Submerged Reviews
Submerged is...Well, it exists. It wants to stand beside games like Journey, yet missed the mark so much on why Journey worked. It puts you in a world and expects you to be amazed, but never delivers any reason to become attached or really, a world pretty enough to just become absorbed into visually. Float on.
Submerged can only be described as a huge disappointment that squandered its potential thanks to some terrible design decisions and being let out the door far too early. Its story is laughable at best, we couldn't muster up any care for the main character Miku and gameplay itself becomes a drag very quickly. The controls are dreadful and the core mechanic within gameplay, the climbing, is clunky and unresponsive. While the soundtrack is fantastic, it isn't enough to make us ignore the glaring problems the game has in terms of performance.
Submerged won't be a game for everyone, in the same way that the likes of Gone Home and Dear Esther aren't for everyone, but that doesn't make it any less remarkable. But if you can hear the music that this game is playing - and I'd urge you to give it an earnest go - you'll find something that may just take your breath away.
Submerged is very pretty, but there isn't much to keep you playing and it's not worth the price tag.
On a surface level, it looks like it ticks all the boxes for this new-wave of exploration games – that are rapidly gaining popularity with developers and gamers alike – but at a deeper conceptual and technical level is falls far short of it sources of reference.
It's easy to get lost inside Submerged's desolate seascapes. Its desire for pacifism and drive for hope are worthy talents, but it's the call to adventure—to indulge and explore marine tranquility and conquering vegetation—that you'll keep with you, if only for a little while.
Submerged is a game you could easily cruise through in just a couple of hours, but the narrative rewards were enough to keep me searching the city for additional clues despite action that eventually became tedious. There are solid ideas at play here, sure, but the lack of challenge or any substantial meat on its bones make Submerged flounder where it should soar.
Submerged isn't a lengthy game or a game of innovative ideas and sophisticated gameplay, but it is a rich and haunting experience that uses exploration to tell its story. Its minimalist approach won't be for everyone, but connect and this could be one of the most memorable games you play this year.
Basically, you'll either dig the lush tedium of this game or you won't.
Submerged is underwhelming. It squanders a promising opening, and its slight mechanics will no doubt give ammo to those who question the validity of exploration titles.
Submerged just ends up being a disappointment. Great ideas in the storytelling and presentation are lost with a poor connection to characters and truly lacking gameplay. All the great intentions in the world don't mean anything if they don't convey into a fun game experience. Go play Journey instead.
Submerged left me thinking, wondering, curious. That's what sticks with me, I want to go back at my own leisure and explore the world, find those secrets, and complete that world's story.
Sunk by lacklustre gameplay, cliched storytelling and technical hiccups, Submerged is one of the biggest missed opportunities in recent memory.
Combined with no challenge to its climbing, other than a few misdirections that effectively punish you with the tedium of having to go backwards, the game misses the mark on taking its promising and, at least, baseline effective parts and turning them into something as strong as Shadow of the Colossus. Even if you were to remove that comparison, the game stumbles to create a consistent experience on its own. And at some point, it would be fair to argue that the comparison is being a little generous.
Even at only three-to-four hours in length, Submerged feels padded.
The title's biggest downfall, then, is not any one single thing, but rather its overwhelming ambition. And in the grand scheme of things, perhaps that's not the worst problem to have. Indeed, despite its admittedly frequent rough patches, it's very hard to not admire the way this humble indie game so earnestly reaches for the stars.
Submerged is not a bad game, but most certainly not an outstanding one. I enjoyed what it did for the time it took me to finish the story, but for players looking for more substance, there are other games out there that offer more.
As broken as the world is, it's also incredibly beautiful. The unfortunate part however, is that it isn't all that varied.
Exploration can get very boring when you're just doing the same thing over and over again, but the intriguing game world, soothing soundtrack and unfolding story ensure Submerged keeps its head just above water.