Mothergamer Plays Lou's Lagoon

 *Note: I received the game for free for my honest review. Thank you to Tiny Roar for the game key. 

Lou's Lagoon opens with a child's bedtime story about Light and Dark and their children Wave and Wind. The art is colorful, charming, and sets the tone for the game. The story continues that Wave and Wind would play together, but one day they had such a bad argument that Wind left and Wave was alone and upset which caused a very big storm. The game then cuts to a scene of a small boat caught in a storm answering a call for help and then the storm clears as the boat nears its destination and you are called to the deck. This is where you can customize your character for the game. 

There are a ton of options for skin tone, hair, facial shapes, and even options for eyes and makeup with a lot of colors to choose from for all of it. However, there is a lack of body diversity which is a bit disappointing. Everything else with character creation is great There are great accessibility options as well making the controls and game easier to navigate and play. 

Making my character. 

As you get to the island, you are greeted by Hefti, your Uncle Lou's friend who explains that the storm didn't feel natural so Lou left to investigate. The issue is that Lou's Delivery Service which is on Lou's Lagoon the island you've arrived at is destroyed from the storm so they can't do deliveries to the other islands. Hefti asks you to help clean up the island and rebuild which you can do while you search for Lou and figure out the mystery behind the supernatural storm. 

The game has a play and learn style with tutorial pop up windows explaining what you're supposed to do and how things work like the machine Hefti gives you called a Swirler. The Swirler is pretty cool because it acts like a vacuum cleaner that uses suction to gather up resources and depositing them into your inventory. You also get a bit of extra storage on your delivery plane which is convenient. Your first task is rebuilding the pier on the island and that is easy enough as there is a ton of wood everywhere. You never really run out of resources because over time they do respawn so you can run around the island gathering what you need. It was oddly satisfying sucking up resources with the Swirler and organizing all the items I needed for crafting and building.

Using the Swirler to gather resources. 

Once you've finished building the pier and you've repaired the plane Hefti asks you to get a gadget inventor named Fidge from one of the other islands. Once you get Fidge, you will be able to buy new tools and upgrade them so they work even more efficiently. Flying the plane is another big part of Lou's Lagoon. The controls are fairly straightforward and you can adjust and change them to your preferences if you want. The flying is really smooth and you can gather resources from crates on balloons in the air or hover above the ocean and gather driftwood. It's a nice touch to the game and flying is fun and the camera is very steady which I appreciated. 

Flying the plane. 

The art style for Lou's Lagoon is great with vibrant colors, lush scenery, and interesting characters. Each island is different and has its own style right down to the different people that live on them. My personal favorite were the people who looked like bioluminescent jellyfish people with a love for music. There are side quests to go along with the main story quests and there is no timers and zero pressure to rush. The game encourages you to go at your own pace and there's no combat to worry about, fall damage, or worrying about the plane crashing. I liked exploring and finding new islands and once you have found an island you can fast travel there at any time. 

I was invested in the main story of Lou's Lagoon, but the side quests were interesting too. There's also secrets with hidden treasure chests in areas and each tool is incorporated in some of those discoveries. Sometimes there is an issue of getting stuck in the scenery, but there is an I'm stuck button which resets your character and you can keep adventuring. Crafting and building are the majority of Lou's Lagoon and while I didn't mind it, there were times where it could feel a bit frustrating because quite a few of the story quests are soft locked behind crafting. One of the things I needed to build I had to wait for a while because the resources needed were on an island I hadn't unlocked yet. 

There is no worrying about having to sleep or rushing home before the day resets. There is a day and night cycle, but there's no energy bar to worry about or time crunch. There is a little bit of light combat with pirates which you can use your Swirler on or you can just avoid them altogether. I did fight them and they would drop some pretty nice rewards in the form of money and building materials. The game does have autosave and you can manually save. You have ten available save slots which is pretty nice. 

There are a few bugs in the game with some quests not completing, so you have to reload the last save and that fixes it. With the fishing in the game, sometimes the fishing rod would glitch out along with the fish, and sometimes the background would blur out while talking to people. Tiny Roar has already patched a lot of bugs and are fixing the issues mentioned as well as improving the inventory system so it functions better. It's lovely to see that they're open to feedback and working on those issues so their wonderful game can be even better. 

I have been enjoying Lou's Lagoon immensely. The story itself is good, the gameplay is fun, and it has a ton of charm with memorable characters and a world that is unique and stands out in the best way. It's worth checking out if you like laidback adventure and crafting games. 

Hanging out with the cool jellyfish people. 

*Lou's Lagoon is available on the following platforms: Steam, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S, and Playstation 5

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