Captain Backwater

About

Captain Backwater is a single player casual puzzle game. It was developed by joemanaco and was released on September 12, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Captain Backwater is a challenging puzzle game. To solve the 100 Levels you need to slide items around the playfield. If they collide with similar ones they magically disappear. This sounds simple, but it's getting more and more challenging...

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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67%

Audience ScoreBased on 15 reviews

music3 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

Charming pixel graphics and relaxing gameplay reminiscent of 'Stardew Valley', focusing on fishing and exploration.
Offers a meditative fishing experience with a variety of fish and opportunities to upgrade equipment while discovering secrets.
Fun and easy to play, making it a great introduction to puzzle games for children.

Gameplay can feel monotonous and lacks depth, which may not appeal to hardcore gamers seeking dynamic action.
The game suffers from technical issues, such as crashing when switching to full screen and a lack of achievements or trading cards.
Collectibles like coins and bananas are poorly implemented, often feeling unnecessary and frustrating to gather.

graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game's graphics are described as colorful but limited, with non-widescreen visuals that appear stretched on modern monitors. While there are some options for high-quality visuals, the overall presentation feels outdated, and the lack of updates over five years, such as a speech slider, detracts from the experience.
- “Graphically, Captain Backwater is colorful and the soundtrack is cool!”
- “Colorful graphics.”
- “Non-widescreen graphics are the usual casual-colorful kind, stretched to fill the screen on widescreen monitors, which I'm sure were available back in 2017 as well.”
- “Even more ridiculously, 5 years weren't enough to add a speech slider, so you don't even get a better experience for double the current price of this, just some slightly different graphics.”
- “Graphically, Captain Backwater is colourful and the soundtrack is cool!”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The gameplay features quirky mechanics such as arrows, stop signs, and rapiers across 100 progressively unlocked levels, offering a variety of actions beyond just sliding. However, players have noted that while the core gameplay is enjoyable, it is marred by bugs, annoying speech, and issues with collectibles, leading to a generally simple experience.
- “The game has some quirky mechanics like arrows, stop signs, and rapiers that you can utilize to complete the level.”
- “The core gameplay would be fine, shame about the bugs, annoying speech, and collectibles.”
- “In regards to the gameplay, it is very simple.”
- “100 levels unlocked one by one, and besides the sliding action, there are a bunch of mechanics.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is generally praised for its quality and coolness, but it suffers from repetitiveness and some annoying soundbites that detract from the overall experience.
- “Graphically, Captain Backwater is colorful and the soundtrack is cool!”
- “Music is surprisingly good, if very repetitive.”
story
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The story revolves around a straightforward mission where players are tasked with eliminating all pieces from the board, suggesting a focus on gameplay mechanics rather than a deep narrative.
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The monetization of Captain Backwater is criticized as a cheap cash grab, with users noting that it is a free mobile app poorly ported to Steam, suggesting a lack of effort in its development and pricing strategy.
- “Captain Backwater is a free mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as a cheap, lazy cash grab.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, pushing players to spend money to enjoy basic features.”
- “It's frustrating to see so many paywalls in a game that should be accessible to everyone.”