Harold Halibut
Harold Halibut | |
---|---|
Single-player |
Harold Halibut is a 2024
Gameplay
The game's
Plot
During the peak of the Cold War in the 1970s, the space ship Fedora I, controlled by the All Water corporation, was sent from Earth to find a planet for humankind to colonise. Drifting for over two hundred years, the ship encounters a solar flare and is stranded at the bottom of an alien ocean on an uninhabitable planet, where it has remained for another fifty years. The player is Harold, a shy and withdrawn maintenance worker on the staff of the ship, who assists the scientist Jeanna Mareaux, who is commissioned to look for ways to escape the planet. Harold also performs odd jobs for the other inhabitants, many with different philosophies, including their views on whether to leave the Fedora or stay. When a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to relaunch the craft unaffected by the solar flare and return to home is discovered, Harold is placed in a unique position to make a difference in the future of the ship and its populace. During the game, Harold discovers a fish-like humanoid stuck in the ship's filtration system he names 'Fishy', providing him with a window into the perspective of the alien life on the planet. Harold also discovers the original mission of the Fedora may not have been as essential as its inhabitants believe.
Development and release
Harold Halibut was created by Slow Bros., a
To create and animate the assets for the game, the development team hand-made puppets, sets, props, and costumes from various materials including clay, textiles, welded metal, and recycled wood.
Release
In June 2017, the studio launched a failed Kickstarter to secure $170,000 in funding for development,[14][15] with Hekimoğlu considering the campaign a success in terms of raising awareness for the game, but attributing its failure to the lack of initial promotion.[8] Harold Halibut was announced at the Gamescom Future Games show on 22 March 2024 with a showcase trailer and release date,[15] and published on Steam on 16 April.
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | 69/100 (PC)[16] 70/100 (PS5)[17] 74/100 (XBX)[18] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Edge | 5/10[19] |
Eurogamer | [20] |
GameSpot | 7/10[22] |
GamesRadar+ | [21] |
IGN | 8/10[23] |
Jeuxvideo.com | 16/20[27] |
MeriStation | 6/10[24] |
PC Gamer (US) | 60%[1] |
Shacknews | 9/10[2] |
Multiplayer.it | 8.5/10[25] |
Siliconera | 10/10[26] |
According to review aggregator Metacritic, Harold Halibut received "mixed or average" reviews from critics.[16][17][18]
Reviewers praised the visual presentation of the game,
Critics expressed generally positive views about the game's narrative and characterisation. Harold Goldberg of the
Critics noted the game lacked conventional gameplay features for an adventure game, such as puzzles, due to the narrative focus of the game.[3] Describing the game as a "light experience", Daniel Bueno of Siliconera considered Harold Halibut to lack a "hands-on" approach, lacking more puzzles or interaction, but believed these to be unnecessary for a narrative game.[26] Lucas White of Shacknews noted that the game did not feature conventional puzzles, branching paths or multiple endings.[2] Matt Gardner of Forbes stated that the gameplay puzzles were rare and short-lived, lacked nuance and skill, and were inconsistent with the narrative, also critiquing the "identical and surprisingly poor" arcade games.[4]
Several reviewers critiqued the slow pacing of the game. Alice Bell of Rock Paper Shotgun stated the game as "inexplicably" long and understood why players could consider it boring due to its "very slow" pace.[3] Similarly, Katharine Castle of Rock Paper Shotgun noted the slow walking and running speed contributed to this pace.[30] Edge stated that the "drudgery" of playing the character tested their tolerance for fetch quests, citing the lack of interactivity, long dialogue, and limited player agency in the story.[19] Joshua Wolens of PC Gamer critiqued the game's "strictly narrative" focus as "ponderous" and "fatiguing", citing the "long, barren stretches" of gameplay between interesting sequences.[1] Rollin Bishop of GamesRadar+ similarly considered the game to feature too much walking.[21] Describing the game as an "unexciting slog" and "repetitive", Willa Rowe of Kotaku stated that the game "never fully breaks out of its mundanity", citing the focus on "boring chores" and the lack of a sense of urgency.[31]
Accolades
Harold Halibut received nominations accolades in several game and film festivals, including nominations for the 'Most Wanted' and 'Best Marketing' at the 2017 Deutscher Entwicklerpreis,[32][33] one of the winners of the German Government's 2019 Cultural and Creative Industries Kultur- und Kreativpiloten Deutschland award,[34][35][36] the winner of the 'video game' category in the 2022 San Francisco Frozen Film Festival,[37] and nominations for the 'Critic's Choice' and 'Most Anticipated Game' categories for the 2023 Indie Cup Germany.[38][39] The game also was selected for inclusion in several other festivals, including the 2021 Tribeca Festival as part of the Tribeca Games Spotlight,[40][41] the 2021 Slamdance Film Festival,[42] and the 2023 KLIK Amsterdam Animation Festival.[43]
References
- ^ a b c d e Wolens, Joshua (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut Review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d e White, Lucas (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut review: Where is home?". ShackNews. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d Bell, Alice (30 April 2024). "Harold Halibut review: a sweet, restrained story about finding your way home". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b c Gardner, Matt (23 April 2024). "'Harold Halibut' Review (Xbox): Beautiful, Barmy, But Bothersome". Forbes. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ a b King, Andrew (21 April 2024). "I've Never Played A Game With Better Graphics Than Harold Halibut". TheGamer. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ Gordon, Lewis (16 April 2024). "As if Wes Anderson ran amok at Aardman: Harold Halibut, the visually stunning puppet adventure game". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d Romig, Rollo (15 April 2024). "A Video Game Made Out of Brick, Clay and Tenacity". New York Times. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ a b c Ravetto, Marco (September 2018). "Harold Halibut: A Space Adventure Built Entirely By Hand". The Games Machine. No. 357. pp. 24–5.
