Harold Halibut

Steam Reviews

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• Not recommended Posted December 31, 2025 on Steam This game is like having someone give you a beautifully wrapped gift. You take the gift, which has an odd shape and weight, and now that you have it you see that they've hand painted the wrapping paper. This must be something special so you start to open it only for the person to stop you. The oddly shaped and somewhat nice looking box IS the gift, you thought there was more inside but no, just a nice looking odd box. Not what you were expecting, probably not what you want. You can appreciate the effort, but can't help feeling that you would have preferred that effort went into a more interesting and/or useful item inside, instead of just pretty wrapping. That's a hell of an analogy but it's difficult to get across how frustrating this game is. If you like diving into a new world, learning about it and losing yourself to it, stay away from this. There is no depth or thought, and it feels deliberately empty. The story is lethargic and depressing, I've seen other people describe it as comfy, but no, at least not for me. While the story was depressing, it was also barely present so that didn't matter much. I don't mind games with no gameplay like this, but they need a powerful story and/or characters to carry the player's interest. This has no gameplay, makes fun of you for wanting to know the story, and every character is a sleepy version of tired archetypes. I escpecially hate the "Is science smart so therefore is terrible at social skills" characters. It is a shame, beacuse a lot of effort clearly went in, but only to the visuals. No gameplay, no story, no characters, no fun.
• Not recommended Posted December 14, 2025 on Steam Overall I liked the game's aesthetics and soundtrack. The story is also actually quite good and the experience is really great towards the end. Since I was overall happy with it after reaching the end, I would have given a positive review, however, there are quite a bunch of pain points that, I realized, I have way more to write about than the actual good stuff. So I've elected to write this review as a kind of "case study in game design", first for myself with what I've learned with this experience, and second for anyone willing to read this, including (hopefully) the devs. First the positive: the parts that received the most attention from the devs were really, actually good. The visuals, the short montages, the music. When these hit, I was like "OK, I see what you wanted to express, it's great. Good stuff". Not spoiling anything, suffice to say they left me satisfied with the game and almost made me forget what a pain it was to get there. So the issue is, to get to the good stuff, you have to be VERY patient. I would summarize it like this: the game doesn't fully exploit its own strengths but more importantly, doesn't respect your time. The biggest pain point is that you spend most your time going from point A to point B by just walking, which, in terms of experience, is equivalent to an interactive loading screen : you are not really DOING anything. You're just moving your joystick, interacting with some menus and visiting places you will see dozens of times. [h3]Quest design[/h3] - All quests are fetch quests - There is nothing to do on the way; nothing is interactible and there is nothing to collect, discover, or really explore. - Quests sometimes don't tell you where to go. I get it, immersion. But like, you literally have a few quests where it is written "where could that be??". So I am supposed to go around, check every corner, and talk to everyone, maybe all for nothing if I end up missing the real thing? No, when that happens, I search on the internet for the solution. As mentioned, the game will not reward you for all that time you spend searching. - In some sequences you are literally forced to walk slowly, as the game wants to show you something (like "how beautiful the scenery is" or "how impactful this moment is"). But like, most of the time, you "get it" after 3 seconds. There is really no need to make such sequences drag on for that long. There are surely other alternatives to get your point across much more efficiently. I doesn't feel deep, it just feels forced : "OK the devs want me to take it very slow as if they were afraid I wouldn't fully appreciate the time they spent on this". [h3]"Mood"[/h3] - Most of the time there is no music, just a vague ambient sound. Makes it a bit gloomy and depressing. - There is only a single immutable story line. This makes all "optional" stuff not worth spending time on (unless you like to extra dialogue). - Choices have no consequences, which goes hand-in-hand with the previous bullet point. - Interactions with NPCs don't pay off. You get some dialogue and a bit of animations, but it never feels like it goes in any interesting direction. Sometimes big topics are evoked but then never elaborated further upon. - There are jokes and fun moments but the way they are delivered doesn't make them as fun as they could be. It's the kind that may make you smile slightly but you forget about it 3 seconds later. I have no idea how this could be improved. Perhaps if accompanied by exceptional animations or situations it would have worked. - Some gameplay sequences are basically [spoiler]"here's a music track; we'll play it to the end while you're interacting with a glorified loading screen. This is so profound and artsy"[/spoiler]. - [spoiler]One of the character's death was presented as a big deal, but I've barely even talked to him, and the story doesn't make him important, so it barely has the intended impact.