Paradise Marsh is a pleasantly surprising experience that uses its relaxing, bug catching gameplay to explore the complex philosophies of life and death. This game comes from developer Etienne Trudeau and manages to carve its own unique space in the relaxing-gaming niche that games like Animal Crossing and Slime Rancher call home. Though it waxes poetic at times and has some secrets that feel like they should result in something more, the overall experience is short, sweet, and successfully says everything it wants to.
Paradise Marsh begins in the sky, though this doesn’t last long as the player causes all the constellations to break apart and fall to the marshes below. The player then wakes up in the marsh with nothing but a bug net and view of a mysterious black monolith. From here, it’s up to players to explore this world and catch the variety of animals that dot the landscape, starting with a little tadpole.
The gameplay of Paradise Marsh is simple, with the player walking and jumping around in search of animals and secrets. When catching an animal, they are added to the player’s notebook which provides some clues about where to find and catch things like beetles and frogs, a poetic description that hints at what philosophical view each represents, as well as how many of them are necessary to catch to complete their constellations. The marsh itself is an infinite loop that cycles between themed biomes such as one filled with Tori gates and paper lanterns, where the sky is warm and calm, which can transition into a land of snow filled with campfires and snowmen.
Some animals have unique conditions for where they can be found. Moths, for example, can only be found under light poles at night while tadpoles can only be found in shallow bodies of water. A lot of these areas are only found in specific (and sometimes rare) biomes, so it’s crucial for players to learn these patterns and quirks to successfully catch all the animals. As animals are caught, their stars return to the sky and when looking up at night, players can interact with the stars to listen to the various animals and hear their unique personalities, as well as what they represent to the story.
Poetry and philosophy are at the heart of this experience. Whether it’s the stars, the various birds that speak in poems, or the various messages in bottles, each of them offers a different perspective and gets players emotionally invested as time goes on – though some poems are more successful than others. The weakest of these comes from the birds, as it’s unclear if they’re hints to secrets, paths, and animals or if they’re just spouting rhyme and prose that’s meant to stand on its own.
This uncertainty is Paradise Marsh‘s biggest issue, and it includes more than just the birds. There are many secrets that players can interact with, such as the snowmen, flower seeds, chopped wood, and tree houses. When interacting with the latter two, the player will be rewarded with an instrument that unlocks an achievement when all are found and played, but nothing seems to happen in-game. Bottled messages are also difficult to find towards the end, enough so that the desire to have something to help locate them grew increasingly stronger. While it’s perfectly fine to have things like this be present as something fun or to add to the game’s philosophy, players are left feeling disappointed by this part of the game’s content as that uncertainty lead to an hour of experimenting only for nothing to happen.
Despite this, Paradise Marsh clearly communicates what it wants to say and the questions it wants the players to consider. Much like life, will players take their time and explore or rush through to see the ending? Will they swing their net methodically or wildly in hopes of catching something? With beautiful art, subtle sound design and music by Disasterpiece, and well-written poetry that shows a deep understanding of philosophy, Paradise Marsh leaves players reflecting on what they’ve experienced long after it ends and that is more than enough reason to recommend this game.
Paradise Marsh is available October 13 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, MacOS, Linux, and Windows via Steam. Screen Rant was provided with a Steam digital download for the purpose of this review.
