Review by Jon Donnis
Lou’s Lagoon has a lot going for it. The Limbo Archipelago is colourful and varied, the relaxed atmosphere suits the gameplay, and there is a good mix of exploration, crafting, fishing and platforming to keep things moving. Add in character customisation, seaplane customisation and the ability to build and decorate your own home, and there is a decent amount to get involved with.
Unfortunately, the game does not make enough of those ideas.
The islands are enjoyable to explore, particularly when you are free to decide what you want to do rather than being pushed constantly towards the next objective. The game is at its best when it lets you wander around, gather materials, fish or work on your own base without worrying about progression.
Resource gathering is helped considerably by the Resource Sucker, which makes collecting and processing materials pleasantly straightforward. It is a useful tool in a game that asks you to gather a lot of resources, and the different activities provide some welcome variety. Fishing, platforming and exploration give you something different to do alongside crafting, while upgrading your gadgets gradually expands what you can do.
Building and decorating your own home is also worthwhile. There is a genuine appeal to having your own space to customise, particularly when combined with the game's character and seaplane customisation options.
The mystery surrounding Uncle Lou gives the adventure a central thread, with clues and his trail leading you across the archipelago.
Unfortunately, the problems start to pile up once the game asks you to work through its progression systems.
Inventory management is one of the biggest frustrations. Storage is limited, which is particularly inconvenient when gathering resources is such an important part of the game. The lack of useful storage containers makes the situation worse. You are encouraged to collect materials, yet there is not enough practical storage to make doing so comfortable.
The game also does not give you enough information about what resources you will need for upcoming assignments. That leaves you with an awkward choice. Either keep materials you might eventually need and quickly run out of space, or get rid of them and risk having to go and collect them again later.
Then there are the crafting timers. They are simply too slow, and rather than adding anything meaningful, they mainly delay progression. When combined with the repeated resource-gathering errands, this can make the game feel unnecessarily drawn out.
The errands themselves become repetitive. You are frequently sent away to gather materials for another assignment, which can interrupt the story rather than move it forward. The Uncle Lou mystery suffers because of this. Instead of always feeling like you are following an intriguing trail, it can feel as though the story is being used to justify another trip to collect something.
The islanders do not add enough personality to compensate for that. They feel more like quest dispensers than fully developed characters, while the limited voice acting makes conversations less engaging. Interactions can become something to click through rather than something you want to pay attention to, and I often found myself simply spamming the X button to get through them.
Platforming is another weak point. Some areas require precise jumping and landing, but the character feels very floaty. That makes basic jumps more frustrating than they should be, particularly when you are trying to reach a specific area and the movement does not feel precise enough.
Exploration is pleasant, but there is very little meaningful danger. Without much to threaten or challenge you, travelling around the islands can start to feel more like looking for resources than going on an expedition.
The seaplane is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the game. It is an enjoyable way to travel between the islands, but the flying itself is not particularly exciting. Take-offs and landings are not shown, and the plane ultimately functions as transportation rather than the substantial flying experience the premise suggests.
Repeated journeys between islands are also made less appealing by lengthy loading times. When a quest sends you back and forth for resources, having to wait through those loading periods adds another layer of frustration.
These issues became particularly noticeable during my own playthrough. I eventually reached an area I needed to access but was unable to get there. At that point, I simply did not have the motivation to start another quest or spend time trying to work out what I had missed. I did not even feel compelled to look for a video online to find a solution. I had just lost interest.
That is a real shame because there are aspects of Lou’s Lagoon that I genuinely enjoyed. The colourful islands work well, the relaxed pace is appropriate, the Resource Sucker makes gathering easier, and the combination of activities gives the game plenty of variety. Building and decorating a home is another worthwhile addition, and the freedom to play at your own pace is exactly what you would want from this sort of experience.
Sadly, those positives are not enough to overcome the frustrations.
The limited voice acting makes the interactions dull, the platforming can be awkward, inventory management becomes a constant nuisance, crafting takes too long, and the game repeatedly sends you out to gather resources without giving you enough information about what you should be keeping.
The Uncle Lou storyline should provide the motivation to keep exploring, but too often it feels secondary to completing errands. Meanwhile, the seaplane, which could have been one of the game's defining features, ends up being little more than a way to travel between islands.
Lou’s Lagoon looks good and has plenty of appealing ideas, but I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated rather than relaxed. By the time I stopped playing, I was no longer interested in pushing through another quest simply to see what came next.
For a game built around exploration and discovery, that is difficult to overlook. Maybe I will revisit the game after a year of updates and bug fixes and rewrite this review.
Lou’s Lagoon is a disappointing 5 out of 10.
Out Now on Xbox for around £20
