Exclusive: ‘Loddlenaut’, The Chao Garden-Inspired, Ocean-Cleanup Game, Revealed For Switch

Whether you’re an environmentally conscious sort or you find compulsive cleaning relaxing, you’ll probably be happy to hear that Loddlenaut, which launched on Steam last November to Overwhelmingly Positive reviews, is coming to Switch on 19th September.

Dubbed “PowerWash SWIMulator” — a groan-worthy pun of the variety we’d be proud had we come up with it — this new version of indie dev Moon Lagoon’s ocean-cleanup game will come with “a major new free update” integrated (which will be launching on PC), and with influences as wide-ranging as the gorgeous Abzu and the Chao Garden from Sonic Adventure 2, it grabbed our attention despite the waves of cosy, cutesy games crashing onto Switch every week.

Eager to know more? Handily, in addition to exclusively revealing the Switch port and the video above, we had the chance to speak to developer Ricardo Escobar, co-founder and one-half of Moon Lagoon, to find out a little more about the game and what Switch gamers can look forward to in a few weeks’ time.

Nintendo Life: We understand that Loddlenaut started out as a student project — could you tell us a little of the history behind how it got off the ground and what influenced the game’s environmental theme?

Image: Ricardo Escobar
Ricardo Escobar, Co-founder of Moon Lagoon: Loddlenaut began as a graduating thesis project between myself and Jin-Young Sohn at the NYU Game Center. We both had a particular interest in making something set in an alien ocean, and during the brainstorming process we began reminiscing on our childhood memories of playing with Tamagotchis and my own early 2000s obsession with the Chao Garden from Sonic Adventure 2. So we quickly settled on the concept of an “underwater pet sim” where you raise these little axolotl alien creatures, but the cleanup mechanics and environmental themes didn’t come until a bit later.

Our initial idea of Loddlenaut involved a lot more survival mechanics that were directly inspired by Subnautica

We were searching for a core gameplay mechanic to give players a reason to explore the ocean while they weren’t raising loddles, and we wanted something that felt intensely satisfying and rewarding without relying on combat or high-stress situations. An instructor of ours made an off-hand comment about how fun it is to clean and restore areas in games like House Flipper, and suddenly it clicked. Framing the player as a caretaker of this ocean, not just thematically but also through the game’s mechanics and systems – it all brought an immense cohesion to our creative decision-making throughout development.

After graduating, we were awarded a grant by our university to continue developing the game, which gave us enough runway to arrange a successful Kickstarter campaign and land a publishing deal with Secret Mode. And now we’re here!

Image: Nintendo Life / Secret Mode
How did you go about blending inspirational elements from games like SA2, Abzu, and Subnautica while giving Loddlenaut its own distinct voice and style? There’s no shortage of cute-‘n-cosy games these days, and standing out must be challenging.

Abzu, Subnautica, and Sonic Adventure 2 are all pretty core to the DNA of Loddlenaut, but in general we try to be pretty selective in how we borrow things from other games. Our initial idea of Loddlenaut involved a lot more survival mechanics that were directly inspired by Subnautica, but as we settled more on the core gameplay loop of cleaning up the ocean, those mechanics started to make less sense. Instead, we used both Subnautica and Abzu as references for how to craft open aquatic environments that aren’t too disorienting to navigate. This was our first time making a 3D game, so needed as many references as we could get!

The Chao Garden was probably our strongest source of inspiration, but even then we decided to omit many of its characteristic systems like competitions between pets and egg-related economies, as they felt like they didn’t have a place in what we were making. Overall, we’ve tried to create a game that carries the essence of what we enjoy most from these other titles, but in a way that isn’t an exact genre match to any of our inspirations.

In terms of standing out from all the other wholesome titles out there, for us that meant focusing on what words like ‘cosy’ mean to us. We’ve always wanted Loddlenaut to be a game that conveys its theme and tone through gameplay rather than purely visual or narrative trappings. We’ve found games like Balatro and Hades to be incredibly comforting in their ability to totally captivate our brains through rich systems and satisfying mechanics. We hope that the attention to detail we’ve placed in all the cleaning tools and loddle interactions have resulted in a similarly captivating experience that brings a unique sense of comfort to anyone who plays Loddlenaut.

How has the process of bringing the game to Switch been? Any particular bumps or surprises along the way?

It was definitely a challenge! Our main technical hurdle was the fact that Loddlenaut takes place in one giant, open level with zero loading screens – the entire world is loaded in from the moment you start the game, and all the loddles and fruit-bearing plants in the ocean are running their simulations at all times. The game was designed this way because we initially had zero knowledge of all the fancy world-streaming systems that modern open-world games typically utilise. This did result in a pretty seamless gameplay experience, but it ultimately came at a cost. As it turns out, the Switch doesn’t like it when you hand over one giant level with thousands of assets and expect things to boot up quickly and run smoothly!

Luckily, we had the fine folks at PlayEveryWare working with us to develop some sneaky techniques to hide certain assets and lower the simulation rate of various flora & fauna at times that are completely unnoticeable to the player, so playing Loddlenaut on Switch should be pretty indistinguishable from the existing PC experience.

What tweaks and additions will the Goddles update bring? Will they be noticeable to Switch users or are they integrated into the base game?

This update adds a new hidden biome called Goddle Grotto, which is home to three primordial Goddles that each have their own unique ability. The entirety of Goddle Grotto is cleanable and features a luminescent, crystalline aesthetic that isn’t seen anywhere else in the game. We’ve also added an entirely new gardening system that allows players to plant seeds throughout the ocean, which will eventually grow into plants that prevent pollution from returning to the ocean.

we wanted something that felt intensely satisfying and rewarding without relying on combat or high-stress situations

We’re especially excited for players to get their hands on a new upgrade that allows you to view all of the ocean’s pollution at a glance, as we know how much people enjoy eliminating every last speck of gunk across GUP-14! There are quite a few other changes and features we’ve snuck into this update, so we can’t wait for both new and returning players to discover everything that this version of the game has in store.

All of this new content will be fully integrated into the base game, so first-time players on Switch will be playing what is essentially the ‘complete edition’ of Loddlenaut. Most of the things in this update had always been on our wish list of features to add to the game, so what we’re releasing on Switch really represents our full vision for Loddlenaut.

Image: Nintendo Life / Secret Mode
Finally, what’s next for Moon Lagoon?

We’re not really sure yet! With this being our first game and the only thing we’ve worked on since graduating from school, it’s honestly a bit strange for us to imagine a time when we aren’t developing Loddlenaut. It’s been such a core part of our lives for over five years now, so it’s going to require some retraining for our brains to not be constantly living on planet GUP-14!

While we don’t know exactly what we’ll be doing next, we suspect it’ll involve a bit of a stylistic pivot. After being immersed in a vibrant and cosy world for so long, we’re quite interested in exploring different genres and aesthetics that feel fresh and exciting for us. We’ve had a lot of diverse ideas come up in the past year, and we’re eager to begin experimenting with all the techniques and lessons we’ve learned while making Loddlenaut.

Thanks to Ricardo for taking the time to answer our questions. Loddlenaut is out on Switch on 19th September.