- ^ a b c d "Harold Halibut". Edge. No. 359. July 2021. pp. 50–51.
- ^ Zweizen, Zack (23 August 2016). "Harold Halibut's Handmade World is a Celebration of Vintage Animation". Kill Screen. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ a b Wilson, Mark (7 June 2017). "Making An Unbelievably Gorgeous Stop-Motion Video Game". Fast Company. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ Famularo, Jessica (8 August 2016). "Harold Halibut Combines Video Games and Handicrafts". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ a b Chalk, Andy (1 December 2023). "Harold Halibut is a handmade 'stop-motion aesthetic' adventure about friendship and home in a giant spaceship trapped beneath an alien sea". PC Gamer. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ a b Wallace, Mitch (5 July 2017). "Stop Motion Inspired Adventure Game 'Harold Halibut' Is On Kickstarter And It Looks Incredible". Forbes. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ a b Chalk, Andy (22 March 2024). "Harold Halibut, the stop-motion-style story about life at the bottom of an alien ocean, gets a big new trailer and an April release date". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
- ^ a b "Harold Halibut (PC)". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b "Harold Halibut (PS5)". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b "Harold Halibut (XBX)". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Harold Halibut". Edge. No. 397. June 2024. p. 108.
- ^ Tapsell, Chris (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut review - sub-aquatic sci-fi adventure is a little too prog-rock". Eurogamer. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d Bishop, Rollin (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut review: "A charming and ambitious handmade sci-fi adventure"". GamesRadar. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ Indovina, Kurt (17 April 2024). "Harold Halibut Review - Lost In Its Own Deep Sea". GameSpot. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ Ogilvie, Tristan (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut Review". IGN. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ Lago, Yago (19 April 2024). "Análisis de Harold Halibut, un delicioso stop motion que apabulla con su artesanía, dedicado a una pobre aventura". MeriStation (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ Tagliaferri, Simone (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut, la recensione di una toccante esperienza sviluppata in dieci anni". Multiplayer.it (in Italian). Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d Bueno, Daniel (15 April 2024). "Review: Harold Halibut Is a Modern Fable About Connection". Siliconera. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ Tiraxa (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut Review". Jeuxvideo.com. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ Goldberg, Harold (22 April 2024). "Game Reviews: Vibrant African Myths and an Undersea Satire". New York Times. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ Pelliccio, Meg (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut Review - I Wanna Be Where The Flumylum Are". TheGamer. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ a b Castle, Katharine (21 March 2024). "Harold Halibut is very hard to enjoy when everyone's so openly passive aggressive toward you". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ Rowe, Willa (15 April 2024). "Harold Halibut: The Kotaku Review". Kotaku. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "Harold Halibut – A Handmade Adventure Game". Deutscher Entwicklerpreis. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "German Developer Award 2017 Winner: "The Surge" is best German game". Games Wirtschaft (in German). 7 December 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "Slow Bros. - Harold Halibut". Kultur-Kreativ Pilotennen Deutschland (in German). 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "Cultural and creative pilot for Slow Bros. with "Harold Halibut"". Film Und Medien Stiftung NRW. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ ""Kultur- und Kreativpiloten Award 2019" to Two KISD Graduates". Köln International School of Design. 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "SFFFF20222 Award-Winners". Frozen Film Festival. 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "Indie Cup Germany'23 winners are finally here – meet the best upcoming German indie games". Games Press (Press release). IndieCup. 16 August 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "Harold Halibut". Indie Cup. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "Harold Halibut". Tribeca Film. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ Morton, Lauren (11 June 2021). "Eight narrative games revealed new trailers at the Tribeca Film Festival". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "Slamdance Announces Full 2022 Lineup". Slamdance. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
- ^ "Games Amsterdam". Kaboom Animation Festival. 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2024.