Slow Bros.

Factsheet

Developer:
Slow Bros.
Based in Cologne, Germany

Release date:
April 16th 2024

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

download all screenshots & photos as .zip (208MB)

Logo & Icon

download logo files as .zip (261KB)

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

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.