Luna's Fishing Garden | Nintendo Switch Review.

Publishers: Coldwild Games, AbsoDev

Developers: illufinch, Coldwild Games

Nintendo Switch Review

Todays review (a short one) is for a charming little game called Luna's Fishing Garden which centers around a young girl named Cassie swept away to a mysterious island where she meets a fox spirit named Luna who tasks her with the job of creating a beautiful garden just for her and in return she will help Cassie get home. Can Cassie find her way home by trading items and creating a dream garden for Luna?

Exploring the Unknown:

Cassie first needs a boat to clear away what the storm has left behind, Luna is kind enough to provide her with an adorable leaf boat which ironically holds enough rubbish to bring back to Luna to sell, in return she gives you leaves which act as currency in this world. Not only can you use this currency to unlock the lighthouse but it can also be used to purchase plants and other animals to grow Lunas garden further and bring it to life. The main mechanics of the game is collect, sell and create, the more money you have the more plants and animals you can add to the garden, plants will need time to grow as will any supplies you place in the water.

Luna isn't the only resident that dwells in this mysterious place there are several more spirits that need your help and will happily help you in return, for example, Jellybean the seal needs fish so will give you a fishing rod in return for fish from what he calls fishing tours, you can pay him to eventually upgrade it. At times you will be at a standstill with this task until you have lifted the fog by upgrading the lighthouse, this is why money is such a big part of the game, the more you have the more the player is able to accomplish but making money will take time.

Manage your money well and the leaves will start rolling in, the great thing about the plants and animals you add to the garden is that they work together, birds will collect supplies from other plants for you and a little house which homes two capybara who will automatically collect supplies you have planted in the water and sell for you helping your money grow. Having this meant I could concentrate on the tasks given to me by the characters within the garden once each section of fog had been lifted, although this does take time the game is fairly short yet still the perfect length to keep players from getting burnout from repetitiveness which  can be annoying for some.

Fish Your Heart out:

There was no way I could talk about a fishing game without going into how it works, fishing will always be the one thing in games I hate, it took me a long time to get better at it in Stardew Valley which happens to be the hardest form of Fishing i've played. Why do I mention this? Luna's Fishing Garden version of fishing is nearly exactly the same as Stardew Valley, the difference is you can slow it down or switch to a relaxing fishing mode, instead of challenging fishing mode, considering this is suppose to be a cosy game i decided to stick with a relaxing mode, no way will I rage quit over not being able to catch a fish.. again.

Being able to change the fishing modes takes nothing away from your gameplay, it just gives players a choice of how they choose to play which I like, it means the developers understand the frustration from other games and took it into consideration. I'm not sure how accessible it will make it though, even in relaxing mode there were times I missed the mark and lost a fish but having the option to slow the fishing down will be a great tool to help those with slow reaction times. There are 20 fish to find and collect, Jellybean will task you to either find fish from one spot or row across the map too find several different ones from different locations.

Upgrade and Expand:

I found the lack of space at the start a little annoying until I discovered being able to upgrade not only my inventory but also, my boat, fishing rod and unlocking a feature where I could float from one piece of land to the other with balloons. It was such a random little feature but was nice for slowing down and checking on how the supplies were doing without having to get into my boat. The cool little quirk they added was standing at the end of land and calling your boat back so you won't need to float all the way back to where your boat was.

A Sense of Accomplishment:

After completing all my tasks, lifting the fog and creating a new garden for Luna I felt like I had done a good job, it was a pleasure to play and never felt like it needed more substance it had the right amount of content to itch that cosy scratch for me, it's a great game to unwind with. Even the music stuck in my head, the tracklist consists of 5 different soundtracks and Jellybean was my favourite (he was my favourite character too), i've listened to the soundtrack non stop since I stopped playing which you can listen to below:

Have a cosy day

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