The economy is a really complicated business, and it can turn into something catastrophic for the people if the only industry that generates income in the region disappears at any time. This is the simple principle of Moonglow Bay, a very beautiful and relaxing game where fishing will be everything.
The plot sets us about 3 years after the disappearance of our protagonist’s wife, a period during which a bad reputation was created around the city, pushed by those who believe that the area is invaded by aquatic monsters who kill anyone who navigates the waters of the bay. . It is thanks to the support of his daughter, and to a last beautiful gift left by his wife, that our protagonist decides to take the bull through the woods, and to take charge of resuscitating the little that remains of the once dazzling fishing village.
Knowing that the number one tourist attraction has always been the fish, he decides to resume his life where he left it so many years ago, repairing his boat, taking his rod and exploring the great sea in front of him to discover new species, create new recipes and give their all so that people can once again have happiness, which today is only a distant memory.
The plot in general, without being exceptional, manages to do enough to connect with it, especially if it is people concerned with the protection of seas, oceans and marine life, as the title usually finds interesting ways to tackle these topics. For its part, the campaign can be played locally and in co-op with a friend, and usually puts us on a fair amount and variety of missions which, although they have other boring ways (like distributing drugs to across town), in general they are quite bearable, although on more than one occasion it can be a bit overwhelming to have 5 or 6 objectives marked on the minimap.
Technical section
Within this section, at least on Xbox One, we find a very interesting dichotomy, which led to a somewhat special experience for me. On the one hand, we have a visual design style voxel art quite beautiful and full of color, which together with a fairly calm and relaxing soundtrack manages to make this experience from the start something we want to play just because of its relaxed and striking presentation.
But on the other hand, however, we will have to face throughout the experiment, a rather weak performance, which goes below 30 frames and which in general suffers from constant drops (mainly when walking in the city, or during certain scenes of the story). This is usually not something that makes the experience unplayable, although it is quite annoying, especially with some minigames that require some precision, which is quite difficult to achieve when the frames fluctuate more than the Argentine peso.
It’s also worth noting that the game is localized to Latin Spanish, so the language won’t be a complication when it comes to wanting to enjoy the adventure.
Playability
As I mentioned before, fishing is everything, and everything is related to fishing, and that is why during the whole experience we will have 3 key elements who will help us in this activity: Our rod, a net and the small but sturdy fishing boat.
The latter will be our main and only means of transport which will allow us to explore the different seas of the wide card through which we will navigate, something that will be necessary to discover and acquire new species of fish, some that we can find in more than one place, and others that we can only get in specific areas.
Of course, these will not go up to our boat on their own saying “glup glup I’m ready for you to cook me glup glup”, but they will have to be taken out of the water using our cane or net. The net will be useful for quickly catching fish that swim in schools, or concentrated in small groups. On the other hand, the rod will give us slower fishing, but at the same time it allows us to perform this action anywhere in the open sea, and at specific points on the coast. It can also be configured before each fishing, with the possibility of choosing between four rods and lures, which we will achieve as we progress in the adventure, in addition to being able to configure the bait, which we can purchase in the navy market or manufacture it ourselves, if we have the necessary tools.
Technically, it is assumed that trying different combinations of these three elements will give us advantages against different types of fish, but personally I have to say that it was difficult for me to verify if this is the case or not, especially after having discovered a little technique that helped me make the captures easier.
The control of the net and the rod have a similar basis, can use the action button to calculate the force with which we throw them, but they separate quickly, because the net will only require the use of the right trigger to attract the net, capturing everything in its path, and the rod on the other hand will make us wait for the prey to bite the hook, then struggle against its strength, trying to attract it towards us using the same trigger in conjunction with the Left stick.
Of course, just grabbing something won’t materialize money out of nowhere (although it wouldn’t be bad at all), but that’s where the second most important aspect comes in. Game : Trade. Each fish we get can be sold individually or used as an ingredient in some of the many recipes we can cook at home. Each recipe will have a series of steps to follow, each step culminating in a series of precision mini-games, which we will have to overcome if we want our dish to be of the highest quality possible, and therefore, to be able to be sold. easily. At a good price.
Fortunately, the sales will happen automatically. The only thing we have to do is leave our house and put whatever we want to sell in the vending machine at the entrance. Once done, everything will be sold as and when hours of the day.
All the money we get can be used in several ways: the first and perhaps the most important, will be to restore each of the key places in the city, such as the clinic, the clock tower or the port among others. , something totally fundamental to move the story forward. Apart from that, we can buy in the different stores, which will allow us, for example, to buy new recipes, fish, to obtain improvements for our boat and for the vending machine, or to obtain traps for fishing for crustaceans.
One last detail I would like to mention is that the prices of what we will sell will not be static, but they will constantly vary depending on the popularity of each fish, which we will only achieve by bringing new species to the city aquarium. Repeatedly this means delivering rare species for which we could get a good amount of coins, so it will be up to you to decide whether to seek short-term or long-term profit.
Duration
In this regard, I must say that the title, in its simplicity, gives us certain freedoms and options to allow a broad experience, which will mainly depend on our connection with what it offers. While it is true that most of the time we will find ourselves exploring the waters, fishing and cooking, it is not very difficult to get lost doing this on a day to day basis, even leaving out the missions. of the countryside for the benefit of these so restful. activities. . This is also reinforced by the use of the bulletin board, where various requests will be posted by the people of Moonglow Bay, where they will ask us for a particular fish or dish, in addition to sometimes giving us another task.
Likewise, and although it pains me to accept it, it might not be something that will connect with all players, as probably more than one who is not used to this class of titles differs from what I’m telling you.
conclusion
Even knowing that this is surely not a title for all audiences, I truly believe that Moonglow Bay is a highly recommendable experience for anyone who enjoys these more relaxing and unhurried titles, who by the way, manages to do something something Lake could hardly: disconnect completely from it all, and enjoy the experience without having to ask “Have we ever arrived in India?”
Even if what we do does not require so much science, it is possible to benefit a lot from it and this at least in my book, gives a little extra merit, something that stands out even more if we take into account, that I got to play it with a lot of envy, in what is perhaps the worst version of the game on an original Xbox One.
