I really, really wanted to enjoy Harold Halibut more than I did. Harold, our protagonist, is a fish out of water: an autistic-coded janitor slash jack-of-all-trades, whose daily grind involves doing various tasks for the mostly warm but slightly stuck up crew of scientists and venture capitalists aboard the marooned spaceship, The Fedora. The game is underwater, so there's the expected Bioshock-esque critique of capitalism run riot, presented with a more dry, wry sense of humor. The game makes a strong first impression, with several mysteries piling up alongside the slow reveal of this artful, beautiful world. I particularly loved how you get around on The Fedora via a salmon cannon that shoots the people from hub to hub (for a nominal fee).

And, c'mon, the art! I know it's not the most technical game running under the hood, but this game is a sight to behold. Each interior is handcrafted and rich with detail, but then digitalized and animated so that the puppetry has no strings. Even though the gameplay is light, I found myself mashing the trigger on the controller to zoom into each interior and soak in as much of the ambiance as I could. The soundtrack, too, is subtle but evocative, fading in and out when the player enters certain locations. Tremendous stuff.

During its introductory moments, I thought this game might be another Night in the Woods-esque narrative game, one that took a story and set it across many days so that you could build relationships and be rewarded for meandering from the main task routes at every turn. And, for a while, it was. I would get invited to dinner by the former pilot, or pore over love letters from decades past with the postman. And each character, lovingly designed and voice acted, always had something to say about life's meaning, or the dulling effect of daily jobs (and the threat of debtor's prison) in an alien, water-logged world.

But my return visits to the various wings of The Fedora yielded less and less surprise, or even change, as the days went on. By midgame, Harold had stumbled upon a seemingly huge reveal, with widespread implications for him, his shipmates--maybe even the human race--yet our daily tasks consisted of slow runs to the pharmacy with almost no diversity of content. It felt like we were being forced to play out an extended montage, a pain that only sharpened once the weeklong scenario ended with a literal montage.

Repetition in videogames is part of the act, of course. It can be gameplay, the ritualistic dance of combat that break up FPS campaigns, or the return trips of roguelites that build repetitiveness into their DNA as a means of player progression. But Harold Halibut seems to say: God, isn't capitalist bureaucracy boring and awful?" Yes, it is. And it's especially boring and awful when it's hammered home in a world as lush and gorgeous as Harold Halibut.

There is a payoff, and the narrative eventually does get going. But the jarring pace and tonal shifts never really go away.

I'm glad this game exists. And it's clear that there's a huge amount of work that's gone into this game and realizing its vision. Unfortunately, Harold Halibut isn't able to successfully navigate the choppy waters separating sincerity and comedy, and ends up splitting the two in a way that challenged me to go on.

In the end, Harold Halibut is way more niche than you might expect. Its messages on capitalism, and humanity's tendency toward resource drain even in the face of calamity, are all vital and integrated well into the story. I just wish the game, like its main character, was a little more self-assured.

Harold Halibut is a strange, unique, and also heart-warming experience that unfortunately isn't going to be everyone's flavor. "Game" might even be a strong word for Harold Halibut -- there's very little in the way of mechanical friction for the player; no real puzzles, challenges, or other elements you might expect from an "adventure game". Instead, Harold Halibut presents a quirky cast of characters living aboard a crashed, underwater spaceship-city and invites you to intimately get to know their lives, their routines, their thoughts, fears, and everything in between. If you give this one a shot and aren't intrigued by the world within the first hour, I'll be honest: bounce off it. You're not likely to find much to love here.

That IS Harold Halibut, though. The game revolves entirely around running here and there, helping neighbors and friends by doing odd-jobs or delivering messages, and getting to build up relationships with the cast. Sometimes, that's enjoyable enough. The art direction of the game frankly incredible, the soundtrack is great, the animations and acting are solid and feels like you're watching a real claymation film -- most of the time I was fully engaged. Sometimes it drags, though. The titular Harold, being a quite plain guy, often does plain, boring things; understandable that the player will too, to better understand him and the grievances he comes to express in the story. However, when you're nearing double-digits in play time and still running back-and-forth, back-and-forth to initiate a chat with a character 3 loading screens away, it starts getting old. Not to mention there are multiple instances where the game forcibly takes away your ability to run, or even in one scene towards the end, makes you move in slow motion, which only compounds how slow things feel sometimes.

