Paradise Marsh

About

"Paradise Marsh" is a serene, narrative-driven game where you explore a procedurally generated wetland to solve the mystery of the fallen stars. Catch various critters, meet celestial characters, and discover hidden messages. With its calming atmosphere and no time limits, it encourages players to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 758 reviews

story36 positive mentions

grinding10 negative mentions

Beautiful art and sound design create a calming atmosphere.
Engaging story with meaningful themes about life, death, and introspection.
Charming characters and unique personalities for each critter enhance the experience.

Gameplay can become repetitive, especially when searching for specific critters.
Lack of a map makes navigation difficult, leading to frustration in finding certain areas.
Some bugs and technical issues, such as broken achievements on certain platforms.

story
130 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
70%
2%
The game's story is described as charming and profound, often touching on themes of life and death, with players uncovering layers through exploration and interactions with NPCs. While some found the narrative engaging and beautifully presented, others felt it was overshadowed by gameplay frustrations and a lack of clarity in its messaging. Overall, the story is seen as a meditative experience that complements the game's relaxing visuals and sound design, though opinions vary on its depth and execution.
- “The story that slowly unfolds is bittersweet, but filled with love and humor.”
- “The story has such beautiful messages behind it, which pairs very well with the pretty graphics.”
- “I fell into the story and I didn't feel so alone with my thoughts anymore.”
- “The game looks like a cozy bug collecting game but has an overarching story that I didn't see coming and that didn't really fit the rest of the game.”
- “I wasn't a huge fan of the story, but they give you plenty of things to hunt for and collect.”
- “It's sort of a walking simulator, but it's more than just that - exploring the wild trying to catch the stuff when learning a little more about what the game is, although I can't lie I kind of ignored the story and just had a blast exploring the wild, trying to do optional achievements and interacting with all of the things in the game.”
gameplay
107 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
72%
6%
The gameplay in "Paradise Marsh" is characterized by its simplicity and charm, focusing on bug-catching mechanics within a visually appealing world that features limited biomes. While many players appreciate the relaxing and narrative-driven experience, some find the gameplay repetitive and lacking depth, particularly towards the end when the quest for missing critters becomes time-consuming. Overall, the game is best enjoyed for its aesthetics and atmosphere rather than for complex gameplay mechanics.
- “A remarkably chill narrative-based collectathon with inbuilt randomization and sandbox mechanics.”
- “Relaxing and varied gameplay, wonderful visuals, and get this: actually good poetry.”
- “Not to mention the gameplay and world generation is just outstanding and so immersive.”
- “Gameplay-wise, it got repetitive towards the end because catching the one missing critter was very time consuming.”
- “The gameplay itself is a bit boring after a while and it took me a lot longer than I thought it would to get the motivation to keep playing.”
- “Gameplay consists of hopping around and collecting bugs, bottles, a couple of minigames, and that's about it really, so it's a shallow collector/adventure game with bad graphics and worse subtext.”
graphics
104 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
48%
6%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their calming and cute art style, reminiscent of titles like "A Short Hike" and "Animal Crossing." Players appreciate the beautiful, pixelated visuals and the overall aesthetic, which enhances the game's relaxing atmosphere and storytelling. While some critiques mention minor issues like frame rate and color transitions, the overall impression is that the graphics contribute significantly to the game's charm and immersive experience.
- “Paradise Marsh has to be one of the most beautiful games you could play, from graphics to audio to gameplay to storyline - it brings a deep feeling of sonder to the player, and you feel nothing but blissful calm while playing.”
- “This is a beautiful game, from the graphics to the dialogue; it's stunning.”
- “The story has such beautiful messages behind it, which pairs very well with the pretty graphics.”
- “Overall, it's kinda boring after a bit, even though the graphics are pretty.”
- “Whilst I really liked the art style (cute and quite minimalist, in a way), seeing the sunrise in a couple of areas was a bit of an eyesore; transitions from a pleasant nighttime color palette to a sudden bright orange.”
- “Gameplay consists of hopping around and collecting bugs, bottles, a couple of minigames, and that's about it really, so it's a shallow collector/adventure game with bad graphics and worse subtext.”
music
62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
47%
5%
The music in the game is widely praised for its beautiful, soothing, and immersive qualities, effectively setting the mood and enhancing the overall experience. Composed by disasterpeace, the soundtrack is noted for its adaptability to the environment, creating a calming atmosphere that complements the game's visuals and themes. Players appreciate the chill and peaceful nature of the music, often finding themselves revisiting the game just to enjoy the soundtrack and its poetic undertones.
- “Beautiful soundtrack, wonderful philosophy, an overall really nice experience.”
- “Wonderful game with a surprising amount of detail put into it, absolutely fantastic how the music is adaptive and linked directly to the environment in a way that is enticing and enjoyable.”
- “With its gorgeous pastel color palette and soothing synth soundtrack (by disasterpeace of ‘Fez’ and ‘Hyper Light Drifter’ fame), Paradise Marsh transports you to a much calmer headspace.”
- “It feels more like the dev wanting their poetry and deep thoughts heard and weren't sure how to accomplish that without a game behind it, kind of like how ConcernedApe talks about his music in Stardew.”
- “A lot of the times I don't really notice the music even though it's there.”
- “[b] audio/music [/b] very cute, very chill, very much in the background.”
