Collector’s Cove Review - Gotta Collect It All… or Not?

ScrambledAshton
10 minutes ago
7 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIToUh3tEZQ

I know I have a bit of a reputation for being a cozy game gal, and it is true, I do love a light color palette, a jaunty soundtrack, and cute animals, but I also love a little bit of substance; you know, an interesting plot, an engaging gameplay cycle, or even just something a little new and different from the hundreds of other games with the tag ‘cozy’ on Steam. So Collector’s Cove had quite a lot of work to do in being named one of my go-to cozy games, but did Collector’s Cove make itself stand out from the crowd, or is it just another colorful bore fest?

Collector’s Cove is a farming sim with a bit of a twist, because your farm is set on the back of a giant sea creature who sails you from island to island so you can collect resources, open chests, and catch all the different kinds of fish. Our main goal on our journey is to fill in our Collector's compendium with all of the different kinds of fish and crops in each of the 4 biomes, which sounds easy, but I bet you didn’t factor in the conditions that need to be met in order to get the fabled versions of everything, did you!

Why are we collecting all this stuff? I hear you ask. Well, to be honest, in a sort of sad turn of events, our parents have abandoned us to go to Collector’s Cove, a place you can only enter if you are a ‘Named Collector,’ aka the top rank, and so we must work our way up the ranks by filling in our compendium and exploring new shores.

We begin exploring Tropical Trove, meeting our dad’s friends who are there to help you get set up, who just so happen to be three brothers who may or may not all be the same guy in different hats. These guys cover some of the important things you need to progress. Jerry is the go-to guy to buy seeds and sell produce, Terry is a resource trader and upgrade giver, and then lastly, there is Larry, who is always hiding on the islands, but he is the one who can help you buy accessories for your sea creatures, blueprints for decor, and hints at how to get fabled creatures. All three can be summoned to your location with just a ring of a bell, though their boat does stop yours from moving, which I didn’t realize at first and did spend a little while waiting to arrive at the next island only for me to have to send the lads away first.

Speaking of fabled creatures, they are the main gameplay diversion from other cozy games. Every type of crop and fish needs to be harvested or caught a certain amount of times in order to gain pieces of information about how to gain their magical counterpart. Catch a clownfish five times to find out how to make the correct bait, and then once you’ve caught enough higher-level clownfish, you’ll finally find out what you need to do in order to catch the mystery fish. These challenges are anything from ‘have three light sources on your boat’ to ‘walk through the harvestable crop three times’ to ‘craft this mystery fertilizer…that needs ingredients from multiple biomes’. Sometimes you may accidentally stumble upon the correct condition and skip the need for a second set of harvests, but most of the time you’ll need to ensure you have enough seeds and fertilizer to discover them.

Outside of fishing and farming, there are a few other bits and pieces to do. You’ll need to visit all the islands in each area to gain a whole variety of resources, though the main difference per location is the wood and ore type, because those can only be found in certain places, and you’ll need to re-explore areas if you run out of resources. Also on the islands are more fishing spots, a few harvestable crops, and chests of both the standard and special variety that can be opened by turning off the three totem points around the island. The islands themselves are randomly generated and change with each expedition, meaning you never know where you’ll find a chest.

While on your boat traveling between islands, there are also a few things you can do, be that fish for more innocent sea creatures, build furniture to decorate with, feed your fishy pal both regular and fated creatures, or use the plunger gun to bring in flotsam that drifts by. Or alternatively, you can just take a nap to help pass the time. It is worth noting that once you enter a different location, only the crops native to that region will grow on your boat, which means you may end up with planters full of half-grown crops unless you dig them back out of the ground or just leave them until you return to that location, which may be tricky with such little space on your boat until you potentially upgrade.

There are four different ways to unlock or evolve your personalized character. Every time you fish, farm, or feed your aquatic pal a fabled item, you’ll increase the level of your little collector, giving you new skills, unlocking items that make life a little easier, or opening up entirely new areas. The levels unlock at a pretty consistent rate, never taking too long to get from one to the next, though in the fishing or farming levels, the unlocks are relatively minimal, so they’re not always very noticeable.

With every new area you unlock and resources you gather, you’ll be one step closer to the next unlockable tool level or boat upgrade, and if you’re not sure what you’re working towards, you can log it into your notebook to keep track of the required resources. One of the only bugs I encountered had something to do with the quest log, and specifically the boat upgrade, as even once I had completed it, the quest never left my log and sat right at the top of my list of tasks no matter what.

I did have a lot of fun playing Collector’s Cove. The general gameplay loop is simple but satisfying, and the challenge to collect the fabled items is enough of a challenge that I had to knuckle down and work towards some of them. However, I don’t know if the game is as unique as perhaps it would like to be. Sometimes I felt like it took too long to get from island to island, or certain requirements took a lot of collecting and going back and forth between locations, which just felt like it dragged on a bit. I feel like it is a great game to play while you’re listening to a podcast or watching TV, as there really isn’t much to think about, and it can be a little mind-numbing to just engage with the game.

Saying that, the music and sound design is still very lovely. It’s cozy and cheerful and changes with the locations you visit or based on what you are doing, though I will say there seemed to be significant periods of time where there wasn’t any music playing, background or otherwise, which is fine every now and again, but it felt like there was no music more often than not.

When it does play, the music works perfectly with the colorful world Voodoo Duck has designed. Your aquatic pal can don a whole school of different hats and glasses so you can ride in style, not to mention the fact that they’re already incredibly cute and customizable to your specific taste. Plus, the various locales all have their own styles, be that tropical, haunted, icy, or covered in sakuras and Inari gates, and each location affects not only the produce but also the lighting, the decor of your boat, and the chest challenges you’ll want to solve.

Alongside the overall visual design, Voodoo Duck has had what I can only imagine was a very fun time when naming and designing all of their fabled produce and fish, as almost all of them are cleverly tied in with their real counterparts while also being suitably whimsical. Our Clownfish turns into a Comedianfish, sweet potato becomes a sour potato, our spring onion requires you to spin the camera around in a circle and comes out looking like a spring, and all of the wonderfully concocted puns and designs really did make me chuckle, so I have to give props to the whole team on that part of the game specifically!

Other than the bug I mentioned, I didn’t encounter any real issues with the game. There was once or twice I’d get myself stuck on something, but thankfully a big helpful ‘I’m Stuck’ button in the pause menu got me out of bother. The game isn’t Steam Deck verified as of yet, and unfortunately, I didn’t get to check its performance on the handheld, but given it’s not a particularly intensive game, I like to hope we’ll be okay!

There isn’t really anything in the way of accessibility in the settings, and I could see a few things being a little difficult for players who may be visually impaired, specifically the diggable holes, waterable ladders, and minable rocks, but hopefully, these can be implemented should that be an issue for players.

Overall, I think Collector’s Cove is a lovely little jaunt, the perfect background game or time sink should you, like me, always need to keep your hands busy. With its 15+ hour run time, there is plenty to see, collect, and do. I just worry that after the first 10 hours, we may see players dropping off for something a bit more engaging. In a world full of Animal Crossing likes, cozy but bland games, and farming sims out the wazoo, I hoped Collector’s Cove would stand out a little more than it did, though nothing is inherently wrong or broken about the game, so I have a hard time leveling any specific criticism at any gameplay or design elements. Perhaps Voodoo Games would’ve been smart to add some more story beats or more diversity into its gameplay, but as it stands, I am worried it has ended up a bit mid.

BRONZE/GOOD