Fishing, a relaxing time for some, a stressful time for others. This is a patient man’s hobby. Yet, a lot of people who aren’t patient go out and fish, some even competitively. I grew up going fishing with my dad but I was never able to sit there like he was and patiently wait for a fish to grab his bait so he could reel it in and catch it. We normally fished at a lake, but some people out there can fish in a bay, just like in the game by developers over at Bunnyhug, Moonglow Bay
There has been a surge of farming /life RPG games in recent years. Games like Stardew Valley, Forager, Graveyard Keeper, and My Time at Portia all fit in this category, and all have their unique styles and takes on the genre. Moonglow Bay is no different. This game however takes on the world of fishing instead of farming.
In Moonglow Bay, you play as an older character, he/she/they are trying to reignite their want and desire to fish after their partner, he/she/they, disappear on a fishing trip. The fact that at the beginning of the game before you can start playing, it has this kind of acceptance and awareness to know that not everyone identifies the same way, and you may even have a partner that’s the same way surprised me. Some time passes and your character is shown to have gone down a hole of depression with your house looking like a wreck with Chinese food cartons everywhere. You hear a knocking at the door, and you go downstairs to answer where you also find a dog that you can indeed pet. It’s your character’s daughter who has returned home to help Moonglow Bay. She reminds you of a gift that your character’s partner gave you and it is revealed to be a fishing book to record fish and recipes in. This book works as your menu screen to find your objectives and other info stated before. Seeing this gets your character willing to get back out there and fish and sell like they used to. This is done through fishing on the shore or your boat. The fishing itself is very interesting and a little difficult at first, but you can get around it early on and get a lot of fish. This game does have a day-night cycle that affects fish and the characters you interact with. Now, I played this on PC using a keyboard and mouse, not a controller. The controls on the keyboard were hard to remember and had some weird button combos that stretched your hand out and tangled your fingers. After you catch said fish, you can then go back to your house and cook them in a little minigame that changes depending on your recipe. The controls here for the keyboard were also a bit weird and clunky. After you cook them, you put them outside your house in a vending machine or your food storage been that you have. This is the main gameplay loop you follow, doing this to make money and complete quests. The game has a lot to do in it and a lot of characters that are helpful and nice too since your character’s past is so unfortunate. They will sell you certain items that you need to get certain fish. There is an aquarium that you can give fish to, something your partner did before they disappeared.
Moonglow Bay has a great concept with some good storytelling. Yet, even with this, the controls hold back people wanting to play on a keyboard. The UI of the game has the setup of a controller’s button system and is obvious when you are fishing. There are also a few bugs, some that are just graphical that don’t affect the game and feel like they come from the specific art style of the game. Other glitches completely break the game, the ones I ran into was during the fishing tutorial, the game would lock up if you missed the button timing and the other was when you get the net, it somehow got stuck in the sand and there was no way to get out of it without closing the game down completely.
This kind of game is a welcome change to the farming/life RPG genre. If you are a player that enjoys fishing in games, then this is the game for you because it’s all fishing, all the time. Moonglow Bay is overall a fun, relaxing game, but it struggles with controls, game-breaking bugs, and glitches that can ruin the game.
