#loddlenaut

[tiredtrashpandaart]

Loddlenaut Sun and Moon AU!!

I have a whole crossover with these two in my brain, and I might draw it! IDK tho lol, but for now, have the references in honor of MerMay :3

[jacobharvestart]

The games ive finished lately

[r0yalstar]

☆ I recently played this really cute game called Loddlenaut and decided to make some quick fanart for it! ☆

[videogamepolls]

Requested by @skyburger

[unpretty]

i'm so close to being done with loddlenaut but i bought the game right after a big update and no one has updated their guides yet so i'm fucking struggling trying to get to 100% pollution resistance across the board 😭

[zakkuen]

been playing Loddlenaut a lot recently...

[clickbliss]

Loddlenaut: a cozy clean up that leaves the bigger questions behind

by Amr (@siegarettes)

Loddlenaut

Developers - Moon Lagoon

Publisher - Secret Mode

PC,

With a chill, and I daresay--cozy--atmosphere, Loddlenaut offers exactly the kind of laid back routine that’s easy to dip into for small moments of satisfaction. Taking the role of an ocean sanitation worker, there’s an immediate satisfaction to clearing the junk and gunk in the area, which builds towards the long term goal of creating a clear, inhabitable biome. Loddles, the native lifeform of the planet, provide a light pet raising element, not unlike Sonic Adventure’s Chao Gardens.

Alongside the cute, slightly aliased aesthetic, and some light survival game elements, Loddlenaut kept me plenty engaged and doesn’t overstay its welcome, with plenty smaller goals for those looking for more. Yet it's those same cozy elements, and the vague gestures toward an environmental message that Loddlenaut struggles to square away. 

Loddlenaut follows a familiar structure, starting you out with limited capabilities, clearing areas to reveal the next, and in the process gaining access to new materials and faster, more efficient abilities. Intentional or not, this turns the world into a “frontier���, where wildlife and environmental resources become stepping stones to greater control over the space.

Loddlenaut attempts to sidestep these issues by focusing on restoring an environment that was already previously inhabited, cleaning up the mess left by a careless corporation that exploited the planet’s resources. Materials are simply reclaimed from debris left behind, and it’s restoring the habitats of the plant and animal life that provides resources, not harvesting them. But it’s difficult to throw off the underlying motivations that drive its progression. 

Systems like fast travel emphasize this struggle, only allowing you to quickly travel between areas after you’ve cleared them, and consequently, reclaimed all their materials. The framing is slightly different, but functionally it feels no different to clearing all the objectives in an open world game. The feeling is exasperated in the late game, where the amount of trash increases, and the limited inventory pushes against your ability to make steady progress. The goal quickly became gathering materials to ease the tedium, and more than a few times I considered jettisoning trash back into the area instead of lugging it back to base, so I could clear more of an area before making a return trip. (Dropped trash doesn’t count against an area’s completion). I ultimately didn’t, but looking at the forums it seems that I wasn’t the only one with that idea. 

The story gestures towards larger environmental concerns, but never resolves. Your operator makes repeated comments about the massive damage done by the corporation that’s hired you for cleanup, but reassures you that it’s not your job to question your actions, only clean up after them. The delivery had me almost sure that there’d be a turn somewhere near the end, but Loddlenaut concludes with a simple “nature is healing”, creating an unintentional downer ending as I left knowing the underlying problem creating the pollution hadn’t been dealt with.

The team’s intentions seem more to imply that the work is not yet done, to avoid a simple easy solution, and inspire further action, but it leaves so many underlying assumptions unchallenged in an attempt for a feel good ending. I walked away feeling less like my character had made a meaningful contribution, but instead was doomed to be a janitor for the messes of a corporation who would continue to move to new worlds and leave the same problems behind. 

I ended up returning to Loddlenaut after the ending, wanting to clear up the areas that had become polluted again in my absence, and to check up and name the Loddles that I hadn’t had time for as I barrelled through the last areas. The little creatures remained cute as ever, but I couldn’t help notice the eerie stillness of the planet. Without the pollution cluttering up the landscape, it had the vibe of an aquarium. An isolated space to raise pets, with sunken structures to add visual variety. 

The thing is, as an aquarium, it’s easy to find joy in. At the end of the day I do love to feed and raise my pets, and clean the gunk out of their tank. Loddlenaut is just that, a playground for your pets that I enjoyed, that gestures at the bigger questions without any answers for them.

[ganryuart]

Request a sketch - Ovis as loddlenaut

In my twitch streams viewers can redeem little sketches with their channel points.

Cup_wolf asked for: "Wooly in loddlenaut suit."

[ayeforscotland]

Ad | Loddlenaut stream from last night! Thanks very much to Whale and Dolphin Conservation for supplying me with a key as we raised money for them. Loddlenaut is a cute ocean clean-up adventure where you befried the alien lifeforms that inhabit the planet.

