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Moonglow Bay has my hooks, ropes and sinkers

I don't know much about fishing, but neither does the protagonist of Moonlight Bay. Although their last name is Fisher, the person you live in this fishing simulator is not a professional angler, so the protagonist and the player will learn all about bait, fishing line and fishing rod at the same time.

In Moonlight Bay, you are a middle-aged partner of a former angler who mysteriously disappears in the waters around the town. In the past three years, you have spent your knees deep in abandoned instant noodle containers, which is a sign of deep depression. Moonglow Bay is also struggling. The buildings are sealed with wooden planks and the fishery trade fails. All this is because the whole town is afraid of water. However, when your daughter River returns from university, you wake up from fear and decide to learn the art of fishing to commemorate your lost lover and help Moonglow Bay restore its former glory. 

Moonglow Bay is gloomy and sweet, and sometimes it will bring tears to your eyes, while others will laugh sincerely. Sometimes, it can be a little frustrating, occasionally unstable control or strange movement failures will wake you up from relaxation and remind you that this is indeed a game. But when it's not frustrating, Moonglow Bay is a cute fishing and cooking simulator about love, loss and learning new things-and how you can accomplish all of them no matter how old you are.

Release Date: October 26, 2021 Platform: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC Developer: Bunnyhug Games Publisher: Coatsink

Moonlight Bay is beautiful. The voxel art style is charming and unique, giving you ample opportunities to "squeeze" square-headed raccoons or cute square seals. Simple rotating lines dance on the screen to indicate that wind and ocean currents are represented by various polygons. There are many beautiful little details that will make you happy, such as the bright light of the morning sun coming in from the kitchen window when preparing fish tacos at 9am, or the voxel version of the fish you only see indoors-hanging down Game log on the fishing line. The visual effects are accompanied by a beautiful soundtrack, which surrounds you like a warm audio hug-I especially like the lively string score, which will sound whenever a fish hooks your fishing line. 

The story of Moonglow Bay is as beautiful as its AV. The residents of this town hardly know who your character is, and it's touching to see them opening up to her more and more (you can choose your character's pronouns at the beginning of the game). Moonglow Bay obviously used to be a lively town full of anglers and seafood, but just like your character, its life is better. The fact that the protagonist and the town improve at the same time is a good lesson for overcoming depression and finding a new life in middle age.

Every citizen will tell you new fish that you should pay attention to or specific seafood dishes they want to eat, so that your diary will have more entries and more recipes to test. Use various fishing rods and baits, nets or lobster traps to get to the surface to catch fish with relative ease. Fishing in Moonglow Bay is quite easy mechanically-harder than Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but easier than Red Dead Redemption 2. You just need good timing and the ability to pull the lead in the right direction-if only fishing IRL is that easy.

When you are not fishing in the open ocean, you will stay in a lovely house where the trustworthy dog ​​muffins are standing and making delicious meals. The cooking aspect can become a bit boring, because you need to do some of the same quick activities or mini-games to complete the food-but when you unlock new ways to make larger batches or a new knife to make fish fillets easier, cooking techniques Become fresh again.

Cooking and fishing will help you make more money (or shells), this is how you restore Moonlight Bay. You can sell your food on a small vending machine outside your house, or do some side business for the locals that can earn you more shells. These shells can be used to repair buildings around towns and help reopen the sea market. Shells can also help support your boat to protect it in icy waters. But there are other mysterious things happening in Moonlight Bay... It's up to you to decide. 

From the beginning, it was obvious that Moonlight Bay was somewhat dangerous. Your partner is not the only one who gets lost in the sea, so the citizens continue the myth of monsters in the depths of the ocean. But are they really myths? I met my first boss very early, a huge whale hovering in a hidden lake with a harpoon embedded on its back. Although when I used my fishing rod to trap and pull the harpoon from the boat, it bumped and damaged my boat, but it was obviously not a vicious creature that wanted to kill seamen. When I pulled out the last fishing rod, this beautiful creature jumped out of the water and dived into the water again. River wanted to know if it was thanking us for our help. Helping whales is not only good for your soul. After that, the citizens feel safer when entering the water, and the sea market is open again, giving you the opportunity to buy new bait, learn new recipes, and if you can’t go out, you can catch some fresh fish to prepare and fish that day. 

Moonglow Bay balances fishing and cooking simulation with more dramatic boss encounters, easily switching back and forth between them. After helping the whales, I got three new fishing rods from expert anglers in the town and asked me to sail with each of them to a new area to fish. There, I met a square-headed fish named Dave and caught enough bay ripples to make a lot of fish and chips. But when I set sail to complete these tasks, the score became ominous and it started to rain-this is a warning of a storm gathering, which will inevitably lead to another boss fight. 

The monster and its impact on Moonglow Bay town is a fascinating story that will truly give you roots in this fictional town. With every new fish I caught, the building I upgraded, and the recipe I hand-delivered to a quirky little Canadian, I felt that I liked Moonglow Bay more and more. This is a place I really want to go, if it is true-I will spend a winter wearing a fisherman's sweater, while listening to the citizens singing the sea shack, while faintly smelling the smell of haddock.

Unfortunately, due to a strange malfunction in that whale fight, my Moonglow Bay progressed slowly. But I can't stop thinking about the direction of the story. While writing this article, I found myself typing and humming a little fisherman's song. Moonglow Bay must have caught me in the net, and it may also catch you. If you have an Xbox Game Pass, you can enjoy it for free. What a problem. 

Moonglow Bay will be available on PC, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One on October 26.

Have you ever tried to solve puzzles like a flexible two-headed dog without legs in Phogs?

Alyssa Mercante is an editor and contributing writer for GamesRadar based in Brooklyn, New York. Before entering this industry, she obtained a master's degree in modern and contemporary literature from Newcastle University, with a thesis focusing on contemporary independent games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooting games and in-depth role-playing games, and recently discussed the best bars in video games in the PAX group. In his spare time, Alyssa saves cats, practices Italian and plays football.

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