Review: Moonglow Bay

Moonglow Bay is a relaxed fishing adventure exploration cooking game, set in the 1980s in an Eastern Canadian fishing town. The place was once thriving, but rumours of sea monsters have scared everyone out of the water. Just one year away from its centennial, Moonglow Bay is on the verge of bankruptcy. Also you have a dog called Waffles. Waffles is a good dog. Waffles will follow you everywhere. You can pet Waffles.

It’s a game with an edge to it. It starts in such a happy way. You select your character and your partner from a few options, select your preferred pronouns and away you go. You’re living your dream life. Your partner dreams of a fishing and street food business, your dream is to spend every day with them. Then things take a dark turn. Three years have gone by and you’re on your own, living in a neglected house in a rundown town. Your adult daughter arrives and helps inspire you to start restoring Moonglow Bay. So begins a new era of fishing, cooking, selling, upgrading you boat and upgrading your town. You can have such a relaxing time doing that the hours will drift by.

The blocky graphics suit the feel of the game so well. The way the boat emits cubes from the chimney as you chug along is perfect, as are the seals you come across on the icy sections. The whole game has a happy feel which will keep you coming back.

The fishing is simple enough to begin with and eases you in gently, but opens up to more skill and tactics as the game progresses and you start looking for rare fish. You can get bait from the beach with your net, which allows you to catch better fish. It’s not like the Stardew Valley fishing experience, think more Animal Crossing. There’s also a local Co-op mode so if you have a friend nearby you can enjoy some fishing together.

Cooking is a series of mini game quick time events. Wash the fish, chop it, fry or bake it. You can upgrade so you can cook more in a batch for more profits to help with the town renovations. The more things you cook, the more experienced you become so more recipes open up. You can also buy recipes from the market, once you’ve got it open and running again. If Moonglow Bay gets the attention it deserves, I’m sure in a few weeks there will guides online about which fish and recipes earn you the most money for the least effort. Until then you’ll have to work that out on your own.

Your character admits they don’t know that much about fishing, so they make rough notes whenever they catch something new. If you take them to the aquarium, fish life expert Marina can give you more detailed information. It was a highlight when I found out a particular fish was called a Sugar Cube Guppy and not the name it had been given in my notebook. I’ll let you find out what it was called for yourself.

By now, you might be very tempted to buy Moonglow Bay. I will give you a warning though. Remember the monsters in the sea? To progress the game, you must encounter them in something that is best described as a boss fight. You are helping them so it keeps that peaceful feel which runs through the game, but they’re not what you would call relaxed times. You don’t get to rebuild much of the town if you don’t want to do these sections so you can’t ignore them forever. I’m sure the collective Moonglow Bay gaming community will work out the easy way to complete these boss fight moments, but if you aren’t into the tense, dramatic gaming sections you may not enjoy these so much. Also remember how I said Waffles the dog was always by your side? Waffles sits on the deck, and you can find yourself getting the option to pet Waffles or becoming stuck behind him with particular camera angles when you were trying to cast your fishing rod quickly. Maybe Waffles would be happier in the cabin, out of the way. It can be frustrating, and I might have expected an Easy difficulty level option to be available. I have completed the first two so if you are very stuck you could ask me for tips – I feel like it’s the sort of game where people might form a supportive community like that.

Some minor boss fight misgivings aside, Moonglow Bay is a great game. You’ll know if it is the sort of thing that appeals to you, and if it is you should definitely have a look. Moonglow Bay could be your new favourite game. It’s more comforting than a hot drink and a blanket on a rainy day. Moonglow bay is like a big hug in the form of a game. You’ll probably love it.

Moonglow Bay releases on 26th October for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One Consoles, Xbox Game Pass for Console, Xbox Game Pass for PC, and Steam. Epic Games Store will release on November 11th and is priced at £19.99/$24.99 USD/€24.99 SRP across all platforms.