[freshhotflavors]

Loddlenaut came out today!!! It looks so stinkin' cute and I hope I have time to play it soon 😭

We REALLY like axolotls here at FHF, heheheh

[skyburger]

falls to my knees. I DONTWANT IT TO BE OVERRRRRRR

↑ moodboard of every emotion i felt playing loddlenaut (not because the game was particularly sad or anything-- in fact its not sad like at all-- but i just got really attached to the setting snd all the little loddles (creatures) i got and named and oighughhggg im sad its over but thatwas the best 12 hours i spent playing a game like ever. iwant to play it again...... i hope yhere is loddlenaut sequel someday that would be pretty cool i think. i <3 loddlenaut

[vdragon57]

everyone should go play Loddlenaut it's so friggen cute and i love raising my lil community of loddles and it honestly needs more love

[amaiguri]

heyy, happy STS!! I'm curious to know about your recent reads - what was your favorite book/short story/screenplay/whatever that you've read this year? any that disappointed you (feel free to ignore if you don't wanna spill any tea lol)? or, if you haven't read anything, first, I see you, and second, any book you'd particularly like to get your hands on?

Mmm, the media I experience the most is anime and secondarily, video games, and since I don't speak Japanese, TECHNICALLY, I read all the subtitles 💀💀💀 So I will answer about that:

Genshin Impact continues to hold the crown of "My Favorite Franchise" at the moment. The most recent main story quest in Fontaine was a tragic mystery with genuine twists that, in contrast to the expectations of the genre, are truly heartwrenching and beautiful. I loved the way it critiqued the idea of "justice as a show" -- especially with regards to the global effects of social media. And I also loved the way every character in the recent releases are actors and liars -- that's actually kinda a huge theme I've been interested in this year. I just think Genshin is doing what it is trying to do well -- and to be clear, it's not TRYING to be the next Godfather. It requires an understanding and love of the anime art movement AND the cozy-gaming movement BUT, within that framework, I think it goes so well. But I am also very biased because I relate to the characters so closely -- which is the quickest way to get me to overlook quality. So I would say that's my favorite thing I've played this year.

Obviously, Baldur's Gate 3 is incredible. Nuff said.

Anime wise, my anime of the year is probably Oshi No Ko -- a mystery thriller about idols in Japan. While also being my favorite thing, it simultaneously was disappointing to me. It wanted to be this really dark, gritty, adult story but then it restated the main theme several times explicitly. And while this works nicely in a pure comedy (as in the writer's previous work), Oshi No Ko is not Kaguya-Sama. So, it's good but it isn't quite succeeding in being the kind of show it seems like it wants to be. But Oshi no Ko is ALSO about liars and sociopaths and I adore them all, so like... I'm having a good time, despite it not-quite being want I want. I give it a 8/10.

I also saw Made in Abyss Season 2 this year and it was amazing and horrible. I cannot recommend it to literally anyone because of the content, but I love the way it does horror themes in a not-horror aesthetic -- this makes it paletteable to me. (I don't do good with horror but I love horror aesthetics.) I give it a 9/10 so far with a BIG asterix.

I'm not really looking forward to anything right now -- except maybe Loddlenauts -- so I'm hopeful something exciting gets announced soon!

[uniquegamerecs]

June 2023 NextFest Top 5!

I played about 16 demos during this NextFest -- I was really impressed with the creativity and polish on a lot of them. Indie devs are really raising the bar!

Loddlenaut - Cute, relaxing, and satisfying gameplay cleaning up trash in the ocean. I love the soft polygon art style.

Let's Revolution! - Wow, just gorgeous presentation! I'm really picky about this type of puzzle/strategy game but this hooked me pretty fast. Great music too.

In Stars and Time - I love the art style and I'm intrigued by the plot. This is one I didn't play for long because I enjoyed it enough that I didn't want spoilers.

En Garde! - It shows its low budget in some ways, but I was impressed that it was a solid action platformer. The voice acting and writing were definitely charming.

The Invincible - Super fancy graphics and a lot of care was put into the first person animations. I found the scifi plot to be intriguing and chilling - and the voice acting was great.

[gammagroove]

The only thing I'm more excited about than Billie Bust Up is Loddlenauts. I want to play it so bad 😭. It's so cute <3333.

Also, trying out the graduation map thingy here.

[winterwarburton]

Best of the Summer Games Hype Train (Part 2: Demos)

I promised I'd talk about the demos I played during the Steam Next Fest last month and I delivered! 7 profiles on cool, new/upcoming games are up on the blog now. Go read!

Another summer is upon us, ushered in for us gamers by oodles of announcements, a slew of sales, and (my personal favorite) the return of the Steam Next Fest! As I mentioned in part 1 of this summer games shenanigan summary, I’ve had a very, very busy June (hence why this post is like 2 weeks late). Still, I did squeeze in some time to speed date some fresh, new demos as I do whenever a Next Fest…