Harold Halibut (PC/PS5/XSX|S/Game Pass) - Handmade narrative game out now!! IGN 8.

Games as divisive as this are always extra appealing to me. I think it stems from Deadly Premonition being one of my all time favourite games.

aayl1 wrote:We have a "how long to beat", we need a "how long to like" lol.

I don't know if you listen to the Remap podcast but Janet Garcia recently suggested HowLongToRate / HowLongToHate as the necessary resource that needs to be built for this purpose.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:Games as divisive as this are always extra appealing to me. I think it stems from Deadly Premonition being one of my all time favourite games.

Yeah definitely, I think every great game has some element of friction that keeps it interesting for some but puts others off. For me though this game comes across as something that is trying to fit the mould of a traditional adventure game but is devoid of any of the typical charm associated with those kinds of games. The dialogue is weirdly written and the voice acting has an odd direction to it, resulting in all the conversations I've had so far feeling like the characters are just talking past each other and are disconnected from one another.

Skipping lines also just fast forwards the scene rather than actually skipping it and it ends up looking horrible!

Cuttooth wrote:

aayl1 wrote:We have a "how long to beat", we need a "how long to like" lol.

I don't know if you listen to the Remap podcast but Janet Garcia recently suggested HowLongToRate / HowLongToHate as the necessary resource that needs to be built for this purpose.

I actually do (because you recommended it I think!) and yeah I heard it there too. It's actually a great idea.

It's fun having a very Chicago based gaming podcast, makes me feel a part of the city more haha.

aayl1 wrote:

Cuttooth wrote:

aayl1 wrote:We have a "how long to beat", we need a "how long to like" lol.

I don't know if you listen to the Remap podcast but Janet Garcia recently suggested HowLongToRate / HowLongToHate as the necessary resource that needs to be built for this purpose.

I actually do (because you recommended it I think!) and yeah I heard it there too. It's actually a great idea.

It's fun having a very Chicago based gaming podcast, makes me feel a part of the city more haha.

Ah cool! Yeah there's a good mix of perspectives from them living quite far away from each other but I think three of them have those Chicago/Midwest roots, which mostly plays out when they talk about depressing Chicago sports teams.

Put another hour or so into this today, just finished chapter 1... So I proceeded to look how many chapters there is, was shocked to see how many, hopefully some of the chapters are on the shorter side, while I'm loving the conversations and enjoying the story, it still boils down to running from point A to B, sometimes with a diversion in the middle.

Was not expecting a musical number when checking the filter station for the second time.

I'm finding Harold far too relatable at the moment, so far the game is definitely speaking to me.

I loved that bit! Disappointed I’ve not been able to put a little more time into this today, hopefully I’ll get an hour in tomorrow at some point.

Robbo-92 wrote:Put another hour or so into this today, just finished chapter 1... So I proceeded to look how many chapters there is, was shocked to see how many, hopefully some of the chapters are on the shorter side, while I'm loving the conversations and enjoying the story, it still boils down to running from point A to B, sometimes with a diversion in the middle.

There's an achievement that gives some indication of their expectation around total length, or what they or consider in excess of that, spoilered just in case you'd rather not know.



Apparently only 1.1% of players have unlocked this as well, so it seems like you'd really have to push to take that long.

Knoyleo wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:Put another hour or so into this today, just finished chapter 1... So I proceeded to look how many chapters there is, was shocked to see how many, hopefully some of the chapters are on the shorter side, while I'm loving the conversations and enjoying the story, it still boils down to running from point A to B, sometimes with a diversion in the middle.

There's an achievement that gives some indication of their expectation around total length, or what they or consider in excess of that, spoilered just in case you'd rather not know.

Slow Bro: Enjoy the game at a leasurely pace (more than 15 hours playtime.)

Apparently only 1.1% of players have unlocked this as well, so it seems like you'd really have to push to take that long.

Thanks, might just be the first chapter is longer then? Or maybe I am taking my time

Love Harold as a character

Just started chapter 3, had my first crash

The postman achievement

Partway through chapter 4 and just had what I can only describe as Harold Halibut’s version of a training montage

Just brilliant.

Done, what a wonderful game with one of the best protagonists I’ve played as in a while, Harold is an excellent character The characters in general are top notch, as is the voice acting, the visual style with some of the movement quirks being intentional for the clay style they opted for (or I guess they’re intentional anyway?). One bad point, I had a lot of crashes, probably nearing 9 or 10 by the end of it.

However, one thing I can’t get my head round, is how this was in development for 14 years? Was it the work of one person for a long time? A team constantly faced by budget issues? Kept changing game engine?