Game: Collector’s Cove
Genre: Adventure, Simulation
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows) and PS5)
Developer | Publisher: VoodooDuck
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $19.99 | UK £17.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: March 12th, 2026
Review code used, with many thanks to Pirate PR.
Developed by a four-person team, Collector’s Cove is all about cataloguing crops and fish and discovering their rare varieties. Amanda played the Steam demo in February and shared her thoughts and positivity for the game, and now it’s my turn.
Will I catch the high tide and rise to the top of the Collector’s ranks?
Learning To Be A Collector
As soon as you launch Collector’s Cove, you get to create your character. There is a wide selection of options, from facial features to clothing, and it’s a delight to go through all the different outfits. You can (and will need to) change your appearance later at the mirror in your ship’s cabin. Once you’ve decided on your character, you get to meet Uncle Jerry aboard his boat. He’ll explain some of the background and familiarise you with the camera movement controls. Once you’ve perfected the ability to move, you’ll go ashore to catch up with Uncle Terry.
Uncle Terry will provide you with some basic, rusty tools and task you with gathering a few resources. You need to swap between tools to cut down trees, mine rocks, and dig up soil. Once completed, you’ll receive your Collector’s Compendium, a record book of what you’ve collected and the special information you’ve discovered. To get your first entry in the compendium, Uncle Terry will talk you through catching a fish from the nearby pond. Fishing is one of the key activities in Collector’s Cove, and, thankfully, it’s straightforward. Cast your line, wait until the fish bites and then reel in, making sure the line doesn’t break when the fish is trying to escape.
Uncle Terry will also introduce you to your Fablefin, your trusted companion, who will transport you and your vessel to the many islands found in the regions before the ultimate destination of Collector’s Cove. You can customise your Fablefin’s colour, markings and eyes, and as you progress, you’ll gather various hats, glasses and facial attire to adorn them.
Boarding your own vessel, Uncle Jerry will explain how to interact with your Fablefin, get you to build some structures, discuss the art of farming and encourage you to collect flotsam (which adds vital resources in the early game). After all that activity, it’s time for a rest!
Once you’ve called for his boat, Uncle Jerry will send you off to your first island to find his other brother, Eugene.
Once you’ve found Uncle Eugene, he’ll explain more about the Collector’s ranking system and task you with finding new species in order to become a Novice Collector. There are enough different fish in the waters around the first island to complete this task. If you are lucky, there might even be some crops. Don’t forget to collect any resources!
Once you’ve attained Novice Collector, you’ll unlock a bait maker and compost bin, vital for becoming a top collector. Back aboard your boat, you’ll find Uncle Jerry has arrived. His boat serves as a shop, where you can sell items you’ve collected, buy seeds to grow, trade for other resources and exchange crops and fish for decorations and recipes.
Once you’ve spoken to each brother at their respective shop, you can send them on their way and open the gift they have left you. The whole ‘three brothers’ interaction is very amusing, especially as they run between the shops aboard Uncle Jerry’s boat. You are then free to set sail, explore and collect.
This whole ‘play and learn’ tutorial in Collector’s Cove takes around 30 minutes to complete. You will still be guided by the quest board, encouraging you in your next step, but you are free to make your own choices in how you complete the tasks.
It’s All In The Book
The Collector’s Compendium is your go-to manual for everything in Collector’s Cove. There are numerous tabs to refer to: high-level overviews, ranking rewards, recipe purchase requirements, detailed notes for fish and crops, records of decorations and Fablefin attire discoveries. Thankfully, time will pause when you are perusing your compendium. Each new discovery will increase your collector’s ranking, aiming to achieve Named Rank. In addition, every fish caught or crop grown will give experience and, in turn, increase your ranking for that skill. Levelling up any of the rankings will unlock new items, regions or perks which will help as you progress.
Each crop and fish has a rare, or as it’s called in Collector’s Cove, ‘fabled’ version. First, you need to grow or catch enough to unlock the special fertiliser or bait. Using that special fertiliser or bait will grow or catch quality versions. Meet the required number of quality items, and the conditions to obtain the fabled item will be revealed. The required quantity of items to unlock either the special fertiliser or bait, or the unique fabled conditions, increases with the different regions. However, you can purchase the recipes from Uncle Eugene in exchange for fish and crops. This is especially helpful as you progress through Collector’s Cove, when the fish and crops become harder to obtain.
