Summary

Collector’s Cove is a cozy, collectathon-styled game where you’ve decided to follow in your parents’ footsteps and fill up your Compendium so you can become a Named-Rank Collector and finally be able to reunite with them by travelling beyond the Collector’s Cove. In this game, you’ll travel to remote islands to gather resources to craft items, collect cosmetics, grow crops aboard your boat, which is towed by your very own companion, and catch various fish, both saltwater and freshwater ones, to feed it. Discover common and rare crops and fishes, fill up your Compendium, and hopefully, you can finally “collect ‘em all”, achieve Named-Rank status, and make your Collector parents proud!

Plotline

As dedicated Collectors, your parents left you in the care of your enigmatic triplet uncles, namely Jerry, Terry, and the mysterious Eugene (though he prefers to be called Perry), while they venture beyond the Collector’s Cove in search of new discoveries.

Of course, being their child, you long to go after them… and you now can, but there’s a hitch – you’ll need to attain Named-Rank Collector first before you can do so. That status is apparently only reserved for Collectors who have nearly the whole of their Compendium completed. Thankfully, your uncles are well-versed in the ways of the Collector and were able to teach you.

It‘s time to start your Collector’s journey! What mysterious plants and creatures will you discover?

Gameplay

As a collectathon game, collecting... well, pretty much anything… is the name of the game here! There are mainly two categories of items you’ll collect: crops and fish. Every new discovery will be recorded in your Compendium. Obviously, the goal here is to fill up your Compendium so as to reach Named-Rank Collector status.

Now, you can grow various crops from their respective seeds on planter boxes you can build and place on your boat. Fish, on the other hand, can be caught at any body of water in the game if you can see the shadows of fish in it... and yes, this includes both at sea, while you’re on your boat, or by the seaside, and at any lake on islands you visit. Note that you’ll naturally discover new kinds of fish and crops depending on which map you’re on, since different maps feature different “biomes”.

Personally, I quite enjoy the fishing mini-game in Collector’s Cove. The game has similar mechanics to many other fishing mini-games, which makes it feel intuitive and familiar. There’s also the attention placed on balancing line tension and your need to reel the fish up. Some fish may even get angry and gain extra strength to make a dash for it.

Interestingly enough, your companion, which IMHO looks a bit like Lapras from Pokémon, can be fed any fish you’ve caught to restore its stamina. It’ll consume stamina whenever it travels from one island to another. However, this is entirely optional since your companion can easily restore its stamina by resting, which does take a bit more time.

You’ll also have to gather resources from trees and stones around the islands you visit to have the materials needed to craft a variety of crafting stations or items, like storage or planter boxes. Sometimes, you may need better tools – tool upgrades! - to be able to gather certain higher-grade resources. Occasionally, you can reel in flotsam with your plunger gun on your boat. You can even craft décor for your little floating home once you have the crafting recipe unlocked.

There is more to do on the island besides fishing and gathering stones, ores, and wood, though! From time to time, you may stumble upon a treasure island where you can gain access to loot-filled treasure chests after solving a fairly simple puzzle. There’s even a hide-and-seek game of sorts where you’ll have to find your mysterious Uncle Eugene hiding among the foliage on a random island before you can access his merchant shop (more on the merchant shops later). Thankfully, you just need to do this once per new map.

The easy part aside, you’ll notice that you can unlock bait and fertilizer recipes for a specific fish or crop once you’ve caught or harvested enough of them. Naturally, you’ll also need to have built the Bait Maker and Compost Bin to craft bait and fertilizer, respectively. By using bait or fertilizer, you’ll then be able to grow or catch excellent-grade crops or fish. These are starred items and will stack differently from the normal ones. Similarly, once you have enough starred items of a specific type, you’ll then unlock the criteria needed to obtain the coveted “Fabled” version of said item.

Fabled crop or fish isn’t as easy to get as simply using bait or fertilizer. Most of them have additional requirements, some of which are a bit harder to attain. For instance, to get the Fabled version of the Surgeonfish, you’ll need to have a pouch (containing fish) on your boat. You can’t just drop a fish from your inventory to achieve this. Instead, you’ll need to have a full inventory. When you attempt to catch a fish this way, the caught fish will then be dropped on the deck as a pouch, which you can collect later… once you’ve cleared up your inventory, of course!

There may also be requirements that include placing the planter box in the right place. For example, if you want to get the Fabled version of corn, you’ll need to place it beside a “fire source”. In my playthrough, I used the smelter to smelt a bunch of ingots. There’s also the watermelon, which requires it to be grown adjacent to at least three flowers (P/S: you’ll need to place them in flower pots). Although you can’t move placed items in this game, you can have it fully refunded before placing it again elsewhere.

Now, unlike normal or excellent-grade items, Fabled crops and fish can both be fed to your companion to increase its Fabled bond with you. There are milestones that, when reached, will grant your companion new perks and abilities, such as the nifty ability to call upon a shoal of fish to retrieve flotsam for you – no need to operate the plunger gun yourself!

Your uncles are also ready to help you on your journey to becoming a Named-Rank Collector, and coincidentally, they operate a merchant boat and can sell you everything you’ll need to fill up your Compendium. You can simply ring the little bell on your boat to have them arrive in an hour or two, regardless of whether you’re docked at an island or travelling on the open sea.

Uncle Jerry operate the Farmer’s Market that sells seeds and buy anything you may want to sell, while Uncle Terry operates the Sailor’s Stop which sells boat upgrades, which includes a walkable rooftop which you’ll need access to in order to get the Fabled version of a specific fish (wink wink), though you’ll need to reach a certain Fabled milestone first to unlock the upgrades. Lastly, Uncle Eugene… ahem, I mean Perry, runs the Secret Seller store that sells blueprints for décor, a bunch of cosmetics for your companion, and secrets you need to skip the grind and immediately unlock a Fabled requirement, for instance.

That said, I’d like to point out that although the game also tracks furniture, décor, and cosmetic items that you’ve unlocked in your Compendium, these don’t seem to be the main focus of the game, nor do they contribute to you earning your Named-Rank Collector status. It’s more of a “good to have” thing and not necessary for making progress.

Graphics/ Sound

Collector's Cove features stylized 3D graphics complete with smooth textures, soft pastel colors, and gentle lighting, giving the world you’ll be exploring a warm and welcoming appearance. I also love that the game offers multiple camera views, which is a really nice touch!

In terms of sound, the audio design follows the same philosophy as the visuals: calm, light, and unobtrusive. The background music tends to be cheerful yet mellow, with soft melodies that create a peaceful atmosphere while players explore the ocean or work on their floating farm.

Conclusion

All in all, Collector’s Cove offers players a cozy and fun, exploration-driven adventure that will satiate the need of every collector at heart to collect everything they can. The Fabled aspect of the game is a really nice touch and provides some challenge, along with simple puzzles to jog your brain from time to time, in what is a very chill game. If you love collecting stuff in games and are looking for something super cozy, Collector’s Cove is one game you’ll want to play.