Making Waves: My Take on Critter Cove

Critter Cove

This lovely game came out in September of last year. Developed and published by Gentleman Rat Studios. It's described as an open world, town-building, life sim. Critter Cove is set in some kind of post-apocalyptic world, where animals and people live, and for some reason keep getting shipwrecked on places. I would think the lore has to do with some kind of flooding, as there are many islands and sunken towns to explore. This game reminds me of what I would like Animal Crossing to be. 

Gameplay

As mentioned, it's a town-building sim. So the troupe of you wash up, found by a mayor of sorts that runs a shop where you can sell/buy things. The only difference is that he just gives you a house. (instead of sticking you in a mortgage) The character creation was the coolest thing ever, with so many options, and I think kid me would be very happy with the result. Of course, I needed cat ears, two tails, and also wings. 

As you play, you can meet and invite characters to live on the island. They will eventually pick a house, and you will have to gather materials so they can repair it. As you gain more villagers, I have noticed the cost of the houses has increased. I'm not sure if you can kick any characters or invite visiting vacationers. Your town turns into a resort of sorts with visitors, and based on what shops you have at the time, it will determine how much money you make from their day visit. YES, you earn money from their visits. So you don't always have to focus on making money. To open the shops, you have to buy them from a beaver salesmen. From him, you can purchase blueprints to make things for the town, items, and even tourist upgrades that bring more tourists to the town each visit. 

Buildings in the town include a cafe, bar, furniture store, clothing store, and a museum. It does look like there are buildings that might be other stores later, just like you can see islands, but it won't let you go to them, saying that part of the map is not ready yet. Each building, once repaired after buying it, will need a character assigned to it. Each character has a job they like and dislike. So, make sure you put them somewhere they will excel. Trying to collect different characters to have more options for the shops. 

You can also have mini shops around town, they are pretty much standing, and you have to stock them with different foods. You can find blueprints for these stands from the beaver, or some are found in the world. You find them by destroying broken items of that kind out in the world. For some items, you only need to find a few, while for others, you need to find a lot of them. 

Crafting

There are a lot of resources you can collect in the world. As mentioned before, there are not only food stands but also furniture that you need to dismantle or break a certain number of them in the world so that you can get their blueprint. 

Not only can you craft furniture, but you can also craft other things, like air tanks, other craft stations, and equipment. 

You might even need to craft more resources for some of the items. For example, sticks can be turned into planks, and planks with resin can be turned into other kinds of planks. 

Some resources can be bought from the shop, while a lot of them have to be found. Now, on storm days, the items will be refreshed so they never run out. You will be able to go back to where you found them before and grab more of them. Washed-up villagers will also refresh, so if you don't like the ones you found, you don't have to snag them. Of course, I don't know if you will be able to kick one out of town. One that you don't like to replace with newer ones.The weird chance that you somehow get tons of characters who like working at the same shops.  

There are also different food crafting stations to make food at, like a cooking station and an oven. You have to experiment with materials to cook the right thing. 

Updates

They have added missiles to shoot down barges. I have not collected enough items to unlock that yet. They also added more villagers to choose from. I'm excited for them to unlock the newer areas, as we can see they just can't visit yet.

Thoughts

I love this game; I know I say this a lot. But this is what I wish the newest Animal Crossing was like. It does get a little grindy when you get further until you can get more funds coming in. Once you get all the shops open, it's like, I really want to buy these things, but I have no money because I just had to buy more things for the town. So I'm more focused on improving the town than I am decorating my house. I just throw whatever is given to me in there. 

Making food is a bit annoying, but I think that's more on my end of not having enough planters and things to produce enough of things. I think I focused on weird things. I need to go out and collect more resources so that I can build more items. 

Content

While you made it to this part of the article, I want to thank you for being here and reading my thoughts. If you could take the time and leave a comment about what you think of the game or if you have played it yourself, I would appreciate it. 

You can find my socials 

Want your name on the wall of awesome? Click this, give a tip or pledge to a month subscription.