Submerged: Hidden Depths Preview: Exploration For The Masses
Submerged: Hidden Depths is the sequel to 2015’s Submerged by Uppercut Games. Take the exploration bits from Uncharted and Tomb Raider and remove all threats, and that’s loosely what this game is.
There are no goons carrying guns, ancient tribal deities shooting at you with dusty blowpipes, or even booby traps. And I’m talking spikes and pitfalls, not Lara Croft. That sounds like a recipe for boredom, perhaps? Considering you can’t die in Submerged: Hidden Depths, there’s zero threat other than sunburn if you didn’t use the appropriate SPF lotion.
The game follows Miku and Taku, living in a submerged world, which I will not go into. Why? Because the game is about discovery, and you’ll uncover the details through playing. Secondly, because this preview only covers the first hour of gameplay. What I can tell you is this is absolutely beautiful, and nothing like Kevin Costner’s Waterworld.
In the first hour of gameplay, I explored the world by boat to locate ruins. Miku would hop out and search for clues – predominantly seeds that restore life to the area. All of these are marked on your world map as you discover them, but they can be tackled in any order.
There was zero combat in Submerged: Hidden Depths, nor any moves to learn
Miku will approach every area with a parkour-like grace. The only button interaction is picking up items, no puzzles to solve other than the logistics of reaching a collectable or returning a seed to its source. This was enjoyable and shouldn’t be seen as easy but a relaxing, explorative experience.
Progression can be monitored through a journal that lists all the unlockables such as lore, the siblings’ story and the city, creatures encountered, landmarks, seeds collected and styles. Styles are unlocked when collecting items in-game, and are there to change the appearance of things.
Using Assassin’s Creed as a reference point, the siblings can locate lookout points to get an overview of the world, much like the eagle points in AC. However, it’s the telescope that will be your navigation tool as pressing Y (on a controller) brings up a telescope to ‘lock in’ points of interest to which you can visit. Completing these areas – such as locating a seed location – will unlock a fast travel option.
The level of challenge in the first hour of Submerged: Hidden Depths was minimal and, as a result, accessible to even those not necessarily into gaming. If anything, the most challenging thing about that hour was locating all the items in a location. This means it’s one of those rare games where you look at practically every corner rather than steaming through an area. There are hints along the way, notably a subtle use of red to indicate a climbable ledge – similar to Far Cry, or perhaps Minute of Islands.
Submerged: Hidden Depths wasn’t a title on my watchlist, and at a glance was expecting a first-person game, until realising I was mixing that up with Subnautica. No disrespect to that title, but I’m glad that Submerged: Hidden Depths is this open-world 3D adventure. In this quick glimpse, it had just the right balance of nuance and dynamics to make it a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable experience.
Submerged: Hidden Depths is officially released on Steam, PS4/5 and Xboxeseses on the 10th of March 2022.
