Lou’s Lagoon is a self-professed cosy open-world adventure game coming from indie studio Rokaplay. It’s a cutesy third-person affair that sees you take over your uncle’s business after he goes missing. Looking similar to titles like My Time at Portia and with what looks to be a Stardew Valley-style gameplay loop, it looks to pair the life game genre with open-world adventure. Oh, did I mention there was a plane? Because it’s also a plane game.
If you’re anything like me, you grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons wishing you could be a part of whatever hijinx that happened to be occurring that week. A particular favourite of mine was TaleSpin, a rather strange spinoff of The Jungle Book, it saw Baloo and pals running a seaplane delivery service, and, whilst it didn’t make much sense canonically, it was rad.
You’ll be tasked with the regular chores that come with a life-sim; collect stuff, fish, harvest, and craft goods, only this time instead of trudging to the local market to sell your wares, you can hop in your seaplane and make connections over the many islands that the world map contains.
Lou’s Lagoon has taken more than a passing look at TaleSpin and built a game that, from the early footage we have, looks like something that 10-year-old me would have absolutely adored. Let’s also be totally honest here, it looks like something old-me is also going to enjoy. I know what I am and I’m okay with it. If anyone knows of any Darkwing Duck mods for Arkham, hit me up.
There isn’t a release date currently set for Lou’s Lagoon other than the vague 2023 on the Steam page. The indie news coming out of Gamescom is exciting and vast, with seven Humble Games coming to Game Pass over the coming months, there should be a lot to love. For more cuteness and a little more farming game action, there’s also Ikonei Island, a game that takes its cues from both Stardew Valley and Zelda.