Harold Halibut Reviews
Though Harold Halibut leaves me with a lot to pick at, it’s a fitting debut for what’s sure to become one of gaming’s most exciting new studios. Like Harold himself, Slow Bros. finds itself pushing gaming’s mundane comfort zone into the stratosphere with an approach that few will dare to replicate. It’s a bold risk; I’m sure the studio could have made a lot of commercially viable games in the 14 years it took to put this together. But why settle for stagnation?
Harold Halibut's handmade world has bags of charm, but its sedentary pace and largely uneventful narrative might not be to everyone's tastes. Great stories stay with you, but, sadly, I'm not sure Harold's will.
Harold Halibut's narrative, setting and visuals are so wonderful and creative from a sci-fi perspective, it's an enormous shame it's housed within such a one-note and heartbreakingly boring video game.
Harold Halibut is an interesting adventure that, despite some flaws, shines for its uniqueness.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Harold Halibut overstays its welcome like a free diver that descends too far. Its painfully boring gameplay consists of walking back and forth as the story unhurriedly transpires. Still, the oddball characters and sublime stop-motion aesthetics may hook a few gamers who are happy to wade in the shallows.
It's a shame that a game as high quality and unique as Harold Halibut is plagued by technical problems and bugs that can make the gameplay really unpleasant at times. It's a rich and deep experience that will grab you by the heart and make you fall in love with its characters over the course of more than 10 hours of gameplay.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Harold Halibut may not be the most innovative game in terms of intervention mechanics in the world, apart from making some slips in the rhythm of the narrative, but it is undeniable that the sum of its powerful story and its spectacular art style make this one of the most irresistible games of recent times.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A wonderful claymation adventure with an exciting plot that's not supposed to be played if you are in a hurry. It's slow and a bit lengthy, but every minute spent in it is worth it in the end.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Harold Halibut is a heartfelt and handcrafted tale of human existence, delivering charming, profound, and deeply funny writing guaranteed to put a smile on your face. What Slow Bros has managed to achieve with its visual style is masterful and, for our money, it's now one of the best looking games on Xbox. The gameplay can feel repetitive at times, and the writing can drag in places, but ultimately we had a great experience seeing it through to the end. If you've got a Game Pass subscription, it's worth checking the game out for its aesthetic alone. Harold Halibut won't be for everybody, but for those that resonate with its story, it's sure to stick with you for a long time.
For most of its runtime, Harold Halibut is an exciting and captivating game. You can tell how much the authors loved the videogame medium. There's some minor issues, but nevertheless, if you like adventure games, it's simply a must play.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Overall, I enjoyed diving feet-first into this quirky and interesting narrative-driven mystery. While some may be deterred due to short attention spans or needing that quirk and fast-paced content this game will reward you for your time spent fishing for clues and unspooling the mystery. I'd encourage anyone looking to venture into this sub-aquatic adventure to devote some time to it allowing the game to grow. There's nothing out there at the moment to rival its quirky setting, it's out of the ordinary story and unique characters.
"Harold Halibut" is an atmospheric adventure game with a lot of heart and a unique style. It just needs to be shortened in the right places, then the pacing would also be right. But even so, I'm glad I stuck with it to the end and I can recommend it to you too.
Review in German | Read full review
In the end, the spectacular presentation, fantastical world, and charming characters were enough to carry me through the game’s overly long and slow start, as well as look past the very limited aspects of its gameplay.
Harold Halibut's amazingly hand-crafted stop-motion visuals buckle under the weight of the game's repetitive and shallow gameplay and drawn out runtime.
Despite some occasional bugs, problems with the plot's rhythm and lack of more engaging gameplay, Harold Halibut does not lose its shine as a work that uses its form well to bring visual charm, without forgetting to work on its content a story with strong text, interesting characters and issues so prominent in human nature.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Harold Halibut is not a game for everyone. The pace is slow, especially at the beginning, and the many trips back and forth between stations often seem very long. On the other hand, if you're a fan of narrative adventures like me, and enjoy discovering highly-developed characters, this is a very nice surprise. Slow Bros. succeeded in transporting me into its unique-looking universe and absorbing me completely.
Review in French | Read full review
Harold Halibut is stunning with its stop motion-style graphics. It tells a wholesome story with hilarious moments and loveable characters. That being said, its pacing and gameplay issues did tarnish my ten hour playtime experience.
Harold Halibut offers a captivating journey into a retro-futuristic world brimming with charm and intrigue. While its gameplay mechanics may not appeal to all tastes, those who appreciate rich storytelling and immersive atmospheres will find much to love in this heartfelt exploration of friendship and the quest for meaning.
Harold Halibut is bound to elicit strong reactions from players, falling squarely into the love-it or leave-it camp.
Harold Halibut is a special video game. Not only the incredibly elaborate style and how it was realized contribute to this, but also the fresh setting filled with lots of love and crazy nonsense. The basic gameplay does lag behind quite a bit, but for an adventure game you can easily cope with that.
Review in German | Read full review