Spilled!

Spilled! is a short and cozy exploration game that promotes its thoughtful environmentalist message through very catchy and laid-back gameplay.

As you command a sea cleaning ship, you navigate through polluted waters to collect oil spills and other hazardous waste, carefully scooping them up to transport them to a nearby recycling center. With the coins received for your work, you can choose to upgrade one of the following parts of the ship: enhance the motor to boost its speed, expand the oil tank to hold more waste before returning to the recycling center, or improve the scoop mechanism at the front of the ship to increase its reach and collect more waste in one go.

Spilled! is divided into seven distinct areas that unlock one by one as you fully clean the previous zone, with each new area gradually increasing in size. Once you’ve completed all seven of them, there’s a final stage with a uniquely creative boss fight. As you progress through the game, new mechanics are introduced with each new area, allowing you to spray water to clean on-shore oil spills, extinguish fires, blanket arid landscapes with snow, and use a magnet to retrieve sunken oil barrels from the depths.

Spilled! takes roughly one hour and a half to complete, including earning all achievements. To unlock them, you’ll need to fully clean each area, rescue all animals trapped in oil spills, and complete a few additional side objectives. Fortunately, none of the achievements are missable since you can revisit any area at any time. Moreover, after finishing the game, you have the option to reset a specific area and start cleaning it again.

The game provides a profound sense of satisfaction as you help restore the ocean to its former pristine beauty. Initially, the polluted water is depicted in a dark, opaque purple hue. However, as you progress in cleaning it, the water gradually becomes clearer and more transparent, revealing the vibrant marine life and lush vegetation on the ocean floor. The friendly, colorful pixel art and the chill soundtrack further enhance this experience.

Overall, Spilled! is a delightful and uplifting game that I highly recommend to anyone seeking a relaxing experience. Its calming atmosphere and inspiring environmental message make it a worthwhile play. While our everyday efforts to improve the world might feel small in the grand scheme of things, this game offers a satisfying way to make us feel that even these small actions can have a meaningful and positive impact on the environment.

Note: if you enjoyed playing Spilled!, you might also like Clean the Sea! (reviewed here).