Harold Halibut’s hand-made clay aesthetic is too good to be just a throwback

Few games this year have looked as good in action as Harold Halibut, the stop-motion-style adventure game that looks like you’re watching something physical, made by human hands.

And you are watching something made by human hands, of course, though not quite how you’d expect. The models shown in-game are based on real clay props, the sets real weathered models. It all fits the rusty, rattly spaceship on which Harold Halibut is set – and fits a very British retro aesthetic.

But reducing the game to a throwback does it a disservice – at least, that’s what friend of Eurogamer Jim Trinca from VG247 thinks. In his video here, he celebrates the game’s art style. It’s not a perfect model – but that’s the point.