Duck Side of the Moon Review Summary

Last updated: 2026-05-31
  • Cozy and relaxing gameplay experience.
  • Adorable elements enhance game charm.
  • Fun and engaging quests and storyline.
  • Unique flying mechanics and exploration.
  • Frequent bugs and technical issues reported.
  • Short gameplay duration for the price.
Duck Side of the Moon header

Emotions

Archetypes

What players like:

Common complaints:

Gameplay feedback:

Performance notes:

Recommendations:

Other player notes:

Review evidence

Why players say this

What players like

Cozy and Relaxing Experience: The game provides a cozy, relaxing, and wholesome experience, perfect for unwinding and enjoying a serene atmosphere.

Adorable and Cute Elements: The game is filled with adorable characters and charming elements, creating a cute and light-hearted atmosphere.

Fun and Enjoyable Gameplay: The game offers a variety of fun activities, including quests, mini-games, and exploration, making it enjoyable from start to finish.

Abundant Side Content: There are plenty of side missions, challenges, and collectibles, enriching the game environment with numerous activities.

Unique Flying Mechanics: Players enjoy flying through space and around as a duck, with the spaceship serving as a home base.

Common complaints

Bugs and technical issues: Players report various bugs and technical difficulties, including crashes, achievement issues, and problems with game mechanics.

Game too short for price: Many players feel that the game is too short for its price, with some mentioning it can be completed in around 3 hours.

Repetitive and monotonous gameplay: The gameplay is criticized for being highly repetitive and simple, leading to a monotonous experience.

Graphics and visual issues: The graphics are criticized for being ordinary, with issues such as blurry cutscenes and color mixing problems.

Language and translation issues: The game is not translated into multiple languages, with some players requesting translations such as Portuguese.

Gameplay and performance

Exploration and resource gathering: The game features extensive exploration mechanics where players can explore the galaxy, mine resources, and collect materials to repair and upgrade their ship.

Quest and NPC interactions: Players can engage in side quests, help NPCs, and interact with various characters, enhancing the game's story and immersion.

Achievements and collectibles: Players can collect achievements, trophies, and various items throughout the game, adding a layer of depth and replayability.

Single-player story-driven experience: The game offers a single-player, story-driven experience with a charming main character and a cute narrative about self-discovery.

Space travel and flying mechanics: Players can fly through space, travel between planets, and navigate through asteroids, adding a unique dimension to the exploration mechanics.

Good performance on Steam Deck: The game runs well and maintains a stable 60 FPS with max settings on SteamOS, even on hardware slightly above the specifications of the Steam Deck.

Frequent game crashes: Players experience crashes, including a specific crash in the runnable thread RHISubmissionThread.

Controller and mouse issues: There are bugs related to controller/pad selection and mouse smoothing that affect the gameplay experience.

Recommendations

Recommended for story lovers: The game is highly recommended for those who enjoy games with a compelling narrative and story.

Request for more DLC: Players are expressing interest in additional downloadable content to expand the game.

Try for cozy mechanics: Players suggest trying the game if you enjoy cozy games with exploration and crafting mechanics.

Add tooltip menu: Players have requested the addition of a tooltip menu to improve user interface navigation.

Ambient sound option needed: There is a demand for an ambient sound option to enhance the gaming experience through better audio customization.

Buying context

Game completion: 4.5h.

Story completion: 3.0h.

Player profiles

Relaxation Seeker: Casual and laid-back, focusing on the cozy and relaxing aspects of the game. Motivation: Relaxation and casual enjoyment. Stance: buy.

Completionist Explorer: Thorough and exploratory, aiming to complete all tasks and find all items. Motivation: Exploration and completion of all game content. Stance: buy.

Family-Friendly Story Enjoyer: Family-oriented, focusing on the story and ease of play for all ages. Motivation: Enjoying a good story and family-friendly gameplay. Stance: sale.

Platform notes

Linux and Proton: The game demonstrates excellent compatibility and performance on Linux-based systems, particularly on SteamOS and Steam Deck. Users report stable and high-quality gameplay with no notable issues.

Other review notes

Gifted copy feedback: Players mentioned receiving the game as a gift, which may influence their review perspective.