On Sunday, Daerisoft released A Girl Adrift, a new mobile RPG that incorporates idle clicker elements in a way that sets it apart from most games I’ve played in that genre.
A Girl Adrift opens with your cutesy anime heroine asleep and floating on a raft, with the sound of the ocean all around. According to the story thread, the world has been completely submerged in water, and in order to survive, your character must drift from one ocean area to another, catching as many different kinds of fish as she can.
Catching fish involves casting your rod into the ocean and when the signal appears indicating you have a fish on the hook, you then must tap as quickly as possible in the designated area. Tapping causes the fish’s health points to go down. If you reach zero before the timer runs out, the fish is caught. Each time you successfully catch a fish you gain experience points and fishcakes. Experience points allow your character to level up and increase her base attack rate. Fishcakes are used to upgrade your fishing rod, which allows for more taps per second and also increases attack rate.
There are a three types of fish you can catch: normal, rare or boss. Normal fish earn you fishcakes alone, but with rare and boss fish, your heroine gets extra items such as seaweed and beechwood. These items can be sold in at the harbor in exchange for pearls, the currency used to purchase clothes and equipment skins. New skins increase your rate of attack, experience, rare fish encounters, and so forth.
As you play, you’ll get different objectives from other drifters you meet along the way, and if you meet the objectives you’ll be rewarded with pearls and other currency. Upon reaching level 10, more of the idle clicker elements kick in as you begin unlocking perks like harpoons that fire alongside you, allowing you to inflict more damage without having to click any faster. The further you advance, you also gain mastery points that eventually will allow you to do auto navigation and fishing while you are away from the game. If you are like me though, you may find the sound effects and graphics so relaxing, you’ll want to do the fishing yourself.
I’ve played a lot of idle clickers and finding a way to differentiate one from the others already on the app store can be pretty difficult. A Girl Adrift does an great job of bringing something new to the genre. For those who enjoy collectable games, there is an element of that here as well, as you have a book that includes not only all the skins you’ve acquired, but also all the various fish you’ve sighted. A Girl Adrift is available to download for free now in both the Apple App and Google Play stores. If you’re looking for a low-key, idle clicker that doesn’t require daily login to advance, be sure to check this one out.