All-in-all I liked Harold Halibut quite a bit, and even had a melancholy feeling when it ended, having to say goodbye to a cast of characters I felt like I had grown to know personally. It's hard to shake the feeling, however, that there could have been more use of the video game medium here, and a bit less of the running around the game has you do most of the time.

The artistic value of this one is undeniable. This is one of the most unique games I’ve ever played, and it’s incredible how much work and love the developers put into all the handcrafted assets, with all the characters, props and sets genuinely sculpted and painted. Seriously, they have my deepest respect. But is it fun playing it?

Well… I definitely wouldn’t call this the revival of LucasArts-like adventure games, no matter how much charm it has. It’s more like a really long, interactive stop-motion movie, with only some minimal gameplay elements, like “go there, talk to this person, then come back here”, stuff like that, so expect lots and lots of running around and, of course, even more talking. There aren’t even any puzzles to solve, someone always points you in the right direction. The story is interesting, though, and so are all the eccentric characters the protagonist meets during his journey of self-discovery. Even though there are some really funny moments, I wouldn’t call this a comedy… Let’s go with dramedy, I’d say, with a heavier emphasis on drama.

Harold has quite a lot of psychological issues he has to work through, like how he feels detached from society, his inferiority complex, his recent break-up, and that, in general, he can’t find his place and purpose anywhere. He’s not just physically trapped in a spaceship, but also metaphorically, and thus, a kind of melancholic, bittersweet, sometimes even depressing mood hangs over the plot all the time. The underwater setting and the strange atmosphere reminded me of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, if you’re familiar with it, you can expect something like that with a bit less humour.

Anyway, if you don’t mind that you get hardly any gameplay beyond running around, and watching many, many lengthy cutscenes, give this one a try. As I mentioned, it’s a delight to look at it, no question about that.

First and foremost: what a visually stunning game Harold Halibut is. Everything is made out of clay models, from characters to backgrounds and props. The game's worth for its visuals alone.

Another big positive is its story. Not narrative, might I say. I'll get in the "howevers" in a while. Its universe feels fresh and thought of, especially the Flumylyn society, language and customs. Harold Halibut is also very wholesome, cozy, optimistic and soulful - it's refreshing to play a game that doesn't use violence, conflict or attrition as its basis. It's a joy to find out more and get yourself acquainted with each of the many intresting characters you'll encounter. Some people had qualms with the protagonist himself, but I didn't mind - his character arc is pretty consistent and defined. Because, while it might not seem at a first glance, it's a game about people, relationships and their sense of belonging.

However, it pains me to say Harold Halibut suffers heavily from pacing issues. I have no problems with slow games, but it is painfully, glacially slow. It has too much backtracking, too much redundant dialogue, too much downtime... which makes it even more puzzling because the good sections are really good (shout-out to the downright genial "Exchange" segment that looks something straight out of Evangelion), but you have to bear through hours of busywork and walking to get there. It's a 5h game stretched into a 14h body. That's the main reason why my score isn't higher.

Still, some story beats - especially its overarching message - are very beautiful and I surprisingly got emotional by the end. As much as Harold Halibut is a terribly bloated experience, you can't help but feel sad when the adventure eventually ends. It has a lingering charm not everyone will appreciate, but for those who do it's great.

Positives
- Beautiful environments/characters
- Well written dialogue
- Interesting plot at first

Negatives
- This is a very very slow paced game, to a fault in my opinion

I love how this game looks. Stop animation being able to replicated this accurately through computer graphics is so great. The game looks goddamn beautiful. The plot setup is funny and so goddamn Wes Anderson-y but less obnoxious and not as in love with itself. I didn't mind the lack of gameplay either as I was sucked into the world.

Now having completed it, my question to the developer is WHY is this a game? This could have been a two and a half hour movie or a miniseries. Is it more profitable to make an 8 hour game for $40 on Steam than sign a deal with a movie studio? Actually don't answer that, because it probably totally is.

I was disappointed at the conclusion of this game, but I enjoyed the ride. I think this game will be remembered by film students trying to show how cool and deep they are by knowing this exists.

Seriously, you should support this when it's on sale because I want to see more from these guys, the Slow Bros. If you can't, just watch someone stream it. You'll get just as much out of it.

