Submerged Reviews

Submerged is ranked in the 9th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Drew Leachman
Top Critic
5.5 / 10.0
Aug 7, 2015

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.

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55 / 100
Aug 17, 2015

As broken as the world is, it's also incredibly beautiful. The unfortunate part however, is that it isn't all that varied.

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55 / 100
Aug 31, 2015

Submerged's beautiful setting and sunken post-apocalyptic world were not enough to offset the absence of combat and challenge.

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5.3 / 10.0
Aug 10, 2015

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.

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5 / 10.0
Aug 5, 2015

Despite its interesting premise, Submerged never achieves more than mediocrity due to its repetitive gameplay, lacklustre execution, and unpolished world design.

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VideoGamer
Top Critic
5 / 10
Aug 4, 2015

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.

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5 / 10
Aug 5, 2015

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.

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5 / 10.0
Aug 4, 2015

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.

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5 / 10
Aug 18, 2015

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.

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5 / 10.0
Aug 3, 2015

Submerged has an interesting concept and artistic presentations very well built. Navigation and exploration are exciting at first until you notice the constant reuse of textures and similarities of some constructions. Some of the most different buildings cannot be climbed which is a bit frustrating. But the game's biggest downs are in the weak history and in the climbing mechanics, which presents no challenge at all and is extremely boring at some points. Despite some beautiful vistas the game has little to offer and I do not recommend it on its base price.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

48 / 100
Aug 26, 2015

Submerged is skeletal and unoiled. It is damned by competence: a short story that checks the boxes, but in doing so leaves no mark. I fell asleep twice while playing it, shaken awake by Miku's worsening cough, just looking to fix up Taku and motorboat out as fast as possible. It's a game that has no ambition and says nothing, and through that, quietly stumbles, erodes, and disappears, leaving no impression, no haunting memories.

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Bit Cultures
Joe Baker
48%
Sep 3, 2015

A slow-moving pace and undemanding platforming might be a draw to the more brain-addled gamer, perhaps enduring a slow-moving Sunday afternoon or a comedown from a particularly Red Bull-heavy Friday night. Nevertheless, there's still an aching sense of potential behind Miku's adventure that will leave you thinking what could've been. As it is, Submerged is pretty forgettable, and sinks rather than swims in the wake of other superior indie journeys. Journey in particular.

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Aug 3, 2015

Even at only three-to-four hours in length, Submerged feels padded.

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4 / 10.0
Sep 1, 2015

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.

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4 / 10.0
Aug 13, 2015

Submerged is very pretty, but there isn't much to keep you playing and it's not worth the price tag.

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3 / 10.0
Aug 3, 2015

You're better off saving your money instead of sinking it on the titanic failure that is Submerged.

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3 / 10
Aug 4, 2015

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.

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3 / 10
Aug 5, 2015

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.

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3 / 10.0
Aug 5, 2015

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.

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Aug 5, 2015

Sunk by lacklustre gameplay, cliched storytelling and technical hiccups, Submerged is one of the biggest missed opportunities in recent memory.

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