It ’s not the ocean that ’ll drown you inHarold Halibut ; it ’s complacency .
In the ambitious debut from Slow Bros. , a small community lives out a lone liveliness aboard a spaceship that ’s trapped underneath an alien planet ’s ocean . As the ship ’s few scientists work to craft plans to relaunch the ship back into space , its eccentric locals have learned to accept their sequester , water - logged lives . That include Harold , a janitor who has never visualize biography beyond the few alloy corridors he was raised in . And while the possibility of freedom should give him cause for celebration , it serves as a pointedness of anxiousness , too . What if a proper life on country is n’t all it ’s snap up to be ? Maybe it would just be easier to drown in comfortableness .
That human story does a lot of wakeless lifting inHarold Halibut , a sizeable debut tear between macrocosm . As a narration experience , it ’s a jaw - dropping feat thanks to strong writing and a unique hand-crafted art style unlike anything I ’ve see in a game before . That cinematic style leads to some sacrifice , though , as slow tempo , a limited domain , and a lack of meaningful fundamental interaction make it less engaging as a work of interactive fable . But ifHarold Halibuttaught me anything , it ’s that I ’d rather take a daring creative imaginativeness like this over a dependable , boring one .
Lost in space
Harold Halibutis a narrative - focused adventure game that share tonal similarity to theanimated works of Wes Anderson . Set on the Fedora , a recessed spaceship that ’s turned into an apart town link up by a tube transportation system system of rules , the 10 - hour story is told through teetotal humor , understated social irony , and banter with local eccentrics . Despite its grim sci - fi setup , it ’s a warm and endearing account that treat each occupant of the Fedora with empathy , from the ship ’s weirdo captain to its loveable old mailman .
In its other chapter , there ’s an accent on the mundane . I spend the first few hours doing lowly labor as Harold , doctor H2O filters and call off mysterious graffiti off of wall . It ’s a maddening but efficacious introduction to Harold ’s claustrophobic earth . In its first five hour , I ’m slowly walking between a diminished smattering of mini - dominion on the ship , all at the mercy of a distressingly slow transit organization that even a Fedora lifer like Harold is sick of . By the time the story introduces its first turn , as Harold discovers a fishlike alien stuck in the Fedora ’s filter , I ’m eager to miss .
The plodding , repetitive frame-up would perhaps work better if there were something reinvigorated to look forth to on the other side of the story . That ’s whereHarold Halibuthits some of its struggles as a game , something that ’s certain to make it an larn taste . While its third chapter palpate like it ’s build towards a change of pace when I specify out to find my foreign pal ’s fatherland underwater , the lofty reveal underwhelms . The second half of the tale introduces a second explorable space that feels just as small and restrictive as the Fedora . I struggle to recover the present moment of relief valve that wander up being so crucial to Harold ’s own world - expanding growth .
The sweet story earns its emotional beat …
Some ingenious role of interactivity could have helped matters , but Slow Bros. ’s determination to deliver the story with as few gameplay distractions as possible further robsHarold Halibutof its epiphany import . For most of my playthrough , I ’m not doing much more than retreading the same few spaces and striking up creation - construction conversation . More involved gameplay moments are few and far between . I only get a light fistful of janitorial teaser — workaday tasks like unscrewing the cover off of a complicated 3D pressman or treat exotic rocks . Those little jolts of interactivity wind up being more piquant than anything I do outside of the ship , sapping some might out of its ultimate conclusion .
Though it struggles as a workplace of interactive fiction , Harold Halibutworks on the strength of its sharp writing . The sweet story earns its emotional beats , tardily painting a picture of an isolated man check to break out of his quilt zone on his own terminus . Rather than being carried along by wherever the Fedora and its hare - brained fraud - scientists take him next , he must memorize to walk his own way outside of the rusty prison house he was born into .
Handcrafted to perfection
ThoughHarold Halibutstumbles in its limited interactivity , its strong selling point is its visual style . Using scrupulous photogrammetry , Slow Bros. mitt - created every fibre and object in the game , digitizing each through hundreds of photographs . The result is a ocular style that no game has ever fully delivered . It ’s almost surreal , like I ’m playing a lose European claymation animated cartoon from the 1980s . It does n’t feel like I should be able to control it , and yet , I can .
Harold Halibutis fulfill with economical decisiveness .
Slow Bros. ’s passion of stop - movement history shows in its improbably elaborated world . I get shades ofJan Švankmajerand theBrothers Quayas I walk through the weathered hall of the Fedora , a ship shaped by jolty materials and muted colors . I can almost see the thumbprints under Harold ’s stock middle , a physical sense of touch that lend more manhood to the grapheme role model . That ’s further helped by its apparent motion - becharm animation techniques , give each extremity of the oddball vomit up more expressive body language .
It ’s a triumphant effort , though one that seems to produce some fundamental trade - offs . The decision to discharge player in a small smattering of area feels like a essential to reduce the penury for even more physical curing . The fact that the volume of the gameplay carry position in shot / rearward shot conversation with NPCs feel like another fashion to get around that problem . Harold Halibutis filled with economical decisions like that , which come at the expense of surprisal .
When I think of with child use ofstop - movement animation , it ’s the transformative works that stick in my mind . I still feelStreet of Crocodilesin my off-white thanks to its gritty world that feels born from recycled trash and discarded toy . Švankmajer’sDarkness , Light , Darknessplays with the moldable nature of forcible mud to jest about the awkward design of the human body . The handcrafted nature ofHarold Halibutdoes lend it palpable authenticity , but it feels like Slow Bros. only starts to research the deeper relationship between its spiritualist and content by the end of the risky venture .
ThoughHarold Halibutleaves me with a lot to nibble at , it ’s a fitting debut for what ’s sure to become one of gambling ’s most exciting new studio . Like Harold himself , Slow Bros. finds itself pushing gaming ’s terrestrial comfort zone into the stratosphere with an approach that few will dare to replicate . It ’s a bluff danger ; I ’m certain the studio could have made a lot of commercially viable game in the 14 class it take to put this together . But why settle for stagnation ? It ’s more rewarding to judge something new , breaching the originative surface rather than sink underneath the wave . Harold Halibutmay be a flawed maiden ocean trip , but Slow Bros. is destine for the stars .
Harold Halibutwas tested on PC .
