Preview: Lou’s Lagoon is a cosy action-adventure game inspired by PS2 classics
Launching in August on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC, if you’re old enough to fondly remember the bold and colourful action-adventure games of the 2000s, you’ll likely love Lou’s Lagoon. Whisking you away to the tropical Limbo archipelago, this cosy adventure, which focuses on exploration and crafting, will have you gathering resources, helping rebuild communities and searching for your missing uncle, Lou, after a troublesome storm.
Your time with Lou’s Lagoon will begin with you creating your character, which is pretty unusual for a game like this. It’s a nice touch though, and with plenty of options available, it allows you to express yourself and perhaps grow a bit more attached to your avatar in this world. While you’re the main character, however, the real star here is a tool that’s quickly put on your hands, called the Swirler.
The Swirler, essentially a vacuum that’s able to both suck and blow, is pivotal to your goals in Lou’s Lagoon. Minutes after arriving in the arriving in the archipelago and discovering it’s been hit by a storm, you’ll be tasked with gathering materials to perform repairs. This manual work doesn’t have to be a chore, though. Thanks to the Swirler, you can just suck up items such as broken crates, breaking them down into useful resources. And if you then want to use those resources elsewhere, you can easily blow them out again.
Many quests in Lou’s Lagoon, then, will find you exploring environments to find and suck up the resources you need before spitting them back out elsewhere. A child stuck on an island can be saved by finding scrap wood and then using it to repair a raft, for example, while a little later you might need to suck up and then shoot out seeds to grow plants you can use as platforms. Sometimes you night need to refine resources to complete your goals, too, which can be achieved by making use of a special device.
Needless to say, there’s lots of exploring to be done in Lou’s Lagoon, then, and making your way around is plenty of fun thanks to the game’s intuitive 3D platforming controls. Providing a bit of variety is the fact that you can take to the skies and fly between islands, too. It’s up to you whether you simply head straight to your destination or not, with optional flying challenges to be completed for those seeking additional rewards. It’s worth keeping an eye on your surroundings when on foot as well, with chests to be opened containing coins and even customisation items.
If you’re after a cosy action-adventure game you can take at your own pace, then, with larger-than-life characters and a crazy contraption as a central mechanic, Lou’s Lagoon is certainly a game to keep on your radar. Bold and colourful, not only is it easy on the eyes, but it promises to warm the soul with its community spirit, too. Throw in a mystery to unravel, and there’s lots to look forward to.
Lou’s Lagoon launches 27th August on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC.
