Cosy games have become all the rage in the indie scene over the last 10+ years, some will have you delivering mail or tending to your farm, but what about doing something that makes a difference? This is where Spilled! by solo developer Lente comes along to give you just that.
What Is Spilled!?
Spilled! Sets players the task of cleaning up oil spills and saving the local wildlife using a solar-powered boat. Along the way, you will need to upgrade parts of your boat and help others.
There are multiple areas to clean up and explore as you go, each with its own unique setting and style. You will need to use all the tools at your disposal to clean up the spilled oil, keeping it in the container on the back of your boat, once that is full drop the oil off at the barge to earn coins with which you can buy your upgrades, if clean up the area enough you can move onto the next one.
Something that makes Spilled! special is its production. Lente is a solo developer, and if that isn’t impressive enough they made the game whilst living on a houseboat. If that doesn’t add to the nautical feel then I don’t know what else would.
How Does Spilled! Play
Spilled! is a great example of simplicity at its best. Clean up the area, upgrade your boat, enjoy the chilled vibes, rinse and repeat. As you play you will find some optional objectives to complete whether it’s putting out an abandoned campfire with your water cannon, or finding an item and bringing it to a certain place, all will give you more coins.
Don’t forget to save the animals that are stuck in oil, that’s the most important thing. Spilled! will not challenge you greatly, but the game doesn’t really want to, it wants you to relax and clean up. Enjoy the art style, the music and the pace of the gameplay.
What Is Great About Spilled!
Spilled! delivers a great indie gaming experience, with its easy to pick up controls, vibrant visuals and its environmentally friendly message. Spilled! doesn’t take up too much of your time, the game can be finished in under an hour but it is time well spent. Much like 2022 breakout hit Powerwash Simulator, there’s a real satisfaction to cleaning up the map, seeing an area become fully cleaned and then moving on with an upgraded boat into a larger area and doing the same again.
What Could Be Better
There are so few negatives to this game if your expectations are kept in check going in. The biggest issue to some is going to be its runtime, less than an hour’s gameplay for just under a fiver. You can continue to play the game for longer but you won’t find much to do without starting over from the very beginning.
There’s only really one other negative to Spilled! I drove into the waterfall and there was no treasure behind it!!!!!! I’ve never felt so let down Lente (joking of course).
Conclusion
Spilled! is a bite-sized gaming experience from a solo developer that delivers a great message along with fun gameplay, a great graphical style and brilliant music to boot. If you need a game to chill out to, you could do a lot worse than this little gem.
We here at Spawning Point are looking forward to what may come next from developer Lente and their floating developer studio.
If you are unsure whether to jump in feet first then Steam has a demo you can check out that will give you a taste of the gameplay and the game overall, why not give it a try and see if you wanna play more.
Spilled! is available right now on Steam.