Well, I've been waiting for this game for what feels like AGES. Me and my friend anxiously awaited updates and talked about this game for actual years, ever since we first saw the reveal. And somehow, through all that hype, this exceeded my expectations.
I knew that, at the very least, the game would be artistically stunning, and boy was I right. If ever you hear someone doubting video games as an art form, this completely undoes that argument. Truly sensational art direction here. And that art is accompanied by an awesome score.
The story here is gonna lose some people, 100%. The comparisons to a Wes Anderson film are very much valid, and whether that's good or bad will depend on your taste as an individual. For me, it really worked, because it's not something I encounter in video games very often at all. And while the gameplay is far from exciting, it moves along the plot fine enough. It definitely feels like an interactive movie more than anything, which is something I've always loved.
The characters are also super well voice acted and interesting. There were several plot threads that I found intriguing and worth being invested in, and a lot of that is thanks to the characters and the job the actors did portraying them. Harold himself is such an endearing guy and it resulted in so many great moments, both funny and a little more serious.
Overall, this game was beautiful, unique, weird (in the best way) and captivating. I can't believe this game finally came out and I played it. It's been great following along over the years and the end result was more than worth the wait

One of the best looking "OK" games I've ever played.

I command the developers for Harold Halibut's unique, claymation-style art design and generally gorgeous visuals. The voice acting is also mostly very good.

But on a gameplay level this is pretty damn dull. Its status as a "walking sim" would be fine were it not for the extreme emphasis on repetitive backtracking and also the game's overegged 8-10 hour length.

There's no real difficulty here beyond trying to remember which room NPCs are staying in when you have to go track them down.

The story has flecks of intrigue but the thematics are very on the nose and straightforward. The characters are an interesting bunch but could use more shading.

Game is also quite buggy - numerous times I tried to skip a single line of dialogue and it just skipped all the dialogue for the scene. Lots of clipping through objects too.

It's an interesting and creative game but I think it should've been about half the length. As it stands I was ready for it to be over long before the end.

Öncelikle baş yapımcılardan biri olan Onat Hekimoğlu'na Türkçe altyazı için ve oyun yerleştirdikleri Türkçe göndermeler için teşekkürler ama ne yazık ki bu benim oyun için olan görüşümü artı yönde etkileyecek kadar etki edemedi. Harold Halibut'u da diğer oyunları incelediğim gibi inceleyeceğim. İncelemeye pozitif başlayalım sonu iyi bitmeyecek çünkü. Bu oyunun ilginç yanları var kendisi el yapımı bir oyun yani oyun hamuru vb. maddelerle modellenmiş, karakterler ve mekanlar. Modellemeler karakterler yani sanat tasarımı harbi sağlam ki oyunun en iyi yaptığı şey de bu zaten. Grafikler de iyi diyebilirim ışıklandırmalar vesaire hoş gözüküyor. İyi kısımlar tamamen bundan ibaret ama bunlar yetersiz. Oynanış yok. Evet yok amele gibi oyunun başından sonuna kadar oradan oraya koşmaktan başka bir şey yapmıyoruz oyun şöyle işliyor: Ulaşım Kapsülü'ne koş, görev bölgesine ışınlan, kapsülden göreve kadar koş. Daha sonra her görevde tekrar tekrar bunu yapıyoruz. Hele bir kısımda oyun resmen bizle dalga geçiyor. Denizaltı kullanma kısımlarına güya biz kontrol ediyormuşuz gibi denizaltı oynanış sekansı koymuşlar ama aslında biz kontrol etmiyoruz. Kendi kendine gidiyor bize sadece izlemek kalıyor. Tek yapabildiğimiz şey Sağa sola çevirmek. O da gittiğimiz yönü değiştirmiyor zaten sınırlı alan da çeviriyoruz. Kısaca olan oynanış rezalet. Hikayeye gelirsek aslında oldukça ilginç ve güzel başlıyor ama yarısından sonra öyle bir klişeyle öyle bir saçmalıkla oyun sırf 2-3 saat daha uzun olsun diye uzatmışlar oyun zevk orada gitmeye başlıyor zaten. Daha da kötüsü şu eğer iyi bir final yapsalardı oyunun puanı daha da iyi olabilirdi ama finalde de battılar ve hikaye tamamen zırvalıktan ibaret bir şey oldu. Elimizde ortalamanın altında bir oyun var. Oynamayınız oynattırmayınız. 5/10

A person's tolerance for Harold Halibut is going to depend on how much mileage they get out of slower games where inhabiting the space and conversations are the key focus, rather than anything resembling moment to moment gameplay.

