Decided to start chasing the specific idea of “Fishing Horror.” Isolation, strange creatures of the deep, all within the simple task of catching some fish. It’s a hyper-specific genre, but the hyper-specificity allows for some unique interpretations of how to go about that sort of premise.
Our Lady of the Drowned Lake, Zero Reporter goes for a folklore approach. Brazilian devs present the story of the Water’s Caboclo. A strange man who resides beneath the rivers, lurking about at his own leisure. Either a help or a hinderance, the Water’s Caboclo’s reaction to humans is sort of a roll of the dice. This is somewhat reflected in the game’s central mechanical structure. Each action the fisherman Bento can make is tied to the chance of annoying the Caboclo. Each attempt to reel in a fish get increasingly risky. Normal reeling in starts at about 20%, while a forceful reeling in gets about 40%. If you fail the gamble, your noise meter rises. Once you hit 100% noise… well, nothing happens right away. You have to fish once more before you get confronted by the Caboclo. Once you’re confronted, your fate is up to what you try to offer the Caboclo.
The actual fishing mechanics are not much to write home about. Wandering through the water is… unclear. I expected to bump up against a river-bank or a shoreline, but the actual barriers to sailing is largely made up of invisible walls. Finding the right fishing spots throughout the waves is sort of a mindless search. The largest disappointment is that there’s no real change to the endings. I enjoyed doing research and learning about the folklore, but none of that really came through on an actual ending. The mythology states giving Caboclo tobacco ingratiates him towards, you, but the ending visuals don’t really change. There’s a pleasure in learning about another culture and its folklore, but it doesn’t kind go deeper into them other than aesthetics. Its unfortunate, but its not enough of a dealbreaker to ruin my affection for the efforts.
Our Lady of the Drowned Lake, Zero Reporter goes for a folklore approach. Brazilian devs present the story of the Water’s Caboclo. A strange man who resides beneath the rivers, lurking about at his own leisure. Either a help or a hinderance, the Water’s Caboclo’s reaction to humans is sort of a roll of the dice. This is somewhat reflected in the game’s central mechanical structure. Each action the fisherman Bento can make is tied to the chance of annoying the Caboclo. Each attempt to reel in a fish get increasingly risky. Normal reeling in starts at about 20%, while a forceful reeling in gets about 40%. If you fail the gamble, your noise meter rises. Once you hit 100% noise… well, nothing happens right away. You have to fish once more before you get confronted by the Caboclo. Once you’re confronted, your fate is up to what you try to offer the Caboclo.
The actual fishing mechanics are not much to write home about. Wandering through the water is… unclear. I expected to bump up against a river-bank or a shoreline, but the actual barriers to sailing is largely made up of invisible walls. Finding the right fishing spots throughout the waves is sort of a mindless search. The largest disappointment is that there’s no real change to the endings. I enjoyed doing research and learning about the folklore, but none of that really came through on an actual ending. The mythology states giving Caboclo tobacco ingratiates him towards, you, but the ending visuals don’t really change. There’s a pleasure in learning about another culture and its folklore, but it doesn’t kind go deeper into them other than aesthetics. Its unfortunate, but its not enough of a dealbreaker to ruin my affection for the efforts.