Submerged: Hidden Depths preview – Blissful game design in a dull world
Uppercut GamesWhile the opening hour of Submerged: Hidden Depths presents a refreshing game unafraid to dodge typical conventions like combat or leveling systems, a mostly dull open-world still left a lot to be desired.
After 14 months of Stadia exclusivity, Hidden Depths, a follow-up to 2015’s indie hit Submerged, is finally charting a course to other platforms. Ahead of its March 10 release across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation hardware, we spent an hour rafting through its opening areas and gathering initial clues on the mystery at hand.
The biggest strength of the latest Uppercut Games title is that it does away with a number of industry mainstays. You won’t find enemies lurking in the seas and the protagonists can never die or enter a failure state. Instead, Hidden Depths is formed around a much more peaceful approach in which players can go at their own pace without consequence.
While this refreshing design choice promotes exploration over combat and narrative over challenging gameplay, it’s not without its shortcomings. Despite its striking visuals, the open world of this Submerged sequel can often feel a little too soulless.
Submerged: Hidden Depths – Key details
- Price: TBC
- Developer: Uppercut Games
- Release date: March 10, 2022
- Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, & PC
Submerged: Hidden Depths trailer
A refreshing approach amid an uninspired world
It’s not long into the opening sequence that Hidden Depths takes its hands off the wheel, well, the oar in this case. After a brief tutorial, the game lets you loose in an open world littered with derelict remnants of an earlier civilization washed away.
Navigating through choppy seas, exploring a range of broken buildings, and effectively breathing new life into downtrodden areas is the name of the game here.
There are no combat mechanics to help you fight off various foes and the only progression you’ll find in Hidden Depths is through its litany of collectibles that help set the scene.
Uppercut GamesRather than providing a mechanical challenge, this peaceful experience is purely centered around its exploration. It’s a breath of fresh air in an often monotonous industry relying on the same tropes.
While it is liberating to traverse at your own pace, exploring in whichever direction you please and never facing any setbacks along the way, the formula does get repetitive with nothing to break up the flow.
- Read More: Six games that need an Arcane-style TV show
Going from one location to the next and restoring its vitality locks you into a rhythm that shows no signs of changing as the game progresses.
Combined with a purposefully vague storyline that hasn’t yet sunk its hooks in, the first hour failed to truly captivate. If the freedom doesn’t strike a chord early, there’s little else on offer here to elevate the experience.
Uppercut GamesThat’s not to say Hidden Depths doesn’t pick up further down the line, there’s every chance the narrative grows more compelling shortly after its opening act.
But the first hour of the Submerged sequel never quite lived up to the charm of its first entry.