Game: Submerged: Hidden Depths
Genre: Adventure, Exploration
System: Steam (Windows) (also available on Playstation & Xbox)
Developers | Publishers: Uppercut Games
Controller Support: Full
Price: US $29.99 | UK £23.79 | EU € 24.99
Release Date: March 10th, 2022
Review code used, with many thanks to Press engine.
You may remember that I previewed an hour’s worth of gameplay in Submerged: Hidden Depths; well, now it’s time for a full review of the game as it is setting sail on Steam, Playstation, and Xbox on March 10th.
Relaxporation
Submerged: Hidden Depths is a non-combat third-person “relaxploration” adventure set in the sunken ruins of a beautiful world. You play as bother and sister, Taku and Miku. It is mostly Miku that you control in this adventure game, though brother Taku is controllable at certain points in the gameplay.
The world that Miku and Taku inhabit is submerged below a vast ocean of water. The ruins of the old buildings protrude to form little islands covered in vegetation dotted around this watery place.
The Black Mass
But something is amiss in this world. The Mass is an oozing, glistening black of pulsating tentacles that has entwined itself in among the ruined buildings and vegetation that remains. It’s referred to as The Black Plant, and it’s clear that it’s a living organism, its black depths pulsating with red ooze.
But it seems the black plant has caused the end of life, as it’s lethal to people. So, with only the two siblings surviving and with nothing but a boat, they are looking to restore what they can.
Unexplained at the start of the game, you find out that Miku has gained a deep-rooted ability to harness the Black Plant to create life instead of taking it, with the resulting blight shown by a wrap of flower-sprouting tendrils around her arm.
Lets Explore
After a brief tutorial, you’re left to explore the world with some gentle guidance to get you to the things you need to see to progress. You explore buildings and half-sunken malls, finding an orb and using it to destroy the Black plant surrounding that area.
Using a telescope and a map, you can find new points of interest to visit. With relics to discover in the water and upgrades for the duo’s boat to find. There’s plenty to explore, but it doesn’t feel overbearing; in fact, it’s quite relaxing. A handy map with points marked on it will keep you exploring for a while.
Simple controls
Even the controls are simple; you see Miku and Taku automatically jump over gaps and grab on to ledges. You only use the control stick and point it in the direction you want to go. Buttons presses are used for the map and menu.
There isn’t any combat, enemies, or anything that will kill the duo. But the pair aren’t completely alone in this submerged world as there are remnants of the previous occupants all around. Animals that shift like ghostly spectres and move away when you approach them, and ghostly green remnants of people that once lived.
Music
It’s important to note that while it is not a major focus, there is a story to uncover. It is told to you in pages of a diary that you will find scattered throughout the world. Both characters speak to each other, though the words that you hear are not English, they are near enough to almost sound familiar, some words are even the ones we use. It’s left up to you to piece together the storyline from the diary pages that you find.
The game is beautiful, with appropriate sound effects of a desolate and lonely world. The music is sublime and suits the game perfectly, it’s another game soundtrack I’ll be buying to add to my collection.
Niggles
Unfortunately, it is not all plain sailing in Submerged: Hidden Depths. While I played the game before for the preview, it suffered from frame rate judders. I was hoping that the judders would have been improved upon or removed between the time I previewed the game and the review. But that hasn’t been the case; it is especially noticeable when the boat moves at high speed, the screen rolls with the waves.
It can be off-putting and if you suffer from seasickness in real life, with the screen rolling as much as the waves in the game I would imagine it would be unpleasant.
I also found that sometimes it was hard to distinguish if the boat could dock beside a building and I could explore that particular building. There are red markings to indicate that you can land, but sometimes they’re not visible enough.
Besides the frame rate issue, cruising around in the boat is fun. It controls very well, and I spent a lot of my time with the game, just cruising around and looking at the buildings or following a shoal of Dolphins jumping out of the water.
Conclusion
Submerged: Hidden Depths is an easy to play and relaxing exploration game about the adventure of two siblings drifting through a desolate watery world. It’s a great game to unwind with, though its running performance on the PC does let it down a tad. But if you enjoy a game, as I do, where you are free to explore and can get past the performance issues, I recommend giving Submerged: Hidden Depths a try.
Final Verdict: I like it a Lot 
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