[/spoiler] Which is a shame, because it had a lot of potential to be a very impactful moment. [spoiler]Don't get me started on the constellation of him winking at the very end which ruined the mood by making me burst out of laughter for how ass it was[/spoiler] - [spoiler]Weeoo and the Flumylym[/spoiler] basically carry this game. Along with the main hub's look-and-feel, the nice art direction, and the story, they are almost the only new/interesting thing that makes this game appealing, IMO. [h3]General design[/h3] - The Central Station is a design mistake, one I hope everyone can learn from. It's because of it that you often have to [spoiler]go through 2 loading screens instead of 1, even though there is practically no reason for it being the way it is. After all, the point of All Water is to get you anywhere from anywhere else instantly. Was it really necessary to inflict the extra load time on players? It sure isn't.[/spoiler]. But then again, if there was anything actually interesting to do or see there, it could have changed everything. - The puzzles are a joke, so much so that they might ALSO be considered interactive loading screens as well. Let's forget about the last one where [spoiler]an NPC literally guides you step by step because you're dealing with an obscure UI that was designed this way[/spoiler]. [h3]Conclusion[/h3] This game's flaws boil down to a very simple principle: think about what the player will be DOING most of the time in your game, and what is there that makes it interesting or motivating. And if not DOING, then what they're WATCHING or CONSUMING. Maybe the intent WAS to make you feel like Harold, doing pointless and boring stuff that never even attempts to stimulate you in any way, but the problem with that is, in real life, people have limited free time, and if you make decisions that lead them to essentially waste it, don't be surprised if they get angry or stop playing with your product. And I have to apologize, but glorified loading screens ARE a waste of time. There is nothing interesting going on when I'm just tilting the joystick and moving around, during those moments I might as well be taking a nap or doing literally anything else. To prevent this, you're supposed to provide engagement : either elements that require the player's active contribution, or a consistent stream of story beats. This does NOT mean "design for short-attention-span TikTok kids", it just means "give us something to consume or play with". The only reason I came back all those times to finish this game, is that I wanted to see how it ends and be done with it. That is a failure : what I was supposed to be thinking was "oh I can't wait to see what will happen next in the story and how I'll contribute to it". The same feeling that makes you rush back to a book to finish it. There are techniques to achieve that, and whether or not Harold Halibut truly considered them, it didn't work, at least for me. This is unfortunate because there are some really great parts and I love seeing this kind of art project succeed. Honestly, if they trimmed the fat and made it into a shorter, more focused experience, I think I would have 100% recommended it. But with all the flaws listed above, I cannot do so in good faith. Regardless, I wish best of luck to Slow Bros if they ever continue working on similar projects and congratulate them for shipping a game that, despite its flaws, left me satisified by the end, and did feel like it was made with care.
• Not recommended Posted October 20, 2025 on Steam I really wish there was something in between "yes" and "no" on Steam, because this is really the lightest "not recommended" I can manage. It looks and sounds lovely, and the tone is sweet, but there is just nothing here. The plot plods along as slowly as Harold himself shuffles through the hallways of the ship, to a disappointingly predictable outcome. Only in the end does it start to open up into something quite beautiful, but you earn it with too many chores and fetch quests. This game marked the first time in my 35 years of gaming that I literally fell asleep with a controller in my hand. There are great walking simulators and visual novels where you do nothing in particular as far as gameplay goes--Kentucky Route Zero comes to mind--but those games had something special that this game just doesn't. It's a shame that the game gives you this incredible visual sensibility, but makes you wish it would just be over already.
• Recommended Posted March 23, 2026 on Steam I recommend going into it not expecting to play a game, but perhaps to watch a anthropology in claymation. It's offbeat, alternative, and slow to the point that you might accidentally slip into a coma at times. The art and the voice acting are fantastic. It's really really well made and will surprise you with one or two absolute diamond moments that make you feel something. Those moments have stuck with me 2 years after playing it. If for nothing else, it was worth playing for that.
• Recommended Posted September 4, 2025 on Steam I really do truly appreciate the art, atmosphere and genuineness of the story. There are so many beautiful shots, and moments of serene ambiance that give so much life to the world of this game. The story feels extremely empathetic as it explores humanity's quest for meaning all alone in space, on the grand scale of a species, and on the small interpersonal scale. Harold's story I think is a very melancholic one--not an overtly tragic one, he has friends who care for him, but that doesn't always make you feel like you belong. I think the game expresses growing pains and how difficult change is very sharply. By the end of the game as the screen fades away into the ocean I couldn't help but feel sad. The ending itself was not sad, but change is scary, and the choices to move yourself out of your comfort zone are hard and lasting ones. There's always a grieving process when you take your life in a new direction.