Fishing or growing the crops under the special fabled conditions will be rewarded with the fabled item; a fantastical variant, the names of which made me smile! The quality and fabled versions sell for more money, so it’s a great way to boost your economy. As well as helping to increase your collector’s ranking, you can also give one of each fabled version to your Fablefin. This will strengthen your bond and unlock new abilities for your companion.
Sailing Round Collector’s Cove
There are four regions to explore, prior to becoming a Named Rank and accessing Collector’s Cove. You start in the Tropical Trove, with the other regions unlocking as you increase your collector’s ranking. In each region you start an expedition, which creates a new map of eight islands. You select which island to travel to by interacting with your companion. Each map will have an island where Uncle Eugene is hiding, and once found, he’ll open his shop on Uncle Jerry’s boat. The other islands will be a mix of treasure, bountiful or small islands, with the island’s position and type generated randomly. As you approach the location, the island emerges from the ocean.
You’ll have to start a new expedition once you’ve visited all the islands, as they do not replenish. However, you don’t have to visit all the islands, you might just need to go to a particular region for a day or two to fulfil a fabled version condition. You will also need to return as new crops and fish are unlocked as you climb the ranks. Fish are unique to each region, and crops will only grow in their native habitat until you reach the maximum farming level.
Each time you start a new expedition, the day count resets. Initially, it took me around 20+ in-game days (about 4 real-time hours) to travel completely around a map. However, this got shorter as my Fablefin’s stamina increased and I got quicker at collecting the resources. Overall, it takes around 20 hours to rank up enough to get to Collector’s Cove and then around another 8 hours to collect everything.
Travelling between islands can take time, as your companion has limited stamina. Once depleted, they will need to rest. You can speed up the recovery time by feeding them. However, this break in travel can be an opportunity to decorate your cabin, or even have a snooze yourself. There is no requirement to sleep, but if you do, you’ll progress time by 6 in-game hours and gain a temporary walking speed buff. You can upgrade your boat twice, to gain more outdoor and indoor space.
And yes – you can hug your companion!
Gameplay
The controls are well explained and displayed on screen at all times. There are various audio and camera movement settings and if necessary, you can remap the buttons.
Collector’s Cove ran very smoothly in docked and handheld modes, with the text size large enough to read comfortably on the small Switch Lite screen. There is also some touchscreen functionality.
There is only one save instance, with the option to delete the current save data from the settings tab on the main menu. Collector’s Cove autosaves, with additional save points when you sleep or exit to the main menu.
There were a couple of oddities in the pre-release version: The fabled version of the sweet potato showed the wrong picture to begin with, some of the quality fish didn’t display the star icon when caught, the time to travel didn’t decrease even though my companion’s speed had increased, and if you wear a hat, you’ll have short hair. These are minor details which don’t impact on the gameplay. There were a couple of times when I couldn’t mine a rock or collect a crop on an island as invisible walls prevented me from moving close enough – this was annoying, but again didn’t impact on my overall enjoyment.
My main gripe is the colour intensity. If you play with any glare on the screen, then the Haunted Harbours region is really too dark to see anything. There is an in-game brightness setting, and at maximum in a dark room or handheld, this made the region playable. I understand the need to have contrasting region colours, but in doing so, you miss out on some of the detail and landscapes which are so lovely to admire.
Each in-game day takes around 12 real-time minutes. The clock does not stop unless you are in the compendium or pause menu. Initially, this concerned me, but as there is no time pressure, then this means the crops will still grow, and fish will reappear, whilst you sort chests or decorate your cabin.
Conclusion
The ebb and flow of discovering and cataloguing in Collector’s Cove is perfectly balanced. As the requirements get harder, the unlocked rewards offset the routine. It’s a simple idea, beautifully executed.
There are a couple of minor niggles, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time sailing towards Collector’s Cove.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up 
Do you like our content?
Subscribe to our daily news and never miss a review!