A Charming Tropical Crafting Adventure
Even though we’ve been experiencing our own tropical heatwave in Europe this summer, an escape to the relatively cool indoors to explore a virtual tropical landscape still has plenty of appeal – and Lou’s Lagoon has been just the game for it.
This cozy exploration and crafting adventure is set across a tropical collection of islands – the Limbo Archipelago. Its developers, Tiny Roar, describe the game as a love letter to the classic action-adventure games of bygone eras that they grew up playing, and we can certainly see some similarities to classics like Animal Crossing and some more recent offerings such as My Time at Sandrock and Slime Rancher.
The main storyline in Lou’s Lagoon centres around a mystery wrapped up in ancient secrets. You arrive on one of the islands to help your Uncle Lou run his airborne delivery service, only to find the island devastated by an ongoing malevolent storm and your uncle missing. Several quests will see you searching for clues about where Lou has gone and why, but there’s much more to the game than the main storyline. You can explore the islands, collect materials, craft buildables and take on jobs to help the inhabitants rebuild their lives after the storm’s devastation.
There are several islands to explore, including your base – Lou’s Island. Each island is home to a different type of humanoid, many of which are based on animals, like the owl-like Charneys who are the main inhabitants of Tanglebloom. In fact, you and Lou are the only humans living in this strange world.
Crafting, Gadgets And The Joy Of Cleaning Up The Islands
At its heart, Lou’s Lagoon is a crafting game. The storm has caused wreckage to be strewn across the islands – bad luck for the inhabitants but good luck for you, as this is one of the major sources of materials for your crafting. To collect scrap metal and driftwood, you use your trusty swirler to suck it up in a very satisfying way and store it in your inventory. You can also collect items from the various strange plants that grow on the islands. Each item, whether a material, craftable or refined product, is found listed in a Lexicom that you can refer to, which tells you what materials will need to make a craftable and where you can find them.
The scrap can be refined in the refinery to make products like refined wood. These products can be used to rebuild broken bridges on the islands to aid exploration, and also to make things for the island inhabitants, who place orders via a messaging system.
Inhabitants will reward you with cash in the form of the currency of the islands – shellings. You can also earn cash by selling unwanted items and, indeed, use shellings to buy any items you can’t scavenge or make yourself.
Your sidekick, Fidge, an engineering rabbit, will build you further gadgets: a glider for utilising updrafts of wind to fly upwards, a builder for erecting new machines (such as a loomer, manufacturer and processor) and making furniture, a scooper for searching for underground resources and a fishing rod.
Yes, there is fishing in Lou’s Lagoon. You can fish on the shores of the islands by casting off using RT. The same button is used to wiggle the float to attract a fish and then cast it in. The fish will try to get away, but moving the left thumbstick in the opposite direction will keep it on the line. Fish yield different scales, which are a useful crafting item and fishing in different locations, and at different times of day will yield different types.
All items, whether raw materials that you collect on your travels or manufactured products for quests, are stored in your inventory. This is frustratingly small at first, but slots are opened up by earning them through completing quests or finding them in the numerous hidden treasure chests throughout the islands. You can also store items in your seaplane, but can only transfer them and access them when you are standing near it.
Fidge can also upgrade the gadgets to make them more useful. At first, your swirler can only suck up a few different resources but, with a bit of cash and a craftable, it can be upgraded to be stronger and collect more raw materials so you can make more products.
Quest Progression Can Become Frustrating
At this point, we are going to have to address a sticking point that we came across. To progress in the story, you have to complete certain quests, and to complete them you need to be able to build certain items. Each machine can be used to make different items, but there seems to be no logic in which one to use, and this information is not found in the Lexicom. Items are arranged on trees and unlocked by using Spark Cores, which are earned by completing quests. There might be a certain item you need for a quest, but it is quite a way down the tree and requires unlocking several items further up the branches. We would have liked to have seen a more natural progression in the storyline, which sees you having to use these items first. This all leads to a bit of frustration while you run from machine to machine, trying to figure out exactly what you need to build first in order to be able to build what you need (and sometimes having to get Fidge to upgrade gadgets as well – which require more building). It sometimes feels like a bit too much to keep in your head at once.
