Review of Moonglow Bay Switch: fish, new companions, and old sentiments

Our Verdict

While the fishing core of Moonglow Bay might be a little lackluster, and exploration is underwhelming in places, there’s still a good time to be had with this cozy narrative-driven experience that touches on grief, loss, and new beginnings in a way that is almost certain to make your heart stir.

Although the phrase "cozy game" is often used these days, it really fits the description of Moonglow Bay. It has a lovely voxel environment with vibrant inhabitants who are constantly happy to meet you, and it has a pleasant appearance. The pace moseys along like a series of young ducks waddling after their mother, and the mechanics are easy to understand. This activity is essentially similar to a cozy blanket and a bedtime tale. But that's simply generally speaking.

To put things in perspective, independent creator Bunnyhug's game Moonglow Bay was first released on the PC in 2021 with a little assistance from publisher Coatsink. After three years, the Switch port is now available, which seems only fitting considering how many beloved cozy slice-of-life games are available on the system, like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Summer in Mara. Now tell me what you do at Moonglow Bay specifically.

Let's begin with the narrative. You choose your partner character, your character from a selection of four designs, and your respective pronouns before diving right into the triggering action. After relocating from Ontario to Moonglow Bay to pursue your partner's ambition of making a career from fishing, they vanish and are thought to be dead, leaving you and Muffin the dog on your own. Yes, I realize that this is a really depressing introduction to what I have previously called a cozy game, but bear with me. Many years after the disaster, your grown daughter shows up to try to help you rebuild your life. She also wants to help you rebuild Moonglow Bay, which seemed to go to hell when your partner vanished and the fishing community was driven away by tales of sea monsters.

After getting over the opening, the story becomes much more endearing because of your little voxel character doing their hardest to save the kind people of the Bay. Accompanied by your daughter and Muffin, you search for fresh insights into the aquatic life in Moonglow Bay and the world beyond, all the while trying to piece together what could have really happened to your lost love. In an effort to restore the city to its former splendor, you may also raise money for local institutions like the library and Cozy Club and contribute fish to the aquarium. It's charming beyond description, with the rare heart-wrenching moment that resembles a towboat dragging a huge ship across the ocean.

I must commend the creators for giving the player character an advanced age before continuing. Why? Because hardly many games choose to do that, that is. We often see player characters as children, or at least as those too young to go through a midlife crisis, since it seems that most creators are aware that players want to project themselves into in-game characters. Moonglow Bay takes a chance by placing you in the position of someone who has had a tremendous loss and is more world-weary. Although this makes it more difficult to project yourself onto them, it results in a narrative experience that, oddly, seems novel and unique.

Now, let's discuss fishing, which is the main attraction in Moonglow Bay. I think this game's fishing is just too simple. Even though, in a game like this, not everything needs to be unbelievably hard, the fishing feature doesn't seem really satisfying other from the fact that you catch more fish to prepare for the villagers.Worse yet, using the rod is sometimes irksomely unneeded since the alternative method of catching fish—throwing a net—is much simpler and more effective.

I believe that fishing mechanisms in games should be at least somewhat difficult, and if they take center stage, much more so. This may be a contentious stance. Not very difficult, but they need to provide some kind of difficulty. Stardew Valley comes to mind as the finest example. In Stardew, fishing is challenging at first, but it becomes simpler with practice. In actual world, skills function like that. Fishing in Moonglow Bay is mostly simple, save for the rare late-game struggle.

After taking the initial fishing lesson, you may not believe it's that straightforward, but after you learn how to pull at the fishing line with gusto—a.k.a. "striking" in-game—it can be as simple as casting your road and pulling back towards yourself again. The monotony of fishing discouraged me from trying to capture every fish while following the main plot, even though there are more than 100 fish to catch to complete the aquarium and your diary, in addition to four different rods to try out.

