So you crash-landed a duck in space and now there are talking rocks. Welcome to Duck Side of the Moon, one of the coziest little indie adventures to drift onto Steam, Epic, and Switch this year.
You play as Doug, an overworked duck astronaut who falls asleep at the controls and wakes up stranded on a strange side of the galaxy. From there it is all gentle exploration, crafting, and helping out the friendly locals.
This is a relaxing game with no real fail states, so these tips are about seeing more and playing smarter, not surviving. Let’s get Doug settled in.
Get comfortable flying before you go anywhere
Doug can waddle, fly, and bounce off springboards, and the flying is where most new players fumble at first. It takes a little practice to feel natural.
On Nintendo Switch, flight leans on the R and ZR buttons working together, which can feel awkward until your fingers catch up.
Spend your first few minutes just looping around the crash site. Get a feel for takeoff, gliding, and lining up landings before you head out into the open islands.
Once flight clicks, the whole galaxy opens up and getting around becomes half the fun.
Bolts are your single most important resource
Early on you’ll meet Billy, a local inventor with a plan to get you back among the stars. His plan, and pretty much all your progress, runs on bolts.
Bolts power the ship’s upgrade bay, where you repair Doug’s spaceship and unlock new rooms and abilities. Think of them as the backbone of the entire game.
You’ll find bolts floating freely in space, scattered across the islands, and handed to you as rewards for helping locals.
Grab every single bolt you spot. There is no downside to hoarding them, and you’ll always want more for the next upgrade.
Build the storage room as soon as you can
Here’s the trap almost every beginner falls into. In Duck Side of the Moon, minerals do not stack, so your inventory fills up shockingly fast.
That makes the storage room one of the most valuable early upgrades in the game. Prioritize it before you go on a big collecting spree.
There is also a handy trick for when you’re full. You can drop resources and they’ll float in place right where you left them.
So if you stumble onto a pile of materials with no room to carry them, drop something less important and come back once you’ve expanded your storage.
Mine and collect everything as you explore
The galaxy is stuffed with minerals, and you’ll need a steady supply for crafting gadgets and repairing the ship. Pick up everything you walk past.
Some of the best materials hide inside glowing caves, so it pays to duck into every cavern you find. Other spots worth poking around include the volcano and the busy funfair.
Your mining gadget is the very first tool you pick up, and it stays useful the whole game. Keep it handy for breaking down mineral deposits.
Stockpiling early means you’re never stuck waiting on materials when a new crafting recipe or repair pops up.
Talk to every Geode and follow their quests
The friendly rock creatures you meet are called Geodes, and they are the heart of the game. Billy is just the first of many.
You won’t understand a word they say until you build a translator at the crafting station, which the game walks you through early. After that, the chatter is genuinely charming.
Their requests drive the whole adventure forward. Completing tasks for the locals is what unlocks new areas, new ship upgrades, and fresh rewards.
So make a habit of chatting with every character you meet. A quick conversation often turns into your next quest or a pocketful of bolts.
Don’t rush past the collectibles
Tucked all over the floating islands are treasure chests, music discs, and pages of lore. They are easy to miss if you’re flying with tunnel vision.
You’ll also find plenty of costumes hidden away or won at the funfair. Doug looks fantastic in a tiny hat, and you’ll want options.
These collectibles tie directly into your ship upgrades later. The music discs, lore pages, and outfits all get their own dedicated rooms once you repair the right areas.
Treat every island like a scavenger hunt and you’ll be richly rewarded.
Explore each area fully before you move on
This is the big one, so pay attention. Duck Side of the Moon is a structured adventure, and progressing the story can move you into new regions of the galaxy.
The trouble is that some earlier zones, like the starting lighthouse area, can become tricky to revisit once you’ve moved ahead. A few achievements and collectibles are tied to those early spots.
So before you trigger a major story step, sweep the current area thoroughly. Grab the chests, mine the caves, finish the side quests, and chat with everyone.
A little patience now saves you the frustration of realizing you left something behind with no easy path back.
Take breaks for the mini-games
The galaxy is packed with goofy little diversions, and they are well worth your time. There’s a space bowling game and a wild rock-shooting minecart race, among others.
The funfair is a standout, where you can play games to win outfits and other goodies. You can even score yourself an ice cream.
These mini-games aren’t just filler. They often hand out rewards you can’t get anywhere else, including some of those collectible costumes.
When you need a breather from exploring, this is the cozy way to spend it.
Turn your spaceship into a proper home
As you repair and upgrade, your crashed ship slowly transforms into a cozy home base. This is genuinely the soul of the whole experience.
You can build a comfy couch, a gardening room, and even a basketball hoop. Each new room gives Doug another reason to kick back and relax.
Other rooms let you swap costumes, play your music discs, read your collected lore, and show off trophies on dedicated shelves.
Funnel your bolts into the rooms that excite you most. Half the joy of the game is watching your sad little wreck become somewhere worth coming home to.
Save smart and reload if things glitch
The game autosaves as you go, and there’s also a manual save in the pause menu. Use the manual save before you stop playing or tackle anything tricky.
There are multiple save slots, which is great if you want a second playthrough or a friend wants their own duck. Note that your ship’s name doubles as the save file name.
As with many fresh indie releases, you may bump into the occasional bug. The good news is that a quick reload usually fixes display and tool glitches, so don’t panic if something looks off.
Keeping your own manual saves topped up is the simplest insurance against losing progress.
Final tip: slow down and enjoy the drift
The whole point of Duck Side of the Moon is rest, curiosity, and taking it easy. There’s no clock ticking and no pressure to rush.
The main story runs around four to five hours, but the side quests, mini-games, and collectibles can stretch it well beyond that.
So let yourself wander. Help a few Geodes, mine a glowing cave, lose a round of space bowling, and just soak in the stars.
Now get out there and make Doug proud.
–
Images in this article are from the Duck Side of the Moon page on Steam and used under Fair Use.