Moonglow Bay Review (PS5)

There is a long running commentary on how most AAA games lost their soul and got rotten to the core. While the behavior of publishers and recent releases support this point of view more and more, the image of independent game as white knights with radiant hearts that will save the game industry have tarnished as well. Yet, with a bit of luck you can still find a few gems in the unstoppable wave of hundreds of indie titles released every month. 

Monnglow Bay is such a rare find. It is not by any means perfect, but it is the embodiment of the indie game spirit that promises to swap you away to a place of dreams. Every day starts with the sun shining in the sky, with people putting their best feet forward and with every cast of the rod hooking a fish.

And although underneath all we will find layers of lethargy and even tragedy, the inhabitants of Moonglow Bay are a resilient bunch who do not accept the idea of giving up. The best example is the character you choose to play in the game world. Following the very first choice the developers set up regarding your hero, you land in an ideal moment that you wish would last forever.

The real game starts with the loss of that moment and trying to cope with the situation, getting back on your feet and, in the middle of it all, waking up and rebuilding the community that has fallen prey to a dangerous slumber. The whole story is about regaining motivation and drive in order to live life and not just let it go by in a series of routine actions.

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You can achieve this by participating in the various quests that either require acquiring sufficient currency or by finding a certain fish or crustacean. At the most basic level Moonglow Bay will task you to fish your way to success, by discovering all the wildlife that calls the bay home and filling out both your diary and the tanks of the local aquarium.

The next layer involves making money by either selling what you have caught, or by turning it into enticing dishes. For the second part you will use your kitchen equipped with a magical fridge that is stocked with all the other ingredients you may need for a bouillabaisse or for clam chowder, except the fish you have to supply. The resulting dish can be sold in a vending machine outside your house or used to complete requests gathered from your neighbors.

The quest system is basic and mostly contains of fetch quests, but on your way to restoring the settlement to its former glory you will also need to save up currency in order to restore various buildings thus unlocking your way to even more quests and tasks. This system is far from perfect since often on the map you can see a quest icon even before it becomes actually available.

And this fragile web of interconnected activities works without any major breakdowns. There are of course some errors and bugs, even after the patch that fixed many shortcomings and brought ease of life features. Although there are many different moving parts from the fishing and cooking mechanics to running around and discovering places while also balancing the fact that your hero needs sleep.

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Yes, the day-night cycle is very important not just for the species you can encounter only during a certain part of the day, but also for the life of the town and our hero. During the night your neighbors return to their homes and rest, no interaction being available in the town. You can still choose to go out fishing or catch up on your cooking, but you have to take into account that your hero needs to get some rest as well.

If you neglect getting some ZZ’s your hero will fall asleep spontaneously for a couple seconds in the least expected moments, messing up the activity schedule you have planned. As such you have to also take into account letting them sleep in order to function properly. Also, sleeping is tied to the autosave function, which will become handy since you only have three manual slots.   

If you have played the game before the latest patch and you have abandoned it because of countless technical issues, there is hope at the end of the tunnel. Many problems, including the screen tearing and many other major problems have been fixed. On the other hand, there are still plenty of issues like falling through the game world or getting stuck in the surroundings.

The countless bugs still present are the main reason the voxel graphics cannot be enjoyed to their full extent on the console versions as well. And it is a pity, since the visual style is truly unique and it contributes the most to the atmosphere of the game, since there is no voiced dialogue and the conversations, or the writing often feels flat. But we have to remember that Moonglow Bay is an indie game, with all the positives and negatives this entails.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion