Factsheet
Developer:
Slow Bros.
Based in Cologne, Germany
Release date:
April 16th 2024
Platforms:
Steam
Playstation
XBox
Website:
http://www.haroldhalibut.com
Regular Price:
| USD | $34.99 |
| EUR | €34,99 |
| GBP | £29.50 |
Description
Harold Halibut is a handmade narrative game about friendship, and life on a city-sized spaceship submerged in an alien ocean. Join Harold as he explores a vibrant retro-future world in his quest to find the true meaning of ‘home’.
It’s been 250 years since your home - an ark-like spaceship - fled an Earth on the verge of cold war to find a habitable planet to preserve the human race.
You are Harold, a young lab assistant for the ship’s lead scientist, Jeanne Mareaux. While most of the ship’s inhabitants have reconciled themselves to a life lived aboard the sunken ship, Mareaux still works tirelessly to find a way for the ship to leave the planet and find a new, dryer home.
But the weird, wonderful and diverse people of the FEDORA I keep Harold busy too… Until one fateful encounter plunges Harold into a world no one could have imagined - and one that may hold the key to Mareaux’s re-launch plans.
Join Harold as he explores a vibrant retro-future world in his quest to find the true meaning of ‘home’.
History
Harold Halibut started life in 2012 as a conversation over dinner about our love of stop-motion and story games.
It wasn’t long after that we started building dollhouse sized sets and puppets in our bedrooms.
The result is a cross between game and stop motion film.
Welded metal, textiles sewn against tiny wooden floorboards and clay faces the size of walnuts immerse the player in Harold’s tactile world.
Features
-
Unique Stop-Motion Aesthetics:
Every element in Harold Halibut is a tactile and meticulously hand-crafted using traditional sculpting and model-making techniques. -
Full Voice Acting:
All of the Fedoras' wonderful inhabitants come to life with full English voiceover, elevating the game's narrative to cinematic proportions. -
An expansive Character Ensemble:
Meet a variety of unique characters and get to know their personalities, quirks and stories through meaningful conversations. -
A riveting cinematic storyline:
Journey through a captivating narrative, underscored by a carefully orchestrated script that blends drama, humor, and suspense.
Videos
Release Date Reveal Trailer YouTube, Vimeo
Release Window Trailer YouTube, Vimeo
Story Trailer 2021 YouTube, Vimeo
Making Of Teaser Vimeo
Images
Logo & Icon
Awards & Recognition
- "Nominated for "Most Wanted" and "Best Marketing Action"" Deutscher Entwicklerpreis, 2017
- "Nominated for "Most Anticipated"" Unity Awards, 2018
- "Winner" Kultur und Kreativpiloten, 2019
- "Official Selection" Tribeca Festival, 2021
- "Official Selection" Slamdance, 2022
- "Semi-Finalist - Best Trailer" ARFF Paris, 2022
- "Grand Remi Winner, New Media" Worldfest Houston, 2022
- "Official Selection" New Media Film Festival, 2022
- "Winner in the Category Video Game" San Francisco Frozen Film Festival, 2022
- "Official Selection" Nashville Film Festival, 2022
- "Semi-Finalist" Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, 2022
- "Quarter-Finalist in the Category Best Trailer" Sunvale Film Festival, 2022
- "Official Selection" Montreal International Animation Film Festival - ANIMAZE, 2022
- "Winner in the Category Video Game" Out of the Can International Film Festival, 2022
- "Official Selection in the Category Video Game" Kaboom Animation Festival, 2023
- "Official Selection in the Category "Most Anticipated"" Indie Cup Germany, 2023
- "Official Selection in the Category "Critics' Choice"" Indie Cup Germany, 2023
- "Winner in the Category "Best Art"" Gamescom latam BIG Festival, 2024
- "Finalist in the Category "Best Narrative"" Gamescom latam BIG Festival, 2024
- "Finalist in the Category "Best Sound"" Gamescom latam BIG Festival, 2024
- "Finalist in the Category "Best Game"" Gamescom latam BIG Festival, 2024
