Submerged: Hidden Depths – Spotlight
In 2015, when I first played Submerged on my PS4, I was awestruck by the emotional intensity of the game’s soundtrack. Submerged: Hidden Depths, developed by Uppercut Games, was released initially on Stadia, and has now made it’s way to Steam.
A new city awaits them as they continue their journey with Miku and Taku, both of whom have overcome their brother’s ailments from the first game. Strange black plants have taken over the unnamed city and are writhing their way around the ruins of nearly all the buildings.
The black plant appears to have lost all of its seeds because they were stolen to power up relics of the past: technology from the real world. It’s your job to find and return the plant’s lost seeds to its pods all over the game world so that it can heal itself and regain control over the city.
The game retains the core elements of 3D platforming from its predecessor, but adds a few new twists to the formula. Most of your time in-game will be spent exploring the strange city situated in the middle of an endless ocean, navigating your boat through ruins and across open water, and visiting different landmarks to learn more about the history of the city.
More but still relatively easy-to-find collectibles are available this time around compared to just boat upgrades, which increase your water vehicle’s boost speed, allowing you to explore more quickly. There are a plethora of interesting landmarks and lookout points to explore, some of which can provide you with a bird’s-eye view of nearby attractions. Seeds that are returned successfully skip one day forward in the game and reveal more about the children’s past, as well as Miku’s powerful “gift” that allows her to power these seeds.
For most of the game, there is only a slight change in pace when you’re on the boat or in the ruins of the city. In the end, the game’s collectibles are what motivate the player to persevere through these tedious but necessary tasks in order to learn more about the storey. There is never a real threat to the player in the later parts of the game, just like there was in the first game of this series. When you come across these creatures, you should know that they aren’t hostile and are mostly just there for the “aww” factor.
Color schemes are grand and Jeff Van Dyck’s soundtrack is one of the game’s most impressive aspects once again, even though he doesn’t quite deliver as strongly as in the first game, to my mind at least.
A visually stunning game that falls short of its promise because of repetitive, too simple tasks with no real threat to the player and a storyline that is completely hidden in its collectibles.