I don't blame anyone who doesn't get on with that or think that any single approach is objectively better or worse, but I was drawn in by the game's beautiful handcrafted aesthetic and its hold on me never really faltered throughout the runtime. The ship you live on is full of memorable characters with their own unique idiosyncrasies, all helped along by a strong voice work - for Harold specifically there's a great balance between goofy ignorance and sentimentality, and that personality is probably one of the major factors that kept me going.

But I must emphasise again that this is a very slow game and there are quirks that come with that - sometimes your movement speed is slowed to a crawl as you'e made to follow another character, sometimes the dialogue goes on a little longer than expected, and this will put some people off. Thankfully for me, I used that time to take in the absolutely gorgeous world, animation and the small details dotted around all the locations you visit.

Me esperaba un juego bonito y simple, que me entretuviera un rato y poco más, pero me ha acabado sorprendiendo muchísimo. Me alegra mucho haberle dado una oportunidad y terminarlo.

Me han encantado los personajes y sus diálogos. El trabajo de doblaje es genial, y me he sentido súper inmerso en el universo que han creado. La historia, aunque tampoco sea una locura, también me ha gustado mucho. Me he sentido en mi salsa durante todo el juego.

También tiene sus problemillas. Si no conectas mucho con el juego te va a acabar pareciendo aburridísimo: es muy lento y se toma su tiempo para construir su mundo. Normalmente "no pasa nada importante", y si esperas que te bombardee con estímulos y dopamina lo llevas claro. En mi opinión, debería haber durado un poco menos y quizá condensar el contenido en menos capítulos, pero personalmente no me importó mucho.

Creo que Harold Halibut no es un juego para todo el mundo, ni tampoco para cualquier momento. Tienes que tener ganas de meterte en un universo a fuego lento, donde quizá vas a leer algún que otro diálogo "sin importancia", en el que conoces algo sobre un personaje terciario. En cualquier otro juego me habría sentido impaciente, pero este tiene algo que me mantuvo enganchado desde el primer minuto. Y ha merecido completamente la pena.

Harol Halibut is an absolute pleasure to play through. It's cozy, optimistic, and beautiful in both visuals and soul. It doesn't have many "game" elements but it brings a strong purposeful narrative, and every conversation makes you smile.

It does have some visual issues that appear mostly across the second half of the game, and while the distances are never long, it can get tedious walking in this game - there are often a lot of back-and-forth quests. It somewhat makes me wish this experience was just a movie instead, but I don't think it went too far. This game will really reward you with pleasant bits of narrative for seeking out new conversations every day though, and it ends having delivered a really heartfelt message about finding home and happiness and the meaning of life.

I know reception has been mixed, but it really hit for me emotionally and stylistically. I see a lot of complaints about the way characters speak condescendingly to Harold, but that genuinely shifts around by the end of the game, and he finds his own footing and begins to get respect from those around him. I thought there was a lot of really beautiful ideas of finding a place where you can fit, even if it doesn't seem immediately apparent.

Obviously, I had some minor issues, like cutscenes ending just to put me into a two second walking section, for another cutscene, but otherwise I really liked me time with it.

Let’s get the worst out of the way first. I can’t stand the character writing and performances in this game. I find a number of characters entirely off putting, some to the point where I would yell at my TV almost every time they spoke their condescension. It’s a small miracle I was able to push myself to play through the entire game.

While there’s a chance that some people may like the writing here, subjectivity and all, some problems relating to this are objectively bad. One example towards the end of the game has you being asked to copy a series of verbal instructions, and if you take more than a literal second to comply, the instruction will be impatiently repeated.

It’s not all bad though. The broad strokes of the story are interesting, and there is the occasional scene that is poignantly portrayed (most often without any dialogue).

The art is the main draw here anyway. Its claymation art style leads to some stunning scenes, but again I would put a caveat on this. Because you’re looking at recreations of physical objects, not the direct photos of the models themselves, something is lost in the physicality you’d normally get from this style. It kind of just looks like any other stylised video game.

Now I don’t think that’s a reason not to explore new creation methods for game assets, but when this game took 10+ years to develop, I’m just honestly not sure this was worth that time investment. I especially think this as you feel the game’s pace being padded out with a lot of slow backtracking.

I hate to sound so critical of something that’s clearly had so much care put into it, especially into the handmade art, but so much just didn’t connect with me. I’d recommend checking it out on Game Pass if you have it available so that you can see if you fare any better than I did with the writing.

