Duck Side of the Moon Review - Fowl Play In Deep Space
Tackling the infinite void of space as an overworked waterfowl turns out to be an incredibly relaxing adventure.
Developed by Starbrew Games, Duck Side of the Moon is a cozy collectathon that sends Doug, an exhausted duck astronaut, crashing into a gorgeous asteroid belt. The entire area is populated by anthropomorphic geodes. You spend your time embarking on a surprisingly emotional coming of age journey.
A Relaxing Float Through Space
The core gameplay loop revolves entirely around zero gravity exploration and gathering resources at a comfortable pace. You don't have to worry about oxygen meters ticking down or hostile creatures ruining a peaceful mining trip. Doug controls like an absolute dream in the air. You get a built-in booster and can bounce off spring-loaded launchpads, making darting around these floating islands ridiculously fun. It feels completely freeing to just glide between the rocks, zap floating minerals with a mining laser, and take in the stylized art direction. You have total freedom in how you traverse the environment, seamlessly blending ground waddling with smooth aerial drifts.
A Quick Warning on Progression
Leaving the tutorial area comes with a strict point of no return. If you fly out of the starting zone early, all the chests and missing outfits left behind are permanently locked away for the rest of your save file. Taking it slow and vacuuming up every single collectible in the first area ensures you don't miss a crucial upgrade four hours into the story.
Emotional Depth and Chatty Geodes
The narrative sneaks up on you in the best way possible. You start out simply chatting with quirky talking rocks and completing basic fetch quests. The story soon hits you with deeply relatable themes of burnout, parental expectations, and figuring out where you belong in the universe. The cutscenes are genuinely touching. The initially goofy antics naturally evolve into a story that made me feel incredibly attached to Doug's personal growth. You also have Chippy, an overly protective onboard computer. Chippy adds some great context to why your movement is restricted early on, tying the story and the mechanical progression together beautifully.
Managing Pockets and Minigames
You spend the majority of your roughly five-hour playtime grabbing crafting materials to upgrade your ship and unlock adorable outfits. The gathering system is wonderfully low-stakes, but the inventory management gets a little annoying. Every single piece of ore you pick up takes up a single slot, and vital quest items eat up your limited space too. You're going to be juggling your pockets constantly to make room. It's a slight bump in an otherwise perfectly smooth ride.
When I needed a break from mining, I stumbled into a vibrant carnival area packed with minigames. I spent an unreasonable amount of time at the bowling alley and shooting gallery just to earn tokens for vendor items. It provides a fantastic distraction from the main quest. I also absolutely love the dedicated quack button. You can press it anytime to hear Doug vocalize, and holding it down acts as a sonar ping to highlight hidden items. I spammed it constantly to find new cosmetics. The rewards are totally worth the effort, letting you dress Doug up in everything from a chef uniform to a frog suit or a backward baseball cap.
The Verdict
Duck Side of the Moon delivers a cozy, stress-free adventure that perfectly balances charming exploration with a narrative full of surprising emotional weight. The satisfying movement and delightful geode characters make the short playtime incredibly memorable, even with a slightly cumbersome inventory system. If you want to chill out and dress a duck in a backward baseball cap, you're in the right place.
8/10 A quacking good time from start to finish.
We at NLM received a key for this game for free, this however didn't impact our review in any way.
