The issue I have is, if you put a charming and slightly rotund biplane (or similar such vehicle) in a game, I’m just simply going to have to take a look at it at minimum. At minimum! Porco Rosso is my favourite of Hayao Miyazaki’s outings, after all, in no small part thanks to ever iconic “I’d rather be a pig than a fascist” line from the titular porky pilot. What I’m saying is, obviously I’m curious about Lou’s Lagoon, a crafty little exploration game that comes complete with a seaplane you can customise to your heart’s delight, which is out today.

In Lou’s Lagoon, you find yourself on the tropical Limbo archipelago after receiving a distress call from your title uncle Lou. Only when you get there, the island’s all junked up, and your uncle is nowhere to be found. So, like most games of its ilk, you set out to find your uncle, while helping the various local communities as you do so. Each island has its own group of folks with their own unique identities, alongside “hidden treasures, and unique problems to solve.”

Edwin compared Lou’s Lagoon to Jak and Daxter in this week’s feeding of The Maw, which I wouldn’t say is entirely wrong, though taking a look at the multi-tool you have at your disposal called the Swirler, there’s a touch of Ratchet and Clank in there too. Sort of comes across as the survival crafting evolution of that genre of action adventure platformer, albeit with less action and more sucking up bits of scrap, native plants and materials dropped by wildlife that you can use to repair buildings and make some stuff.

The big focus seems to be about helping the various communities on Limbo, though I do wonder how it approaches the whole resources aspect. That kind of extraction and reshaping of natural resources into things you find personally useful loop that so often crops up in these sorts of games often has a colonial mindset to them, so I wonder how that balances out with the game’s community aspect. Only way to find out is by playing! Which you can do so on Steam, right here.