Game: Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission
Genre: Adventure, Education, Simulation, Lifestyle
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows), Xbox One/X/S and PS4/5)
Developer | Publisher: Magic Pockets | Microids
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $29.99 | UK £24.99 | EU € 29,99
Release Date: September 28th, 2023
Review code used, with many thanks to Microids.
Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission is an ecological adventure designed to demonstrate the impact of pollution on coastal and marine wildlife. The developers worked closely with experts from Cetasea, a European network of sanctuaries for marine mammals, to ensure the game contains accurate information.
So, will I have a whale of a time on my ocean mission, or will I end up floundering in a garbage patch?
A Dolphin in Trouble
In Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission, you play as either Pava or Avi. Whilst travelling to Mauripoa to stay with your grandfather, you see a dolphin caught in a fishing net. Immediately, you dive into the ocean to free the creature. Controlling your character underwater, you swim to rescue the dolphin.
Grandpa greets you at the port and learns from Hoani (the boat captain) about your rescue mission.
Grandpa takes you to meet Lisa, who is the head marine biologist at the association. He set up the association to protect the seabeds, and Lisa is keen for you to assist her and her colleagues, especially as they are busy. Her research shows that pollution and global warming have caused several animals to disappear from the island and the seabeds.
Grandpa gives you a waterproof camera to record your adventures on land and in the sea. Lisa gives you a research notebook, and encourages you to take some photos of birds around the village. The notebook Lisa gives you not only records your discoveries but keeps track of the missions and tasks.
And so begins your Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission adventure.
Help! Mauripoa Needs Someone!
The game progresses as you complete various missions. So you can’t pick up any litter in the village until you speak with Hoani. So, back to the port, where Hoani gives you a collecting bag and asks you to help pick up the trash in port.
This is one of the main activities – there is a lot of plastic waste on the island after the recent storm. There is something satisfying about collecting trash or cleaning in a game. Even more so in Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission, as once the area is free from rubbish, a cut scene shows some animals returning.
As well as collecting trash, you will need to help various animals. Whether this is freeing them from plastics, cleaning away oil from their bodies or untangling them from nets. Within the game, the mechanism is the same: approach the creature and use the first aid kit. If only you could ‘press A’ in real-life!
Within each of the main four quest days, you will not only need to rescue the animals but also resolve or document the environmental hazard. Whether that’s stopping the oil leaks, photographing the affected coral reefs or removing the nets.
Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission deals with these issues in a sensitive manner. These are real-life issues, but there is no blood or distressed panic; the animal waits patiently to be helped, and there is a sense of satisfaction in freeing a creature in trouble.
Your Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission Log
The research notebook contains a wealth of information. As well as keeping track of the missions, it also stores what you learn as you progress through your adventure. Accessing any of the discovered knowledge will display a picture and a few paragraphs of information.
The research notebook also contains the map. There are helpful exclamation marks showing the locations of the next missions. The underwater maps mark key features, like an area called shark tooth. However, you uncover the map as you explore, with some areas inaccessible until you discover some of the island’s secrets. The map of Mauripoa shows the whole island, with pictures of key landmarks as you discover them and faces of the NPCs showing their location.
The camera is easy but frustrating to use. Although you can look in any direction to capture the perfect shot, you can’t move to follow your subject. Which, when most of the subjects are flying or swimming, makes for tricky photography. I also found that sometimes I needed to be in the correct spot to get a mission photograph – it took quite a while to find the right position to snap the shipwreck.
However, once you snap that new creature or location, you can jump straight to the information page and learn more about it.
A Completist’s Paradise
Not only can you aim for a complete codex of the island and marine wildlife….
But you can also strive to find all the knowledge and collect all the stamps. It’s collector heaven!
And continuing the heaven theme, you can even pet the dog!
The Sounds And Gameplay of Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission
The music is charming, created by Jonathan Garnier. You can listen to an extract on YouTube. It helps transport you to the tropical island of Maupiroa, and the underwater melodies were truly inspiring. I found myself staying underwater, turning up the volume and just drifting around the ocean floor, relaxing with the wonderful sounds.
Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission works well in docked and handheld modes. The controls are straightforward and give a wide acceptance zone when picking up trash or helping animals. The underwater swimming (using ZL/ZR) takes a little time to get used to.
There are options to alter the sensitivity of and invert the axes of both the movement and photography camera. There are also sound and language options, as well as a summary of the controls all within the settings menu. The text is large enough to read on the Switch Lite and the speed of text display can be increased. There is no touchscreen functionality.
The game autosaves at regular intervals, although when loading, you will be returned to key points, e.g. the port or house, rather than the exact location you left.
There is slight juddering when you complete an activity and receive some knowledge occasionally. The dolphin shakes in a vertical position, and the birds quite often walk backwards, but none of this causes the game to break.
The game is very structured and task-driven. Time only progresses as you complete key missions, with some areas out of bounds until you get the appropriate stage. It took about 4 hours to complete the main missions, but I’d still got lots of trash to collect, creatures to find and secrets to uncover. Luckily, you’re free to continue exploring the island and ocean after the final scene.
Conclusion
Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission navigates the right balance between being an enjoyable game and explaining real-life ecological hazards. The accompanying music is beautiful and enhances the experience. I learnt quite a bit from my ocean adventure. So dive in, splash around and see what you discover.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot 
Can anyone tell me how you collect all the stance for collecting the garbage in one area? I’ve collected all garbage from under the sea around the island but still cannot get the last two stamps. It would be really helpful if someone can tell me how to get that. Thank you.
Hi Sue,
Thanks for visiting LadiesGamers. It’s been a while since I last played Dolphin Spirit, but I’ve had a quick revisit of the game. The map shows the amount of garbage per area (see the second photo in the mission log section above, bottom right shows 59/150), but the mission to clear trash from an area will only appear once you’ve picked up one bit. I completed all the missions I had for the Bay and was still missing 50 items of garbage, so I had to carefully search the area to find hidden grottos and little coves to finally get all the trash. Once I did that, the stamp appeared for clearing that area in the log book. Hope that helps.
Kind regards
Lynne