A bug catching game with a stylish design and great atmosphere.
I filled in the constellations of all the last creatures and looked up into the sky. Is this salvation? Is this victory? Is this the end of Paradise Marsh? In fact, it was primarily the end of the new game Paradise Marsh, created by developer LazyEti. It’s not a long game, as we hit the credits in a matter of hours, but it’s a focused game that offers a snack-sized experience with a great balance of playfulness, engagement, and meditativeness.
From a first-person perspective, roam a procedurally-generated world complete with bugnets. Your main goal is to catch bugs and critters, but the details and objectives don’t quite match up at first. is to The way the world is generated is novel. It is presented as infinity. Walking in one direction will keep you going forever as you see a vague pop-in graphic bring him one of the few visual his biomes to the foreground. Everything is pieced together in a holistic way, bouncing between swamps, rivers and ice floes. I don’t pretend to know the math and science behind procedural generation, but everything fits perfectly once you start exploring the world. You might come across a soccer ball that you can kick, or a mushroom that you can eat to temporarily fly. The goal goes back to collecting these creatures. These creatures have a recurring setting and often make visual noises in the distance to point them in the right direction. Each has its own set of moves and nuances, so there’s a learning curve on how to approach them correctly.
Collecting bugs completes a notebook page. The notebook also sends collected bugs to a monolith that connects to a star when interacted with. Every star has its own bizarre and thoughtful monologue, and once you collect the required amount for a creature, you can draw a constellation to complete the quest. Do this for all creatures and the game is complete. The problem arises in that the later stages can be slog. Collecting the required amount for a creature eliminates the possibility of spawning in a procedurally generated world. It oversimplifies the world, especially since by this point you’ve probably seen all of the playful quirks and interactions surrounded by an area.
Thankfully, Paradise Marsh vibes are off the charts, even when the same thing repeats itself. The atmospheric music of Disasterpeace (Fez, Hyper Light Drifter) is great, and the thick 3D world is stylish and fantastic. Some of the mysterious in-game achievements encourage you to explore the world further than just catching bugs. Your time in this paradise may be short, but it will be memorable and fun.
