Our oceans and waters are in abysmal conditions and almost everyone knows it. Spilled! puts us in control of cleaning up the sea, allowing animals to return and inhabit clean waters once again. Oil spillages, plastic pollution, and even heavier objects that have sunk to the ocean floor are all on the agenda and must be removed from each area to an acceptable quality if you want to move on to bigger and better areas. It should also be noted per sale on Steam, $0.10 will be donated to WDC – Whale and Dolphin Conservation – a UK-registered charity. So, not only are you cleaning up in-game, but you’re also helping a cause in real life! Spilled! has been developed and published by Lente, allowing you to relax and clean up in your own time or when the mood takes you. Continue reading if you’d like to hear my more in-depth thoughts about Spilled!
Reviewed on Steam Deck | Review code provided by PR/publisher. This review is the personal opinion of the writer. Got unanswered questions about this game? Get in touch on X!
| Developer | Lente |
| Publisher | Lente |
Things I Liked
- Cleaning up the environment | Loading into murky waters with oil spillages all around you filled me with disgust – if there is one thing I hate in the world, it’s pollution. Luckily for me, Spilled! allowed me the opportunity to control my little boat and clear up every little spec of pollution I could find. Implementing a recycling centre to dispose of your waste when the boat is full was also good as it showed realism and allowed you to earn coins for your hard work. It’s incredibly satisfying to visualise all the waste being cleaned up and swept into the recycling centre even more so with the visual effects that come with it.
- Pixelated and altering visuals | Now, as you clean up the waste, the waters subtly change to project the difference you are making to the environment and this is one element of the game I loved. The more waste you clear out of the area you’re in, the cleaner the water appears, allowing you to see under the water clearer and watch aquatic life return to inhabit the waters because you’ve given them that ability. It gave me a heartwarming feeling and made me question the truly poor conditions of our oceans and how if everyone just did their bit, there would be a massive improvement. As for the artistic direction, the game doesn’t blow your mind from a graphical point of view but it doesn’t need to and that’s the beauty of these cosy games. It portrays minimal details but is brought to life by its animations and beautiful colours. Different biomes also keep the game fresh and give you different environments to enjoy.
- Upgrades | As you bring more and more pollution to the recycling centre, you are rewarded with coins. These coins can be used to upgrade three different elements of your boat – the capacity, the speed, or how much your boat can grab at any one time. Every upgrade of one type costs more each time you go to upgrade but it’s entirely down to personal preference in how you choose to spend your coins. Personally, I distributed my coins evenly amongst the three choices but found the capacity to be my most favoured. Being rewarded for cleaning up is a nice and welcomed addition, encouraging you to keep up the good work.
- Audio and soundtrack | As with the majority of cosy games, the audio can be just as important as the appearance and Spilled! certainly delivered on both the sound effects and soundtrack. Not only is the background music soothing to listen to, creating a calming atmosphere, but the sound effects matched their counterparts perfectly. I can’t find any way to fault the audio and can only give it praise. I forgot how calming it can be to listen to the sound of moving waters – and also how much it can make your bladder act up at the same time; it sounded so realistic!
Mixed & Disliked
- Short playtime | Although this has been described as a quick game you can come back to at your leisure, I wish the game would’ve been a little longer overall – even just an extra hour or so. It took me just over an hour to clear every area and I was left wanting more – to clean up more of the ocean and do my duty! As Spilled! is a cosy game that is designed to be short in playtime, I’m not exactly complaining – I was just enjoying my time that much, getting addicted to the cleaning process and upgrade system, that I didn’t want the gameplay to stop. It’s a good thing really that I wanted the game to be longer!
- Educational potential | It was in no way necessary to add educational information to Spilled! – it’s just something I’ve had multiple thoughts about. Little fact pop-ups when you clean up X amount of rubbish, fun facts about the animals you can rescue, differences you can make in your recycling habits etc. Maybe I’m just thinking about things more than I should but I would have loved a couple of these thrown into the equation to make the game stand out more and be informative – even if only in small amounts to encourage recycling further.
How long did I play the review before publishing? 1 Hour 30 Minutes
How long to beat the story? Approximately 1 Hour
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? N/A
You’ll love this game if you like these | Unpacking, Tiny Glade, A Little to the Left – All the Cosy games!
Conclusion
Score: 78/100
Spilled! is a lovely little game that lets you clean up waste in your own time while being rewarded in upgrades for your time. The focus is on cleaning up different types of pollution by using relaxing/cosy gameplay, one small section at a time. It looks beautiful, the soundtrack is chill, and the gameplay is satisfying showing how clearing pollution can affect animals in the ocean. I would have liked slightly more content and maybe some focus on educational elements but otherwise, Spilled! scrubs up pretty well as it stands.
Hello, I’m Victoria. I’m from the UK and have been playing video games for as long as I can remember; back on DreamCast. I’ve pretty much fallen for Xbox since I was around eight years old and remember BioShock being my first game on the Xbox360. Although I find it thoroughly enjoyable to not only experience gameplay, I also find comfort in getting lost and engrossed in the online worlds that sometimes differ greatly from what we know. Another side of my Xbox passion would be achievement hunting and gamerscore. I thrive when I hear the little sound of one popping up on the screen and I’m always finding ways to work on my backlog when possible. Horror is my favourite genre so if you have any recommendations, don’t be afraid to send them my way!