This means that completing the quests can take a lot of time as you gather enough resources and earn enough Spark Cores to unlock the products on your various machines. Some materials, like driftwood, show up regularly on the islands, but others take longer to reappear once harvested, like the pebbles that grow in the caves, which take around two game days to regrow (although you can utilise a drone to collect materials if you can’t wait – for a price). This slowing down of the game may not be a problem to many, though, and it certainly adds a bit of challenge as you figure things out.
Exploring The Islands Is Where Lou’s Lagoon Really Shines
While you wait, there is plenty of exploration to be getting on with. You travel between islands using your trusty seaplane, which can only land on the main islands that have an airstrip. You use a map to navigate between islands and can explore the skies to a certain extent. For example, there are small balloons to pop that contain resources, as well as a flying mini-game where you have to manoeuvre your plane inside rings. As you progress in the game, autopilot to each island will be unlocked, which means you can select the island from your map and teleport there in an instant. Beware, though: you cannot use autopilot while you are in your plane – it took us a while to figure this one out.
Each of the islands is not just different in terms of who lives there, they have different buildings, flora, colour schemes and vibes, from the psychedelic grooviness of Gleam Reef, the tropical lushness of Lou’s Island, to the industrial ruggedness of Boulderia. We really appreciated the design choices that went into this, as it gives a different experience on each of the islands.
Each of the islands is just the right size – small enough to be able to explore everything, but not too big that you can easily get lost. Another fun aspect is that they are each designed over several levels. Climbing vines can take you so far, but each island also has its own method of getting high: wooden bridges on Lou’s Lagoon, using your glider on Gleam Reef and mining carts on Boulderia.
Navigation on the islands was another small annoyance we had with Lou’s Lagoon. You can choose one quest to pin, which will supply you with a red dot as a marker on the map and also a waypoint as you move around the island. However, the game does not allow you to place your own markers to follow. This would be handy when trying to head to an area of interest, like the entrance to a cave, without having to keep returning to the map. It would have also been useful to have icons to indicate where we could find materials.
A curse of many games where exploring is part of the gameplay is that, quite often, you will find yourself stuck awkwardly in a tight spot from where you can’t move. There is an option in the game menu for when this happens, which will place you back into a spot, normally back next to your seaplane. This is obviously annoying when it happens, but as the islands are quite small, it doesn’t take too long to get back to where you were, as long as you know where this was on the map and can follow it to get there.
Plenty To Discover
Gamers looking for a combat aspect won’t really find it in Lou’s Lagoon. You can collect resources from some less-than-friendly animals, which requires a bit of dodging, and there are pirates prowling the beaches, but you can choose to run past them or try to steal their booty using your swirler. The worst that can happen is they knock you down, but you don’t lose any health and can get back up and try again.
The other gameplay missing from Lou’s Lagoon that you will find in similar games, like Animal Crossing, is relationship building. The island’s inhabitants are pleasant enough, but unless they have a job for you (shown by a yellow exclamation mark above their head), there is no need for small talk.
There’s also a building and decorating aspect if that’s your kind of thing. You can use the builder to construct walls, roofs and other structural elements to create houses and other buildings on Lou’s Island, then add plants, furniture and decorative touches. It’s a nice addition if you enjoy having more creative freedom to modify your space.
A Relaxed And Rewarding Cozy Adventure
If you are a fan of cozy crafting and exciting exploration, then we recommend you give Lou’s Lagoon a play. Yes – you may feel frustrated at times, but this is balanced by the satisfaction of exploring the islands, collecting materials and completing jobs. The game lets you take things at your own pace, whether you are itching to solve the mystery of Lou’s disappearance by racing through the main storyline or want to explore every inch of the islands and complete all the side-quests. Lou’s Lagoon is a charming place to spend some time.
Important Links
Lou’s Lagoon Invites Players To Explore A Tropical Mystery – https://www.thexboxhub.com/lous-lagoon-invites-players-to-explore-a-tropical-mystery/
Lou’s Lagoon Tips and Tricks to Help You Explore the Limbo Archipelago – https://www.thexboxhub.com/lous-lagoon-tips-and-tricks/
Lou’s Lagoon Confirmed For Xbox And PlayStation – A Cozy Seaplane Adventure Awaits – https://www.thexboxhub.com/lous-lagoon-confirmed-for-xbox-and-playstation-a-cozy-seaplane-adventure-awaits/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/lous-lagoon/9ndpvffzf6sk
There’s a Deluxe Edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/lous-lagoon-deluxe-edition/9pdgqpbsrr0m
