Let’s go deep!
An island paradise, plagued by an evil spirit that is blighting the land and has killed everyone. Everyone, except two siblings.
Submerged: Hidden Depths is a 3D platformer puzzle adventure game. Sequel to Submerged, this game presents itself as a relaxing game that can be a pleasant distraction from many more challenging and stimulating games.
But how relaxing is it? Will it have you falling asleep at your desk? Or all blissed out and ready to face another day with fearless determination?
Narrative Islands
The story of Hidden Depths is not the most unique and therefore not the most engaging. Lore is kept to a minimum, perhaps to keep the game zen-like and streamlined.
The closest thing to background information to the world the player inhabits is the pieces of the diary, which can be collected throughout the map. The issue is that these are just crude images, which only convey backstory to the world in very abstract terms.
The world is lovingly created, however. A lot of attention has been given to fleshing out the island.
And it is an engaging dichotomy to have two small children who only have each other, in an otherwise deeply lonely yet stunningly beautiful world, devoid of any other human life. It would just be nice if a little more detail was given to the world, in terms of the what, why and where’s for this world to have gone so wrong.
Apocalyptic Paradise
Especially bearing in mind its AA budget, Hidden Depths stuns with its visual style. Right from the opening scene, most players’ jaws will drop as they get their peepers at this utterly gorgeous fantasy world.
Waves roar in great cyan crests as you speed along in your boat, watching dolphins leap out of the water. Whales soar upwards, crashing down in an explosion of pure white sea foam.
This game, along with its particle effects, weather effects, and especially lighting effects, is a sight to behold. The way the game visually relaxes the player is hugely effective and this goes a long way to redeeming other weaker features.
All work and little reward makes us loopy
The gameplay loop of Hidden Depths consists of moving around energy balls (no, not the high protein kind!) to realign the spirit of nature. This then eliminates areas that the plague had previously affected, making them healthy again.
Variety comes in the form of the accessibility of objects, such as bridges and climbing ladders. These are only accessible when the player has accessed certain parts of the map. This can get a little repetitive, due to a lack of challenge.
Having said that, it must be very difficult to strike a perfect balance for such a game as this. Intending to make a relaxing, open-world adventure game is a tough goal. Gameplay needs to be challenging enough to incentivise player engagement, but not so challenging it doesn’t feel chilled out.
Uppercut Games has largely accomplished what it set out to do in terms of intention. However, how many players will such a relaxing open-world universe appeal to?
One of the issues is that there’s scant reward for unlocking each map element. Due to the lack of challenge, it doesn’t feel adequately incentivised to unlock secret achievements, for example.
Secrets and achievements, such as boat upgrades that don’t improve the vehicle much, or options to change the appearance of the boat, are right there for the player to see. Where’s the challenge?
It may have been the thought of the development team that due to the stunning visuals, less challenge is forgivable. But it can often feel like the balance of gameplay dynamics is too geared toward lack of risk, leading to an unsatisfying reward.
Sun-soaked musical score
The musical score is adequate for this title. It is by turns beautiful, haunting, adventurous and many other emotions in between.
The score is very appealing, yet also blends into the background in the way that a clever musical score should.
No complaints, but nothing earth-shattering.
Summary
This game has a huge amount of love thrown into it. It is gorgeous to behold, and the gameplay works but isn’t very satisfying. The lore of the world is not presented at all, making exploration of the beautiful world feel a little flat and empty.
This is a game that feels like it just needs a little more. A little more challenge. A little more lore. A little more. And without a little more, as it is in its current iteration, it feels lacking and in need. In need of just a little more. Of many aspects of a few features.
Submerged: Hidden Depths is available on Steam for PC.