"𝑯𝒆𝒚..”

"𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅?"

"𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑯𝒖𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑫𝒂𝒚..."

"𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆 🫂... 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌..."

Eu não sei se esse texto ficou bom... (Escrevi aqui depois de terminar)... Acho que ele ficou muito sentimental 😅

Mas por favor, eu estava tentando passar uma mensagem de carinho, mesmo não achando que fui o melhor que pude então...

Não estranhe por favor...

Harold Halibut: A Beleza no Carinho Sútil...

Gostaria de dizer que entendo as pessoas que não gostaram desse jogo... Harold é um Point and Click adaptado para os consoles, com um foco enorme em narrativa...

E esse gênero não é muito agradável pra muita gente... Mas eu gosto de aprecia-lo as vezes.

De Whispers of a Machine a Harold Halibut eu devo dizer que de fato não joguei muitos desses jogos, mas quando a história me abraça eu não consigo me desapegar deles...

Harold Halibut é simples, embora sua arte seja extremamente complexa, por ser de, nada mais nada menos, do que massinha, sim, massinha, sua modelagem é delicada e linda...

O jogo por si decide abraçar uma simplicidade com objetivo de trazer uma boa história.

E sinceramente, eu derramei boas lágrimas ao seu final... Não é um jogo complexo ou gigantesco, mas me fez lembrar o quanto um abraço é importante pra muitos momentos...

As vezes nos vemos no escuro, sozinhos, solitários, achando que não há nada que podemos fazer...

Mas eu devo dizer... Você não está sozinho... Não posso negar minha crença religiosa nesse momento, embora de fato fale pouca dela aqui, nesse site me específico, devo dizer que mesmo diante das dificuldades, o Senhor, Cristo... Está com você meu amigo, conosco o tempo todo...

Sei que nos sentimos sozinhos quando passamos por momentos em que nem amizades temos para nos dar um abraço... Mas meu amigo, minha querida, eu queria dizer que.

Você é forte... Mas do que imagina.

Eu não sei como descrever em palavras, mas já senti muitas dores com relação a solidão, então, mesmo que agora estejamos distante, e na verdade nem nos conhecemos, bom

Toma aqui um abraço virtual 🫂...

Harold Halibut me vez pensar sobre como a empatia e uma boa amizade podem nos salvar muitas vezes, e nos tirar de momentos difíceis... Talvez eu não devesse escrever um texto dessa forma, mas eu queria falar sobre como esse jogo me deixou feliz em pensar que algumas pessoas ainda pensam em ajudar e abraçar quando precisam....

O amor está esfriando de fato....

Mas sempre existiram aqueles que estão dispostos a amar...

Até o Retorno de Cristo onde a solidão não mais existirá...

Pra Harold Halibut um 9.5/10 ou um 5/5... Chorei jogando...

A fantastical story of a handyman on a crashed spaceship trying to escape an alien planet with his fellow shipmates. Stranded in an ocean based planet, Harold must assist with the relaunch plan while also befriending those around him and moving around government bureaucracy. The story is one of exploration and learning of the unknown.

The entire game is made of stop motion puppets and craft materials and is a beauty to witness. Every scene is detailed and awesome.

The story is extremely well written and has humor, sadness, and action throughout making this a great title that I hope gets awards.

I finished in 17 hours and missed only 2 achievements due to glitches, but will return later when they have been patched.

Este es un juego único por el cómo está hecho, busca innovar, se arriesga y consigue polarizar.

La historia tiene sus gravísimas incongruencias, la adaptación de los gráficos, rendimiento y popping más que latente pueden llegar a desquiciar. El punto y momento que más me desquicia a mi es el de la traducción entre alienígenas y humanos, se resuelve como si nada y debería ser un problema grave de comunicación que al ser una especie nunca vista y un idioma nunca oído tener muchísimas más dificultades... Optaron por una salida fácil y nada convincente, pero este es uno de los grandes peros que le pongo a la historia, aunque hay mucha tela que cortar.

Por el resto tiene sus luces y sombras pero es una historia lenta que saben llevar bien de ritmo excepto un tiempo a mitad que se vuelve muy tediosa. Música y ambientación muy buena y bonita, han cuidado tanto todo lo que es estético que es lo que más anima a seguir jugando.

Juego disfrutable no apto para impacientes.