Spilled!

I have NEVER written a review for a game let alone it being the first. I do like this game. I DO! S/o to the devs fr. It’s cute and silly. It has the potential to be a great cozy game! HOWEVER I will not be purchasing the full game for one reason, THE CONTROLS!! They are terrible! Stress inducing even! They take all the comfort and throw it away! Why is the steering on the left but acceleration on the right?? Why not switch them? Heck why can’t it just be one round circle on the left?? It controls like it’s supposed to be a first or second person game but it’s not. this is a THIRD PERSON GAME. It should control like one! I’ve only played the three free levels and I felt like throwing the iPad across the room! And in the 3rd area, the litter that is in the back corner with the mouse, I GOT STUCK! It’s some type of glitch in that corner. I was trying to scoop up the litter on the corner and it ended up going all the way to the end so I’m trying to scoop it out and the boat starts acting weird and the litter scatters all over the place out of the scoop. It legit took me 5 to 10 minutes, trying to get all of that litter out of the tiny corner because they kept glitching out and taking it out of my scoop! That mixed with the controls gave me a headache! I do like the game and I want to play the full version, but only if those controls are fixed because I hate them. It is so hard to control the boat. Please I beg you! I’m just a girl that wants to play her cozy games!😩

The controls are a bit of a challenge; makes me wonder if powerboats in the developer's country have two sticks – one to move the craft forward and backward and another to steer. If so, they probably also have an unusually high incidence of maritime accidents. Running a boat this way takes some serious mental and physical concentration and coordination. It is also a little disorienting at first that the controls move freely around the screen as you use them. Most games that offer a control system anything like this allow you to choose the location on the screen you want the control to be in, and then to fix it there so it stays, but not so in this game. (I was mistaken about this; read on for the "solution"/option to anchor the controls.) Things in this game are more loose and fluid than anchored and structured the way some of us might prefer them. But this is an opportunity for people who feel that way to relax and let a little fluidity in and see where it takes us. Once you get used to that, it's nowhere near as scary as you might have thought it was going to be. If you do relax and abandon all concept of racing against a non-existent clock (there is, thankfully, no time element and no hurry in this game), the game starts to feel very peaceful. Take your time! The slower you work, the less of an obstacle the controls pose and the more relaxed you feel. And the end result of your work is very satisfying indeed. Aha! Just discovered something: if you go into the settings and tap, "free float", it becomes, "anchored float". This refers to the controls and whether they'll move around on the screen as you use them or will stay put. 👍🏻 (P.S.: I love discovering the wild people's names as I free them from their awful oil slicks. ☺️💕)

Finished it in about 30 min, the graphics are adorable the music is soothing. Wasnt expecting a “boss” until I read the achievements lol. Got them all too. It was an overall sweet and peaceful experience. I haven’t tried the lvl selection mentioned in the app description but I’ll definitely come back and play when I feel I need to relax a bit. The controls took until the second to third area to get used to but still had a mini struggle the rest of the way, call it user error haha. I’d say it’s pretty worth paying/playing. I speed ran the game once I got the controls down so I didn’t fully take in the worlds possible lore. I can see the game taking 1-2 hrs to play if you take it slow and take in the surroundings, So I’ll def keep playing it. It’s a great game honestly, I hope to see more from you Lente, I hope living life on a boat is awesome 💕🥹