- "Nominated in the Category "PC"" Tommi Kindesoftwarepreis, 2024
- "Nominated in the Category "Console"" Tommi Kindesoftwarepreis, 2024
- "Nominated in the Category "Jugendpreis Games"" Tommi Kindesoftwarepreis, 2024
- "Nominated in the Category "Best Visual Design"" Golden Joysticks, 2024
- "Winner in the Category "Best Graphics"" Deutscher Entwicklerpreis, 2024
- "Nominated in the Category "Best German Game"" Deutscher Entwicklerpreis, 2024
- "Nominated in the Category "Best Story"" Deutscher Entwicklerpreis, 2024
- "Nominated in the Category "Best Technical Achievement"" Deutscher Entwicklerpreis, 2024
- "Winner in the Category "Best Narrative"" Indie Awards, 2024
- "Winner in the Category "Visual Design"" Indie Game Awards, 2024
- "Longlisted in the Category "Artistic Achievement"" BAFTA, 2025
- "Longlisted in the Category "Animation"" BAFTA, 2025
- "Longlisted in the Category "Debut Game"" BAFTA, 2025
Selected Articles
- "Harold Halibut is like a cheery BioShock under an alien sea"
- Stephanie Chan, venturebeat.com - "Just when you think this industry might be getting a little stagnant, someone goes and makes a game out of clay and Popsicle sticks."
- Jessica Famularo, Rock Paper Shotgun - " This is what I might have imagined game development was like as a 6-year-old."
- Keza McDonald, Kotaku - " This is easily one of the coolest and most unique looking games we’ve seen in awhile."
- Tony Polanco, GEEK.com - "[…] a uniquely imperfect style and depth that you can't quite get through all-digital animation."
- Jon Fingas, Engadget.com - "[…]a love letter to classic adventure games of old."
- Zack Zweizen, Killscreen.com - "Looking more like an art house short film than a video game[…]"
- Joey Haar, trendhunter.com - "There’s something to be said for a video game this unabashedly tactile, and the amount of workmanship that seems to be going into Harold's physical-to-digital world should, at the very least, make for one hell of a visual presentation."
- Mitch Wallace, forbes.com - "Harold Halibut looks like a painstakingly rendered animated film. But in fact, it’s a game, created like none before it."
- Mark Wilson, fastcodesign.com
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Additional Links
About Slow Bros.
Boilerplate
SLOW BROS. is a small indie studio based in Germany dedicated to thoughtfully bridging analogue and digital worlds in the form of interactive experiences.
More information
More information on Slow Bros., our logo & relevant media are available here.
Harold Halibut Credits
Onat Hekimoglu
Creator, Director, Game Designer, Development Lead, Composer, Writer, Mocap Performer
Ole Tillmann
Creator, Art Director, Puppetmaker, Writer, Illustrator, Level Designer
Fabian Preuschoff
Creator, Set Architect, Minature Carpenter, Director of Photography, Writer, Level Designer, Casting Director
Ilja Burzev
Creator, Technical Art Director, 3D Mastermind, Motion Capturing Lead
Daniel Beckmann
Creator, 3D Artist, 3D Scanning
Danny Wadeson
Dialogue Maestro
Holle Schlickmann
Textile and Costume Design
Kardelen Babal
3D Artist (Characters), Rigging, Facial Animation
Volker Zerbe
Level Designer, 3D Artist (Environment), VFX
Mahee Pal
Mocap Cleanup
Sol Bekic
Programmer (Systems and Minigames)
Gabriel Schmitz
Programmer (Tools)
Maximilian Selvi
Additional Programming
Sascha Haus
Sound Designer, Additional Music
Tommy Kolak
Audio Engineer
Contact
Inquiries
mail@slow-bros.com
Twitter (Slow Bros.)
http://twitter.com/Slow_Bros
Twitter (Harold Halibut)
http://twitter.com/haroldhalibut
Facebook (Harold Halibut)
http://facebook.com/haroldhalibut
Instagram (Harold Halibut)
http://instagram.com/harold_halibut
Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/slowbro
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOrz6jpJXi0A1BueYXs7txg
Web (Slow Bros.)
http://www.slow-bros.com
Web (Harold Halibut)
http://www.haroldhalibut.com
presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks