Submerged

The setting is lovely, with nature taking hold of the waterlogged city. The day night cycles add a living atmosphere to the setting, and the appearance of the sea monsters add some further drama to the story. And although I loved the telling of the stories and the landscape in which Miku finds herself, there isn't quite enough variation in gameplay to keep players interested for longer than necessary.

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.

Disappointing. This could have been a truly poetic title centered on discovery and exploration, but the technical problems, bad level design, and weak storyline destroy the experience.

Good exploration game should have a fascinating world and an above average storytelling – or at least one of these elements. Submerged has the direction right but doesn’t push far enough with it. [10/2015, p.67]

Submerged looks beautiful, but lacks the required depth to really grab hold of the player. The repetitive gameplay holds no challenge whatsoever, and when the initially intriguing story loses its way, players are left with little to no incentive to keep going.

While the visuals are nothing to scoff at, this nascent title is a baby that could've been thrown away with all the bathwater.

Submerged is just not worth two hours of your life.

Submerged is a game that is not a game. A hollow shell. An empty box with huge ambitions, an ugly, badly designed, at times painfully dull product. There is no atmosphere, only boredom and embarrassment. There's enough good exploration games that you can simply avoid Submerged altogether.

It’s the kind of game that believes plonking players in a brightly lit space is enough audience engagement to satisfy.

There is no meaning, no point. It's just a boring game that lasts three hours.