emotional
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its emotional depth, combining a cute art style with heartfelt and meaningful dialogue that resonates with players. It explores simple yet profound themes of life, self-acceptance, and coping with grief in a gentle manner, making it a soothing and introspective experience. While some players recommend it for its emotional adventure, they suggest purchasing it at a lower price, as its shorter length may not justify a higher cost.
- “The game may look cute and wholesome, but the main theme is actually spending time in the space-in-between and sitting there for a little bit.”
- “I'm scared of [spoiler]death and grief[/spoiler], hence why I cried, but the game handles it in a gentle way and shows you different ways that people think about it, prompting you to create the best perspective and life for yourself.”
- “I'm usually not too fond of games that go 'deep and meaningful,' as it usually feels either forced or very uncomfortable, but this game does, just about, breach into people like me... that can cringe or really struggle to open up emotionally: it addresses quite simple themes of life from different mindsets and highlights the flaws of each mindset and the positives to indicate that there really isn't anything wrong with you: and that you should love yourself, which is a theme I can appreciate greatly.”
atmosphere
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
23%
10%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its unique biomes, stunning visuals, and immersive sound design, creating a relaxing and contemplative experience. Players appreciate the cozy, chill vibe that encourages exploration and reflection, often likening it to beloved titles like Animal Crossing. Overall, the atmosphere is described as beautiful and engaging, enhancing the gameplay with a sense of personality and nostalgia.
- “Cute and relaxing game with a fantastic atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere built is beautiful; Disasterpiece's immersive and soothing music meshed so well with the simple but engaging exploration of the marshlands in all their stunning colors.”
- “Best played in a quiet atmosphere where you can enjoy poetry and contemplation in between jumping on lily pads and eating strange mushrooms.”
- “Relaxing, with a mysterious atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere, dialogue, sound design, music.”
- “You can tell the developer poured their heart and soul into the game, especially the atmosphere and bittersweet narrative (yes, there's a narrative - I also thought this was just a funny bug catching game at first!).”
humor
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by witty dialogue from quirky bug characters and amusing interactions with the environment, creating a lighthearted and relatable experience. Players appreciate the clever writing and the bittersweet narrative that unfolds, enhancing the overall charm and relaxation of the adventure. The combination of humor, stunning visuals, and engaging sound design contributes to a delightful atmosphere that resonates with players.
- “The story that slowly unfolds is bittersweet, but filled with love and humor.”
- “The writing is funny and witty, and manages to ask compelling questions about where you are and the net you were given.”
- “It's as relaxing as it is clever and funny.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, especially towards the end, as they often spend excessive time searching for specific creatures to complete collections. The repetitive nature of catching multiple creatures, combined with the mechanics that remove entire groups after catching one, contributes to a sense of grindiness that can detract from the overall experience. However, some players appreciate the charm of the game, noting that the gameplay loop remains engaging for a while.
- “I had caught everything, done all the NPCs, and was now just running around for over an hour looking for 1 creature to stock up on (because you have to catch them multiple times to complete the constellation, but once you catch 1 from a group, the whole group goes away, so it can become very tedious).”
- “The game becomes repetitive and a bit tedious towards the end with that 'catch them all' vibe.”
- “Later game feels insanely grindy.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the atmospheric experience that encourages revisiting, others find the short length and lack of unique content limit its long-term appeal. A few users express a desire for more distinctive elements to enhance replay value, suggesting that the game may not hold players' interest for multiple playthroughs.
- “I beat this game in one sitting, and likely will play it far more in the future, just for zen replay value.”
- “Re-playable to some extent in that way.”
- “For me, that's a little much considering it's a short game and I'm unlikely to come back to it in the future, as it doesn't have a lot of replay value.”
- “I guess as there's no replayability as such, a handcrafted map would have been better with more unique landmarks.”
- “This game is pretty short to beat, but I can see a lot of replay value for just getting lost in the game and enjoying the atmosphere.”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been reported to have several bugs, including issues with item management and minor glitches, particularly on Mac systems. However, players noted that most problems could be resolved by restarting the game, leading to an overall enjoyable experience despite the stability concerns.
- “It's a little buggy; I got stuck with two fish on my hook and couldn't drop an item because my notebook kept opening instead. However, any issues were easily fixed by just exiting the game and continuing from the menu.”
- “The game was cute but was very buggy and felt like I was walking around in circles doing the same things over and over.”
- “Aside from some minor Mac-related glitches, it was a good experience.”

56%Critics’ scoreBased on 4 critic reviews

Buy Paradise Marsh

4h Median play time

4h Average play time

2-5h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 6 analyzed playthroughs

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Platforms

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Paradise Marsh (Nintendo Switch)

Paradise Marsh (Switch) Review

Paradise Marsh review - surrender to the calm and colour of nature

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