Review: Loddlenaut - A Satisfying Underwater Cleanup Game Full of Adorable Loddles
A relaxing underwater cleanup adventure that turns clearing rubbish, restoring ecosystems and caring for tiny alien creatures into a wonderfully satisfying few hours
Available on: PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Casual Adventure, Cleaning Sim, Creature Catcher
Developer: Moon Lagoon
Publisher: Secret Mode
How Cozy? ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Game Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Loddlenaut is a cozy underwater cleanup game that sends you to the alien ocean planet GUP-14, where years of corporate activity have left the water polluted and the local ecosystem in a bit of a state.
Your job is pretty simple. Swim around, clear away pollution, collect and recycle rubbish, restore the plant life and gradually make each area habitable again. As the environment improves, you’ll also meet the Loddles, colourful little axolotl-like creatures that you can feed and look after along the way.
I picked Loddlenaut up wanting something relatively easy and satisfying to play, and that’s pretty much exactly what I got. There isn’t a huge amount to learn or keep track of, and most of the enjoyment comes from watching somewhere messy and polluted gradually become clean, colourful and full of life again.
Story
The story in Loddlenaut is fairly light. You play as an interstellar custodian sent to GUP-14 to clean up the pollution left behind by GUPPI, the corporation that previously operated on the planet.
There are bits of environmental storytelling and information to find as you explore, giving you some background on what happened there, but this isn’t really a game you play for a big narrative. Most of the time you’re left to explore and work through the cleanup without being interrupted by dialogue or lengthy story sections.
I actually think that suits the game. The environmental message is obvious without being pushed too heavily, and seeing the difference between the polluted areas you arrive in and the restored habitats you leave behind does a lot of the storytelling on its own.
The Loddles also give you a reason to care about what you’re restoring. Once the little creatures start swimming around areas that were previously covered in rubbish and pollution, the cleanup feels like it has a bit more purpose than simply filling up a progress bar.
Related: Looking for cozy games about nature?
Check out this list of cozy games with an environmental message
Gameplay
Most of Loddlenaut revolves around exploring underwater environments and gradually cleaning them up. You’ll clear goop from plants and surfaces, collect rubbish scattered around the ocean floor and recycle what you find into materials for upgrades.
It’s a simple and repetitive loop, but that was a big part of the appeal for me. There’s something really satisfying about focusing on one small patch of the environment, clearing it up and immediately seeing the difference you’ve made. The restoration percentage also gives you a clear sense of progress without making the game feel pushy.
You do have an oxygen supply to keep an eye on while exploring, but I never found it particularly stressful. There are ways to replenish it and upgrades make things easier as you go, so it quickly becomes part of the routine rather than something that gets in the way.
The Loddles add a bit more variety. You can feed and clean them, and different foods affect how they develop. I liked having the creature care alongside the cleanup without it becoming something I had to constantly manage.
Overall, the gameplay is very straightforward, but that works in its favour. I could pick it up, immediately know what I was doing and spend an hour cleaning without having to think too hard about anything else.
Graphics and Visuals
Loddlenaut has a colourful, slightly cartoony look that works particularly well once you start restoring the different underwater areas.
The polluted environments are deliberately duller and more cluttered when you first arrive, so cleaning them has a noticeable visual payoff. As you remove the goop and rubbish, the colours return, plants begin growing again and the whole area becomes much brighter.
That before and after transformation is a big part of what made the cleaning so satisfying for me. You’re not just watching a percentage increase in the corner of the screen. The environment itself changes around you.
The Loddles are easily the visual highlight. They’re strange, colourful and very cute without feeling like they’ve been designed solely to become plushies, although I would absolutely accept a Loddle plushie.
I also liked how uncomplicated everything is visually. Even when there’s rubbish, plants and several Loddles floating around at once, I never found the environments difficult to read or work my way through.
Longevity
Loddlenaut is not a particularly long game, and I don’t think it really needs to be.
The main story can be completed in a few of hours, although there’s more to do if you want to fully restore every area, find different Loddles, fill out your collections and keep exploring after the main objectives are finished.
For me, the length worked well because the core gameplay is deliberately repetitive. I enjoyed cleaning up the environments, but I’m not sure the same loop would have held my attention for 20 or 30 hours without becoming a bit of a chore.
Instead, it feels like a game you can settle into for a few evenings, enjoy the satisfaction of working through each area and then finish before the cleaning starts to outstay its welcome.
There’s enough optional collecting and completionist stuff there if you want a little more from it, but I was happy with it as a relatively short cozy game.
Conclusion
Loddlenaut is a simple, satisfying little game that gave me exactly what I wanted from it. The cleanup loop is repetitive, but watching each area gradually become cleaner and more colourful made that repetition genuinely enjoyable rather than tedious.
I particularly liked how obvious the progress always feels. You can swim into a polluted area, work on one small section and see an immediate difference, whether that’s rubbish disappearing, plants returning or Loddles beginning to thrive there again.
If you need a game to constantly introduce new mechanics, you might find the cleaning loop a bit too repetitive. But if you like games where you can switch off, work through a clear task and slowly turn something messy into something better, there’s a lot to enjoy here.
The Loddles add just enough creature collecting and personality to the experience without distracting from the part I enjoyed most, which was simply swimming around and cleaning everything up.
It’s relaxing, easy to get into and particularly good when I want something that keeps me occupied without asking too much of me.
Find Your Next Cozy Game
Whether you want a relaxing farming sim, a gentle puzzle game, a cozy adventure, an emotional story or something easy to play on the sofa, my Cozy Games Directory is full of ideas to help you choose what to play next.
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Loddlenaut is a simple, satisfying cozy cleanup game where you restore a polluted alien ocean, recycle rubbish and help colourful little Loddles thrive. It’s relaxing, easy to settle into and full of visible progress.