There is a small subsection of the collectathon genre of games that reminds me specifically of childhood school trips. Maybe others had similar situations, but in the UK, we’d have an afternoon trip to the local woods or field and be asked to write down what wildlife and plants we could find. Geology and science in practice, I guess. These afternoons are fondly remembered as light, calm, and relaxing trips, usually ending up with a story or a lesson under a giant tree. I miss those times.
Mothkeep channels this vibe perfectly, as you move from location to location to discover different types of moths. Each moth has four stages to discover, right from its egg form through to full bloom. They all have different patterns and are beautifully hand-drawn by the solo developer behind this title. The process of discovering them involves spotting them in the wild like a very easy hidden object game, and then completing two or three single-button-press quick time events. The margin for error on these button presses is very generous, but you can slow down all the meters and timers further in the menu if you want to. Once everything is discovered, you can choose to camp for the night and see what tomorrow brings, or move to a new location where more moths await. Hints are available if you are struggling to spot what’s on screen, too.
The low challenge approach to Mothkeep is sweet, as in theory, you can just use hints and refresh the day constantly to win. That’ll take a bit of time and is quite inefficient. Instead, the coins you earn from discovering moths for your notepad can be spent in the shop. The shop contains branches, flowers, fruit, and honey, all of which attract different types of moths. Buy the right items and place them in a locale, and you’ve got a new space for moths to land or grow. Along the way, you’ll also unlock a garden, which is an empty environment designed for you to buy and arrange items to create your own ecosystem. It’s a lovely little sandbox sidequest and works as a pretty screensaver.
Mothkeep is short, but it is very well designed with plenty of quality-of-life elements in the user interface and menus to help players understand what to look at, how difficult they’d like the game to be, and what item would be most useful for them to buy. I’d pair it with the equally charming Seashell, which is a seashell collectathon on the beach. Both games evoke my school trip warm nostalgia beautifully and are fine examples of relaxing games that have nothing to do with farming.
Higher Plain Games is part of the Higher Plain Network. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month. There are additional perks for supporting me, such as behind-the-scenes content and downloads. You can also share the website or use the affiliate buy now links on reviews. Buying credit from CD Keys using my affiliate link means I get a couple of pence per sale. All your support will enable me to produce better content, more often. Thank you.