Collector's Cove Demo Impressions

Collector's Cove is a bright and cozy game that allows you to travel from island to island filling your brand new compendium. You are on an adventure to collect plants, fish, and recipes across the sea. The player can customize their character with limited options in the demo. I do believe you will have more options in the completed version and you can acquire items through your travels. Your companion is adorable and you can customize them as well, again limited options. I was able to discover that you can trade for more items for your companion through the market.

The gameplay mechanics are simple, yet vast. You can build a little farm on the deck of your boat. Players can fish to feed their companion and add to recipes for themselves. There is not only a fishing rod, but a plunger gun. The gun allows you to collect floating crates and barrels to take those supplies on board. Your inventory does get full rather quickly in the beginning so I had to go back to my boat in order to drop supplies off before returning to collect more. I was able to build items that improved my quality of life and allowed me to gather or grow more things. It was easy to get into a rhythm of what needed to be done in order to have healthy progress for myself and my companion. You can upgrade your equipment in order to mine from better rocks or cut down new types of trees.

The story is sweet and easy to follow along with. Your parents are collectors out looking for items and now you are old enough to be one, as well. They have prepared you a boat and you have an array of uncles to tell you how to complete tasks. There is a day and night cycle that does impact you and your adorable friend. You must pay attention to the stamina bar because if you run out then your companion will no longer propel your boat forward and sleep instead. This is clearly a great hinderance to growing your collection. Some spots take much longer to travel to, so I would sleep or spend time fishing. Feeding the fish to your teammate will improve their stamina and you can continue on your journey without losing speed.

The overall vibe and art style of the game are very fun and relaxing. Settling into my chair and listening to the music made it easy to get into the swing of things and before I even realized it I had spent an hour and a half exploring. Although the islands are simple, it is easy to want to investigate as much as possible. This is the perfect summer cozy game and a great way to cleanse your palate between any time consuming games you may enjoy. If you choose to play the demo first, your progress will carry over to the full game should you purchase it. You can play up until day seven in the demo. I personally can't wait to see more of the game!