• Not recommended Posted January 2, 2026 on Steam [h1]Sights & Sounds[/h1] [h3]This is the good part[/h3] [list] [*] Whatever negative aspects color my opinion of the rest of the game, I'd at least like to take a little time to appreciate the presentation [*] Stop-motion is a ridiculously time-consuming, tedious way to put together an animation, let alone an entire piece of interactive media. The amount of patience and dedication it must have taken to animate every character and setting is immense [*] Speaking of settings, you'll have to endure a bit of [i]Harold Halibut[/i]'s tedium before you get to the good stuff. Most of the early game is set within the confined quarters of the parts of the All Water ship that Harold is permitted to access. It's not until the plot progresses a bit that the backdrops and locales really kick off [*] The soundtrack helps enhance the stellar presentation with its cinematic, emotionally varied allure. The mysterious and moody passages are usually paired with trip hop drums and synth. Pensive moments are underlaid with orchestral strings, woodwinds, and piano. Happier sequences even get upbeat, jazzy tunes [*] There's even a little licensed music here and there. The use of BADBADNOTGOOD and Samuel T. Herring's [i]Time Moves Slow[/i] was an inspired choice; its bittersweet, soulful sound and lyrical content were employed perfectly [*] The voicework feels strange. Everyone talks like they're in a Saturday morning children's show rather than a retrofuturistic Cold War melodrama. The mixing is also pretty rough at times. Harry has a soft voice that's sometimes barely audible over the other audio [/list] [h1]Story & Vibes[/h1] [h3]Twelve hour kid's movie[/h3] [list] [*] Although the bulk of the story comes off as a heartfelt, almost charming DreamWorks-like animated feature from the early 00s, the backstory is especially good [*] Smack dab in the middle of the Cold War, with the spectre of being glassed in a thermonuclear apocalypse hanging over everyone's heads, the All Water Corporation decides to round up the best crew they can and blast off into space in search of a new home before doomsday clock inevitably ticks over to midnight [*] Centuries pass before the Fedora finally reaches its destination: the planet tabbed to the new human homeworld. Unfortunately, solar storms lead to the ship making a splashdown landing before sinking. And that's where you as Harold, the ship's janitor and handyman, come in [*] The rest of the story? Take the arithmetic mean of [i]Pocahontas[/i] and [i]The Shape of Water[/i] then subtract a constant to dial it back to a G rating. You'll more or less have the gist of it then [*] If this were a 90-105 minute animated kid's movie, I would have enjoyed myself in spite of being slightly confused by the man-fish romantic B story. Unfortunately, with all the tedious gameplay thrown in, [i]Harold Halibut[/i] doesn't live up to the exciting backstory [/list] [h1]Playability & Replayability[/h1] [h3]Time thief[/h3] [list] [*] Does enduring fetch quests and delivering messages for a dozen hours while a plot unfolds around you sound fun? No? Well, you're in for a rough time, then [*] In some ways, I almost respect the unrelentingly slow pace. It's the antithesis of the disposability and brevity embodying much modern content, whether it be text, video, or interactive in nature [*] Unfortunately, the game doesn't fill that additional time it takes from you with anything worthwhile. Just watching Harold shamble slowly from place to place looking like morose Clay-drian Brody while checking objectives off a list [*] There's really not much else to say. I guess you could argue that there are a few puzzles littered here and there, but as long as you're paying attention, none of them should take much thought [/list] [h1]Overall Impressions & Performance[/h1] [h3]Just get on with it[/h3] [list] [*] I guess if you wanted to boil this review down to just the highlights: the presentation is excellent, the plot is pretty good, the writing is mediocre, the pacing is abysmal, and the gameplay is virtually non-existent [*] There's nothing wrong with a game that takes its time to tell a story. The number of 60+ hour RPGs with stellar reviews is testament to that fact. But if a game fails to fill that extra time it takes from you with anything meaningful, then the playthrough feels wasted [/list] [h1]Final Verdict[/h1] [b]3.0[/b]/10. With a faster pace, this would at least be a mediocre game. With better gameplay, it might even be a good one. But as it stands, I wouldn't be willing to recommend this to most story game enjoyers unless you have an excessive amount of time to kill