Spilled! (PC, Steam)
Spilled! is a very small game about making the world a nicer place. You pilot a boat, armed with a water cannon and a big scoop, through polluted, oil-filled water to clean up the gunk, sweep all of the debris away, and rescue stuck animals. Returning the mess and debris to a recyling centre gives you coins which you can then spend on upgrades for the boat, such as faster speed, a larger holding tank, or an even bigger scoop.
It aims to be relaxing, rather than intensely fun – the reward for cleaning up each area is seeing the formerly brown and murky waters returning to beautiful blue ones teeming with coral, tropical fish and plants, and rescuing its creatures from being trapped in muck, rather than acheivements or loud fanfares.
The controls are simple: RB/RT to accelerate, LB/LT to slow down, B to stop, and the left stick to turn. (Just note that the turning is relative to the screen, not the boat, so holding the stick left will make the boat turn towards the left of the screen regardless of direction). The water cannon and magnetic scoop are assigned to the face buttons, which the settings menu describes as “button north/south/east/west” – I’m not sure if this is a programming/translation efficiency thing, or just a quirk, but either way I quite liked it.
The UI is also very minimal, as the small size of each sub-area, and the choice to have a recycling center and upgrade stations in each sub-area, means that information such as your coin count and the number of coins needed for upgrades can be stored on these buildings and not require any HUD space. The instructions are wordless, which I often dislike, but it this case it is done well – the pictures and icons used are very clear, as are the video prompts that show how to activate an upgrade station when you drive into it.
The pixel-art graphics are very pleasant and detailed in the environments I saw during the demo, and they demonstrate the relaxing nature of the game well. The gentle piano-led soundtrack also supports this. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the “slurp” noise of sucking up the oil from the water, that’s just my dysfunctional ears – the sound does work well in the conext of the game. (It can also be turned off separately from the music.).
When I finished the demo section after about 20 minutes, the ending screen said that there was “about 45 minutes of game left after this point”. Spilled! is made by one developer, Lente, with another person assisting with graphics, and its clear that they are aiming to share a small but finished and polished game, rather than overpromising and having to compromise.
Am I buying this one? Yes. £4.49 for what will be an enjoyable 1-1.5 hours, and which supports the indie-est kind of indie dev, is a fair trade for me. Spilled! is a definite recommend if you like games such as Unpacking or Powerwash Simulator. As a bonus, 10 cents from every sale goes to a whale and dolphin conservation charity.
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