Harold Halibut Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Harold Halibut is a bit like visiting an aquarium for the umpteenth time — yes, it's visually interesting, offering a glimpse into a submerged alien world, but once the initial intrigue is gone, you're essentially on a long, and quite dull, walk. This narrative-focused sci-fi adventure starts off with a promising premise and enchanting art style, but it doesn't take long before the facade falls to reveal what is ultimately a protracted and shallow game.

It probably doesn't help that the titular character seems fed up from the off. Having spent his whole life aboard the Fedora, a ship that's been stuck at the bottom of an unknown planet's ocean for 50 years, we're not really surprised by Harold's vacant stare and reserved personality. It's a great concept to kick things off, though — generations of humans far removed from life on Earth, who only know the metal corridors of a colonial spacecraft. While life trapped in an alien sea has become the norm, however, the ship's top minds are hard at work to get the Fedora flying again, and back to finding a new home for humanity.

Until then, though, the game has you navigating Harold around the accessible areas of the ship and chatting with other inhabitants. To start with, the game's aesthetic is enough to carry you along; everything you see was made by hand, then scanned into the digital realm. The result is a game with the look of a claymation film (though not animated like one), and it's very effective. Each environment is fun to discover because of all the meticulously made props.

For as good as the game looks, though, there's very little to actually do in it. The overwhelming majority of what you do is walk from one cutscene to the next, opening your PDA every so often to check objectives. Harold's not in a rush, either, moving at a snail's pace even if you hold down the run button the whole time. Again, discovering all the locations is initially interesting, whether it's the colourful Agora Arcades or the Social