What makes a video game a video game? It can feature button-mashing action, nuanced strategy, or head-splitting puzzles. In short, it's based on interactivity that gives you agency; otherwise, it's just a movie. This is where Harold Halibut ($34.99) from developer Slow Bros. challenges video game conventions. This offbeat adventure game for the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S features impressive art design, big ideas, and memorable characters, but it lacks the robust interactive elements to keep most people playing until the end credits.
(Credit: Slow Bros/PCMag)Gameplay: Not for Everyone
Harold Halibut follows the titular janitor/handyman/gofer on the Fedora I, an interstellar ark that left Earth at the height of the Cold War to find a safer planet for humanity. Hundreds of years later, it crashes into an ocean planet and exists as an undersea settlement. The All Water Corporation controls most everyday aspects, including public transit and scientific research.
Harold is a simple man who is given simple chores. He's surrounded by scientific geniuses who don't appreciate him, and he struggles to find a meaningful role for himself. The mundanity of his life spills over into the narrative-focused gameplay.
Most of your time is spent going from point A to point B to give someone an object or ask them a question. It's really dull stuff, but the genius here is that it all feels intentional. Just as I was beginning to grow tired of the "work" I had to put in, Harold mentioned how he resents the meaningless chores he's given. He's bored—yeah, me too!
Playing on the Xbox Series S, you use the joystick to move around, the A button to interact with points of interest, and the Y button to open your PDA. This device tracks tasks, receives messages, and holds Harold's drawings of special events (like his night spent in the ship's duct system or the time he found the captain's missing pet bird). The left trigger button lets you zoom in on items for a closer look. That's it. Adventure games don't normally come with an advanced feature set, but Harold Halibut feels slim even by those standards.
(Credit: Slow Bros/PCMag)Things open up a bit once Harold comes across an aquatic alien lifeform and The All Water Corporation's machinations are revealed—but not by much. There are no enemies to defeat or puzzles to solve. The development team seems more interested in telling a linear narrative. There are a few interactive gameplay moments—clean this graffiti, plug in these cables—but they're few and far between, and not much of a challenge.
Making a game purposely tedious is bold, but not unheard of. Playing Harold Halibut reminds me of how my colleague Jordan Minor talks about No More Heroes (2007). That game features a barren open world and menial jobs you must grind to progress the story. It's a commentary on features that were becoming industry standards.
Harold Halibut makes you experience the blandness of life on the Fedora I by inspiring you to do almost anything else than keep playing. It's probably not a design choice that most people will enjoy, but it's a fascinating way to experience a story. Despite the lack of gameplay, Harold Halibut kept me hooked.
(Credit: Slow Bros/PCMag)Graphics: This Sea Is Brimming With Life
Can a game have enough charm to overcome what it lacks? That's hard to pull off, but in this case, yes.
Slow Bros. spent over a decade designing this stop-motion adventure game. The team built miniature sets, digitized the assets, and recreated everything inside the game world. Slow Bros. also employed cinematic camera work and an offbeat tone, making you wonder if this could've been a film. The end result is something closer to a Wallace and Gromit short than the latest AAA release or pixel-art indie, helping it stand out in a crowded industry. If you played the 2019 adventure game Trüberbrook, then you're familiar with this style.
The handmade quality brings a "physical" element to Fedora I's world that most other titles can't replicate. Characters, rooms, and items feel like they take up real space, even though they're digital. It's the equivalent of watching a film that uses practical effects after seeing nothing but big-budget CGI for a prolonged period. The style is something different, artistic, and intentional, and it enhances the storytelling language.
On top of that, memorable characters (featuring a cast of excellent voice actors) make Harold Halibut a production that's hard to dismiss. Throughout the game, you converse with numerous Fedora I inhabitants and become involved in their personal and professional lives.
(Credit: Slow Bros/PCMag)There's Chris, the beefy teacher who always has a profound statement and a hearty laugh. You spend time with Buddy, the elderly-yet-active postman, who jogs around the station and shares his sense of duty toward the people onboard. You'll meet three identical All Water secretaries—all brothers—and learn about their secret fourth sibling who they no longer discuss. And then there's Zoya, the ship's captain-at-large, who has never actually flown the ship and ponders the meaning of his role on a vessel that can't take off.
The people and places kept me coming back for more. Despite the rudimentary gameplay, I was invested. Eventually, the cyclical nature of performing tasks, going to bed, and then performing tasks again felt like a fulfilling gameplay loop on par with Animal Crossing: New Horizons or Hades (minus the incredible combat). By the time I hit the credits, I was sad to say goodbye to these characters. That's a victory itself that not many pieces of media—video game or otherwise—can manage these days.
(Credit: Slow Bros/PCMag)Undersea and Undercooked
Being a game that feels like it's "bad" on purpose doesn't make it immune to legitimate criticism. Despite developer Suda51's intentions in No More Heroes, I still found it too clumsy and obnoxious to bother unlocking the game's true ending.
Harold Halibut is a different type of game, but its edges are still rough. The worst thing a game can be is boring, and Harold Halibut is constantly fighting with that issue. The surrealist sequences (and great offbeat soundtrack from the game's director, Onat Hekimoglu) take the edge off a bit.
However, the developer's seeming reluctance to commit to the bit was disappointing. Although the game's first chapter is filled with overly tedious gameplay sections, Harold Halibut abandons these tasks as the game progresses. By Chapter 2, it fades to black to avoid long trips back to bed, and days and weeks are skipped in order to cover the passage of time.
The game's second half moves with a lightning-fast pace, features meaningless gameplay segments, and contains multiple instances where it skips potential interactivity just to get to the end. Harold Halibut clocks in at a bewildering 15 hours long, due to what feels like content cut from the last few chapters.
Verdict: Harold Halibut Is Big on Story, Not Much Else
Harold Halibut is billed as an adventure game, but it's really something closer to a third-person walking simulator or interactive narrative. However, with enough patience, you may find that there is an artistic vision at work that shouldn't be ignored. Better pacing, even a passing interest in gameplay elements, and a true commitment to its offbeat trappings would have turned Harold Halibut into an instant classic. Instead, we're left with something that is simply flawed and charming.
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