Initially there is much to like about German developer Slow Bros.’ latest offering.
Harold Halibut tells the curious but heartwarming story of the inhabitants of The FEDORA 1, a spaceship stranded in the watery depths of an alien world, where colonists, once on a journey to a brave new world, now make their reluctant home.
At the centre of proceedings is Harold, a likeable and humble janitor whose job appears to be whatever the would-be colonists need or want him to do next. Harold collects tasks on his personal data pad (some of which are entirely optional), that send him hurrying to various parts of the Fedora via a watery tube system that literally flushes Harold like the contents of a toilet from one location to the next.
That’s not the only quirky aspect of the game. A cast of colourful and unlikely characters, alien encounters, and the deepening mystery behind the FEDORA’s overseers, All Water Corporation, make for some truly surprising turns.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Harold Halibut though is that just about everything we see is hand made. The sets, characters, backgrounds, props and other various objects are all lovingly crafted using a variety of textiles including clay, wood, wool, and metal, and brought together seamlessly using a stop motion aesthetic.
The choice to create and animate the game’s assets in this way came from a decision by Slow Bros. to play to their strengths, transforming a lack of experience in 3D modelling into a triumph of sculpture and carpentry, as well as set and costume design. The results make Harold Halibut a creative standout among other titles released this year.
However it’s when it comes to gameplay that Harold begins, pardon the fish pun, to flounder. Styled as a point and click adventure, there is actually very little for our titular character to interact with over the game’s 10-14 hours of playable time. Harold pushes the story forward by talking to the FEDORA’s inhabitants and by carrying out tasks for them, which in turn serve to move the plot along. Sometimes Harold delivers messages for various people, but he’s just as adept at performing tasks as a lab assistant to the stern but motherly Dr. Jeanne Mareaux as he is at helping people rekindle friendships, or sourcing important objects to build new things. But that means a lot of running back and forth with Harold traversing the same areas over and over again in what are essentially a series of fetch quests.
Also adding to a growing sense of frustration is that despite a strong emphasis on story and exploration, both of these features are tediously slow to take off. Harold only discovers that there may be more to the FEDORA’s watery plight than meets at eye at the half-way mark. New areas for exploration only appear even later in the game’s progress. With very few puzzles to solve and even fewer objects to interact with, the game’s eureka moments feel like they have been stretched too thinly over the many hours it takes to reveal them.
Even when in the game’s latter stages Harold is invited to visit a colorful and strange new habitat, courtesy of his alien friend Fishy/Weeoo, he is still bound to the game’s core dynamic of seeking out every character with a conversation arc and running through all the options until he is told to fetch something, or deliver a message to just the right person.
In short, running errands, even in a spaceship on the seabed of an alien world, gets old fast. Despite its good looks, innovative style, and gentle narrative Harold Halibut doesn’t have a lot lot else to offer the experienced player. I can’t tell you how mean I feel having written these words because Harold himself is such a wholesome and unassuming character, and the game deserves praise for its themes on nurturing friendships and being of use to one another, and finding your place among the stars. I’m only sorry Harold Halibut couldn’t find a place in this reviewer’s heart too.
Our score: 6/10. A deeply atmospheric and stylish concept that sadly can’t make up for a lack of engagement, slow pacing, and fetch-quest style gameplay.
Platform: PS5, X-box Series X/S, Windows
Release: 04/16/2024
Studio: Slow Bros.
Publisher: Slow Bros.