Big open-world games have gotten more and more complex these days with layers and layers of game mechanics and content being on offer to the point that it seems too much for their own good. But what if a game strips most of those mechanics away to focus on the joys of exploration, even the combat? You’ll get something like Submerged.
Submerged: Hidden Depths is the second game of the series by indie devs Uppercut Games. Hidden Depths offers a stunningly beautiful world and interesting story beats. But despite the subtitle name, there’s nothing more that it’s offering than whatever you see in the game’s description.
Presentation
First off, Submerged: Hidden Depths has its presentation nailed down excellently. The world, dilapidated ruins of what seems to be from our current times being mostly submerged underwater, is excellent realised. The dynamic day and night cycle, and dynamic weather, really adds to the ambience. You’ll be travelling a lot from one island ruin to another, and during such downtime, it’s fun to just gaze around and lose yourself in the scenery.
Your pair of protagonists, Miku and Taku, have a stylised look that’s really expressive. The game doesn’t use any English dialogue, and most scenes between them have no conversations at all. But their exaggerated expressions and body language are enough to communicate the many emotions the pair goes through on this journey. It makes up for having a swelling orchestral arrangement that accompanies each cutscene. Those tunes excellently accentuate the emotions of the scenes. What you hear pairs well with what you see.
The orchestral music really hard carries the game’s presentation. The soothing and melancholic tunes fit so well with almost every gameplay beat. The sound design is top-notch too. Some collectibles have audio cues to help you search for them. And the main objectives also have specific audio cues that can help you go through them with ease.
Gameplay
In Submerged: Hidden Depths, you play as the sister-brother duo of Miku and Taku. Miku has a “gift” that manifests in her glowing right arm which can sprout flowers sometimes. The duo is in search of a new home and found themselves in the ruins of a submerged city.
A tutorial will guide you on what you have to do as Miku- which is essentially grabbing a big glowy orb and placing it at the dark glowy hole. Once that’s done, the tutorial continues to another level. Then, you have access to the open-world, navigated via boat, where you must complete eight more levels that basically boil down to doing the same thing: grab the big glowy orb and place it in the dark glowy hole.
Since Submerged: Hidden Depths have no combat whatsoever, what you do is just explore the ruins. Both Miku and Taku are adept at climbing vines, poles, ladders and ledges (especially ones that are yellow in colour. They can also jump over gaps, swing using ropes and go down ziplines. The ruins you visit also have handy elevator contraptions operated with a foot switch.
Essentially, you get to do most of the platforming bits of an open-world game here in Submerged: Hidden Depths. But without any of the frustration. You don’t have a jump button, and all the traversal you’re doing are consequence-free. You’ll never fall off or be at any risk of death. So just relax, and push forward to any traversal objects until the level is done, which requires you to grab the big glowy orb and place it in the dark glowy hole.
What is supposed to be the game’s strength, can also be for some folks like me, its weakness. You don’t get to unlock new abilities- so most of the levels will feature the same traversal actions but with a different layout. Sure, some levels have some puzzles thrown in, but these are just slight bumps to the straight road rather than corners you have to brake and turn. It’s dead simple, and there isn’t that much variety in the level design. The level locations are memorable like there’s one where you climb around a wrecked ship and one that’s in some sort of power plant. But what you do in those levels are not.
There’s a missed opportunity here to make the traversal to be something exciting or the exploration feels more rewarding. Once you figure out that the game adheres to the usual open-world game formula, the magic and wonders of exploration fade away to become another game of checkbox ticking.
This is a theme park open-world, designed for you to see all that it offers and for it to be completed in full with not much fuss, rather than a sandbox open-world where you get to play around with its mechanics and see what hijinks can unfold. Theme park open-worlds are fine, but if you played too many of these you’ll be harder to be impressed if a game just does the same thing. This is why I find Submerged: Hidden Depths a bit… well… shallow.
If you try to binge Submerged: Hidden Depths in one sitting you’ll get tired of doing the same no-pressure thing over and over. But if you take your time with the game and play in multiple sessions then this shouldn’t be much of an issue.
That all being said, the devs did realise a game that they envision it to be, a chill exploration game. The soothing atmosphere and simple gameplay are a great way to unwind after a long day. Especially when you can’t be bothered to learn some weirdly obfuscated game mechanic that requires consultation on a wiki to figure out. And if you wanted only that out of this game, it delivers.
Content
Submerged: Hidden Depths is a very short game. I finished the story in five hours, collecting most of the collectibles in the main levels.
Other than tackling the eight (plus the two tutorial levels so 10 in total) levels, there are other distractions and collectibles you can find in the open sea. There are smaller levels where Taku is playable instead of Miku, and cosmetics to collect as well. This game should be easy to 100% complete and can be done in less than 10 hours.
The story’s there. It’s nothing too crazy. It’s delivered in a very minimalist manner, you get at most two sentences for every milestone of a story collectible you unlock. But it works great for the story it’s telling.
Personal Enjoyment
I really want to like Submerged: Hidden Depths, but it just didn’t click for me. I blame having played another big open-world game recently for this. And the intentionally simple gameplay made me lose attention quick.
But I love the world, its take on how our civilisation collapsed and what’s left for the future generation is fascinating enough to keep me going. And the soundtrack is excellent to listen to. But man, I have grabbed too many big glowy orbs and placed them in the dark glowy holes too many times.
Verdict
Submerged: Hidden Depths is a beautiful game that does exactly what it promises. It doesn’t live up to its subtitle, its gameplay and story offering are shallow, but the chill vibes and simple and friendly exploration is worth a look for those looking to find enjoyment in games with no violence-based gameplay.
Played on PC, review copy provided by the publisher
Submerged: Hidden Depths
Submerged: Hidden Depths is a beautiful game that does exactly what it promises. It doesn't live up to its subtitle, its gameplay and story offering are shallow, but the chill vibes and simple and friendly exploration is worth a look for those looking to find enjoyment in games without resorting to violence.
- Presentation 9
- Gameplay 6.5
- Content 7
- Personal Enjoyment 7