Lou's Lagoon review

In the wake of a devastating storm, the islands within the Limbo archipelago are left in ruins. Buildings have been toppled, infrastructure has collapsed, pirates are plundering the shores and the local legend Lou has gone missing. As his nephew/niece, you pledge to take up his mantle and help the locals rebuild as you follow the clues to uncover the truth behind the storm and your uncle’s mysterious disappearance.

Lou’s Lagoon is an open-world exploration game that sees you visiting various islands and helping out the colorful locals with rebuilding after a natural disaster. You won’t need to do any back-breaking labor, though, as you come equipped with a multitool gadget known as the Swirler 2000. This is a tool that can be a fishing rod, scanner, glider, construction implement, and vacuum all at once, allowing you to harvest all kinds of materials that you can then fabricate into a number of resources. Whether it’s scooping up a fish with the rod to gather scales or plucking electric bananas from a high branch using the vacuum, the act of gathering the materials is pretty satisfying as they plink and plonk into your backpack.

You’ll quickly outgrow the starting area as you gather more clues about Lou and the legend of the Wind and Wave spirits causing the storm, which means it’s time to take to the skies. Travelling between areas in the archipelago is done by seaplane, which allows you to take flight and soar above the tropical waters. Instead of just being used for traversal, these gameplay segments also let you take on flight challenges and collect resources by crashing through balloons and detritus floating on the water’s surface. The plane has agile and slick controls, allowing you to make some pretty acrobatic maneuvers through the environment. You also don’t have to worry about crashing, as any impact will simply cause the plane to bounce off and continue flying in a random direction. I enjoyed being able to fly around in a carefree tropical playground, and when I did get tired of flying from place to place in the late game, you can simply fast travel instead, so long as you’ve repaired the radio tower for your chosen destination with the correct crafting materials.

Crafting can only be done in certain locations, though, meaning you’ll frequently be making trips back to the Lagoon to refine your materials into whatever is needed for your current quest. The issue is made worse considering you have limited backpack space, and your seaplane only offers a paltry storage compartment, so you’ll have to constantly sell or drop items to make room for new ones. This can really interrupt the flow of exploration and is made worse by the fact that when you craft something, it has a timer before it is actually created, slowing down your progress even more. It’s a shame because the act of gathering the materials is actually pretty satisfying, so I really wish this was implemented in a different way.

There are also a ton of crafting recipes that aren’t used for much outside of decorations, and the same issue is present with some of the gadget upgrades. I was able to complete the game without fully upgrading any of the gadgets, including the resource harvester attachment on the Swirler. This meant I didn’t need any of the level-four resources I came across for any of the story content, which felt a bit odd to me.

Beyond the Lagoon, there are three main islands to visit in the archipelago, each with their own theme to set them apart. Gleam Reef, for example, sports brightly colored coral and sandy beaches, while Boulderia is an industrial mining quarry built on the back of a giant crab. I appreciated that each zone felt like it had its own flavor, and it had me eager to explore and find unique materials and creatures. The locals will also offer some side quests that range greatly in both quality and complexity. One quest might see you cleaning up toxic goo around town, reminiscent of Super Mario Sunshine, while others will have you walking less than 10 feet to talk to someone. While some of them were ok, there were plenty that didn’t feel all that engaging compared to the main quest.

Regardless of some pain points along the way, uncovering the secret of the storm and embarking into the wild to find Lou was still an enjoyable adventure. Sure, the crafting system can be obtuse at times when you’d really just rather be exploring, but it’s not so dreadful that it ruins the experience as a whole. While I do wish that some of the side content was as interesting as the main path, Lou’s Lagoon still provided enough hours of fun for me to recommend it to people who are looking for their next cozy adventure game.