Thankfully, cooking presents a little more of a challenge, particularly when preparing a dish that calls for boiling, frying, baking, or slicing—each of these actions requiring a tiny minigame. It's a comfort that cooking is less tedious than fishing, but you'll need the money you earn from cooking to repair the run-down Moonglow Bay region. As you do missions for the Bay's residents, you'll get new recipes, which adds to the game's feeling of advancement outside the primary narrative.

Sailing sometimes makes up for the lack of entertainment value that fishing may provide. While searching for uncommon fish in my ancient boat out on the broad ocean, I had some of my best gaming experiences with Moonglow Bay. Early on in the game, you are given the boat, which you must utilize in order to advance the plot. The little boat handles surprisingly well, crashing waves in abandoned waters as you search for the truth about the terrifying sea animals that are supposedly nearby your coastal town.

There's not much to do here except cook, sail, take pictures, and fish. There are also some fetch missions for the villagers and, strangely enough, some boss fights. I don't want to give too much away since I found it much more enjoyable when these bosses surprised me, but there are times when the game really goes above and beyond and puts you to the test. These sequences serve as bookends to each section of the game, encouraging you to explore every inch of the area even though they're not at all like a boss from Dark Souls and you're obviously not attempting to kill anything here.

Now that we've briefly discussed Moonglow Bay's workings, let's dive into the actual reality. Although Moonglow Bay is a small location, it seems like a good portrayal of a little beach town. The nascent village begins to come life again as you gather money and reinvest it in the community, with new personalities sometimes emerging from the shadows. It's a pleasant environment with pleasant folks. I would really want to move there.

But after you have your boat fixed up and go out of Moonglow Bay, the scenery becomes strangely barren. My first journey took me to Frosted Skates' frigid wastes, which seemed like a perfect place to explore. It's not. Basically, it's simply snow. A vast snow-covered island with nothing else. Beyond that, it's all snow, however there's a fantastic area for ice fishing. I then returned to my boat and left.

I find it annoying that you can't dock or fish anywhere you like in Moonglow Bay. Either locate a dock where you can attach your anchor, or fish beneath a sign that says there's something in the water. It's very limiting, and the docking issue is the more vexing of the two since it prevents you from accessing a lot of the islands you come across. It also means that, as my experience in Frosted Skates demonstrated, you shouldn't always anticipate the unusual when you discover a place to dock. All I could ask for is a bit more leeway to explore.

I should have included something more that adds so much beauty to Moonglow Bay. Even though the whole universe is made of voxels, the major protagonists and supporting cast are shown in exquisite artwork throughout. I'd love to see a Moonglow Bay sequel that does away with the squares in favor of the gorgeous visual style of the pictures, even if the voxel design is effective and appealing in and of itself. These images pique my curiosity about what Bunnyhug has planned for the future, even if I have problems with the game.

It's good to see that Moonglow Bay is quite well optimized for the Switch, since there were some concerns about issues and glitches when the PC version was initially released. The main gaming experience is unaffected by anything other than the odd graphical slowdown and strange, glitchy screen that appears just before you go to sleep and the screen fades to dark. Though a few of the culinary minigames might be a bit challenging if you're not very accurate with your button and analog stick inputs, the control method is also well-thought out.

All things considered, Moonglow Bay is a fun experience for anybody hoping to lose themselves for a few hours in a maritime slice-of-life drama. Considering how much time you spend fishing on the crystal-clear blue waters of the Bay, the fishing is a letdown. Still, things become a bit more interesting with cooking, sailing, and the odd boss fight. Even if the game has some lessons on how to really immerse yourself in the life of a fisherman, there's certainly plenty to appreciate here if you're a fan of Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, or the less frightening parts of Dredge. Plus, you can stroke Muffin the dog. I never grow tired of it, unlike fishing.

That concludes our assessment of Moonglow Bay on the Nintendo Switch. In the meanwhile, check out our reviews of Botany Manor, Princess Peach: Showtime! review, and Wildfrost review for our impressions on other recent additions to Switch and mobile. If you're in the mood for some more fishing, check out our selection of the top fishing games.