Trouble in Pacifica is a fishing adventure game, sort of in the same vein as Dredge. If you aren’t familiar with Dredge, well, you’re about to be. Kind of.
All The Fish
In Trouble in Pacifica, you play as, well, a boat I guess. You never actually see a character, but it’s assumed you are someone driving the boat. Not a sentient boat. But if you really want to roleplay it as a sentient boat, then by all means do so.
You start in a small village with a town that you can gather information from and make upgrades to your boat. In the water are areas of disturbance where you have a minute to catch as many fish as you can. And you can do that as often as you like. Once you have caught enough fish to earn 100 coins, you can unblock the rubble secluding your village and explore the rest of the world.
The open world of Trouble in Pacifica is super charming. Cartoony and vibrant with enough going on to give you the idea that something is off. There are other villages for you to go explore and receive quests from, as well as a few water hazards to make travel a little dangerous. Exploring the world also exposes you to new kinds of fish that earn you more coins, making it much easier to finish upgrading your boat.
Beyond catching fish, and finishing up quests for some of the townspeople, there is another mystery to solve. There is a monster named Catastrophe that has to be stopped. Catastrophe is trying to make the volcano erupt and end the world of Pacifica, and only you can catch it. Hopefully.
None Of The Grim Horror
Despite the overall theme of the world ending, Trouble in Pacifica is a very pleasant game. I’ve never actually played Dredge, but the vibe I’ve gotten from other people is that it is definitely on the spooky side. Something that I will get around to playing eventually.
The only spooky part of Trouble in Pacifica, other than the world ending monster, is that there is no map. Or quest markers. Luckily it is not a huge area to explore, but it can get confusing. There were a number of times that I would sail around a large rock only to end up back at a town I could have sworn was on the other side of the world.
One of the quests you receive is to rescue seven cats that got away from one of the islands. As you can imagine, not having a map or quest markers makes that practically impossible. I have caught five or six so far. I think. It’s the most lifelike version of herding cats, so I guess it has that going for it.
The other bummer of no map, is that it becomes very difficult to find the monster, Catastrophe. The first time he spawns, there is a red disturbance in the water, as opposed to the normal blue. Spoiler alert, Catastrophe gets away from you the first time you beat it. Finding it again took some time. This is where trying to learn the world became a little frustrating, but I was eventually able to find it’s hiding place. I was not however able to kill it. Yet.
Fish On!
Trouble in Pacifica was surprisingly fun. I originally picked it because the art style looked very pleasing. And because the idea of driving a boat around is always fun. Have you played Sea of Thieves lately? Still a blast. Literally.
Some of the mechanics are a bit wonky. And there is no clear line of where the map ends. But overall its a great way to kill a few hours. And it has a quest that involves rescuing cats, so what’s not to like?
