they’re silly for it because the fish have no concept of it.

 

[Magic Carpet]

If the story doesn't have you by act 2, it's probably not for you. The art and story are the only draws.

I never did see a Act or Chapter title. I assume your talking about when you go to bed and wake up the next day?

I discovered a fish now, I guess it's going somewhere now, haha. We'll see. I don't give up too soon.

But this writing sometimes man, maybe it's just me but Harold saying "it feels unfair calling this fish it." breh, who says this?

And then he and the professor start calling it "them", such nonsense. Lmao.

I thought the game got better as you learn more about each character's situation. Everyone has their own hangups.
I kept hoping for a Robot Chicken or Futureama like joke about fish egg laying but got something different instead.
I thought it took forever before the fish interaction started. The game does indeed move very slow, with lots of back-and-forth travel.

 

[Stafford]

I never did see a Act or Chapter title. I assume your talking about when you go to bed and wake up the next day?

I thought the game got better as you learn more about each character's situation. Everyone has their own hangups.
I kept hoping for a Robot Chicken or Futureama like joke about fish egg laying but got something different instead.
I thought it took forever before the fish interaction started. The game does indeed move very slow, with lots of back-and-forth travel.

Well, I had to reload an older save because I had not finished the optional task yet and at this point I couldn't finish it anymore. So I saw the scene again where Harold sees the creature in the water in the filtering room and it honestly looks more humanoid rather than a fish. But then when we get to the scene with Moreux it's clearly a fish. Odd. But I'm sure it will get clearer and I keep playing.


I've no idea how to use spoiler tags here.

 

[Roberts]

Considering pretty much every dialogue scene goes into midshots or close-ups, I wish the game didn't have to auto-move Harold into a specific position to trigger the conversation - it would be better if you could just click on the character and dialogue would start right away. Small and silly gripe, but it would really help the pacing.

Anyway, got to the third chapter and I'm really enjoying it. It is not the best written or voice acted game ever, but there is an ocean of passion behind it and I dig that.

 

[Stafford]

What did ya'll do with the paper white setting for HDR?

 

[SF Kosmo]

Brilliantly executed art style. Finding the game itself a bit dry and dull though. Doesn't pick up?

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I never did see a Act or Chapter title. I assume your talking about when you go to bed and wake up the next day?

I thought the game got better as you learn more about each character's situation. Everyone has their own hangups.
I kept hoping for a Robot Chicken or Futureama like joke about fish egg laying but got something different instead.
I thought it took forever before the fish interaction started. The game does indeed move very slow, with lots of back-and-forth travel.

No there are 7 chapters with their own title cards. Several days or more are frequent per chapter.

Brilliantly executed art style. Finding the game itself a bit dry and dull though. Doesn't pick up?

Gameplaywise no. Storywise, yes. It gets w e i r d.

 

[Stafford]

No there are 7 chapters with their own title cards. Several days or more are frequent per chapter.

Gameplaywise no. Storywise, yes. It gets w e i r d.

Good kind of weird or.....not really?

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Good kind of weird or.....not really?

One chapter toward the end gets really weird.

 

[Magic Carpet]

No there are 7 chapters with their own title cards. Several days or more are frequent per chapter.

Gameplaywise no. Storywise, yes. It gets w e i r d.

I frequently saw number of days after crash and days remaining till launch window. But I did not ever see a 'Chapter' title card while playing, I went back and I do see them listed in the 'load' menu.
I played on Gamepass for Windows.

 

[Roberts]

I don’t get to play much so I’m only on day 4 (or is it 5) and that’s where the weirdness truly starts to kick in and it has been consistently amusing: the mother at the poetry reading, talking to the announcer, etc. Also, Harold seemed like a somewhat dull protagonist at the beginning but he is gradually becoming more interesting and works as a neat contrast to more eccentric characters around him.

There are not that many movies about people travelling across the stars en masse to settle and start a new life on a different planet, but Halibut made me think of a recent Swedish film Aniara where the most of interiors of the ship looked like a giant shopping mall. It's a pretty good film but a hopelessly depressing one.

 

[ryu4]

Looks great, I'll give it a try but I hope it's not one of those games that seem to be made by art students; fantastic art style but boring gameplay and shitty story

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Looks great, I'll give it a try but I hope it's not one of those games that seem to be made by art students; fantastic art style but boring gameplay and shitty story

There is no gameplay really outside of walking around. Story is pretty solid IMO. I enjoyed it for its uniqueness.

 

[calistan]

There are not that many movies about people travelling across the stars en masse to settle and start a new life on a different planet, but Halibut made me think of a recent Swedish film Aniara where the most of interiors of the ship looked like a giant shopping mall. It's a pretty good film but a hopelessly depressing one.

Thank you, I'd been trying to remember the name of that film - it really stuck in my memory (the film, not the name). It was a somewhat unintentional journey across the stars.

There's also the one where the guy wakes up early from hypersleep, sees that one of his fellow passengers is Jennifer Lawrence, and wakes her up too so he can get busy. But I suppose there are effectively just two people there, since everyone else is frozen.

 

[phaedrus]

The stop-motion scale model art style looks exactly like Truberbrook, (which I abandoned after about an hour of playing).

I think these types of games need well-thought out puzzles to sustain our interest beyond their visual & narrative hooks.
Eg Grim Fandango, Syberia and more recently Edith Finch had challenging (and mostly logical) puzzles that were really fun to solve.

 

[Little Chicken]

How bad is it that I knew this would be on Game Pass the second I saw it?

Good actually. Indie games that take creative risks is part of what Game Pass is about.

 

[Stafford]

It's unfortunately just not doing it for me. I don't find the story all that interesting, nor the characters, the back and forth to the same damn locations is starting to get old now. But the problem is, once I start with something, I'll see it through, sigh.

 

[RPS37]

Good actually. Indie games that take creative risks is part of what Game Pass is about.

My initial reaction was, “well that looks…quirky…bet it’ll be on Game Pass…”

 

[Roberts]

OK, the game is lot longer than I thought it will be but I am not complaining as I think it gets more interesting the more you spend time with these weirdos. On chapter 5 right now and I can't stop being in awe of how it looks, especially how the lighting looks and interacts with characters etc.