Submerged Reviews
Submerged is an interesting game in that it swaps out conventional combat mechanics for pure exploration. This means that it's not a challenging game, but it is still fairly engaging. Collecting more parts of the puzzle will keep you playing and driving around in the boat is easy to get the hang of. The climbing mechanics can be a little frustrating in comparison, but you will get used to them in time. The mysterious game crash still remains a mystery, but this seems like a very rare occurrence. For its length, it's hard to fully justify its initial asking price, but the content that's there doesn't outstay its welcome or feel overly short. Whether you fancy something less action packed, or just a quick and easy game, Submerged will be an enjoyable journey while it lasts.
Submerged is a short but impactful experience, crafting sound and sight together to create something unique and different from the mold. It won't keep you coming back for days and weeks, but in its runtime it stands out as one of the most intimate and interesting interactive set pieces I've played this year.
It's a reasonably short game for £14 – perhaps an afternoon's stuff to do first time through. But it's so unrelentingly lovely, and such a rare pleasure to be experienced without constant worry about being shot in the back of the head, or eaten by a wolf, or running out of time, or any of the other ways games so desperately want to concern us.
I am here to say it isn't. A game so proud of its lack of combat needs something else. Otherwise it's simply a game with a great big hole in it.
Submerged feels like a concept rather than a complete game. What's here is so slight, the story so flimsy, that it left almost no impression on me.
Despite its interesting premise, Submerged never achieves more than mediocrity due to its repetitive gameplay, lacklustre execution, and unpolished world design.
After only ten minutes in the game you've already experienced everything that Submerged has to offer. It's a rather dull and shallow title in what could have been an exciting and scary world. There is no combat, no urgency, and no chance of failure. The gameplay is boring, the landmarks and scenery are mediocre, and the story is almost nonexistent. Submerged is a rapidly sinking ship that never even left the harbor.
As much as I wanted to fall in love with Submerged, it's standing proof that a game needs more than good looks and a unique angle to win me over. With the 'emotional' story-driven approach slowly receding from the frontline of gaming, I'm left craving fun and challenging experiences that have us do more than haplessly roam within the confines of a digital sandbox.
You're better off saving your money instead of sinking it on the titanic failure that is Submerged.
A short, sweet, melancholic exploration game that offers precious few hours of gameplay, but it's beautiful to look at, and highly enjoyable to play.
Submerged attempts to replace tension with curiosity as a motivating force, and largely succeeds even though its environmental storytelling isn't as dense as it could've been. It's an unchallenging, occasionally beautiful experience that caters to our instinct to see what's on the other side of the mountain. In the moments where Submerged rewarded inquisitiveness, I loved it. When it occasionally stumbled in that responsibility, I found myself wishing for a more polished and complete world to explore.
Set in a drowned city, this game of exploration lacks the substance or conviction to hold your attention.