Under The Waves

The otherwise moving narrative of Under the Waves misses out on some lost opportunities, but if you have an affinity for collecting, exploration and ocean preservation, you’ll effortlessly immerse yourself for hours in this enchanting, beautiful underwater adventure.

nder The Waves provokes emotions, it makes you cry, shiver, clench your fists and above all, it makes you think. Far from a moralizing speech, he learns. Learn to love the ocean, the beauty it represents but also the strength hidden there. Under the Waves is touching with such human characters, with weaknesses and many doubts. A poignant story that is not wrapped in embellishments to deliver 7 completely captivating hours.

Under the Waves offers a unique experience, masterfully combining fascinating underwater exploration with an emotional story.

The emerging narrative of Under the Waves will accompany you while you are underwater and then will make you desire to re-embrace the surface: Stan is a man who hides his past, he wanted to bury it, but he has to deal with it, especially at night . The title of Parallel Studio certainly does not offer a layered playful component, but its engaging story - linked to a credible and multifaceted protagonist - will certainly push you to fully experience this journey consisting of 7 chapters.

Under the Waves is an emotional adventure that handles distressing subject matter in a touching way. There are some issues with the execution, but the overall experience is a memorable one.

Under the Waves is a game with a strong story that keeps you hooked throughout its duration. Its objectives are varied to keep you active. Unfortunately, it has several technical glitches that negatively affect the gaming experience.

Melancholic underwater adventure with a story focus and an atmosphere that produces goosebumps.

A high-level atmospheric experience, Under the Waves offers a truly immersive aquatic experience, enhanced by an absolutely memorable soundtrack (which you will undoubtedly want to listen to in your free time) and very convincing French performances. It's a shame that the story, although fascinating, suffers from a sometimes languorous pace, also hampered by laborious micro-tasks.

If its gameplay can feel common and somewhat frustrating, Under The Waves shines through the serious themes addressed with great respect and maturity, that should leave a mark on you.

Under The Waves delivers a powerful narrative in an atmoshperic, underwater experience. As you descend further into the depths of this story, you will find yourself empathizing with the main character and experiencing the realities of accepting your past and moving on.

Under the Waves is a beautiful game, both graphically an narratively, though the latter is on the sadder end of the beauty scale. It is a little short, but it's an affecting story with some fantastic voice performances that really help elevate what is already effective dialogue. It's not perfect but it is unique and it's a joy to explore the depths of the north sea in your cute little submarine.

A story about loneliness and grief, set in a retro-futuristic 1970s and told from the perspective of a deepsea diver, which is less interested in action than creating the right atmosphere.

Under the Waves is an impressive first game from Parallel Studio that tells an emotionally charged story of protagonist Stan overcoming his grief. The writing and performances are quality stuff, and while the gameplay doesn't feature any notable mechanics, it is a surprisingly solid experience that's worth playing through to the end.

While Under The Waves has good intentions and well-thought-out ideas, it’s a disappointment. There are moments when it's beautiful and charming, striking you with its own visual style and excellent music and asking you to swim more miles to see what you can find. But this effect can’t stand on its own for long, and the result is an experience filled with the dumps and vices that it tries to fight against.

But the soundtrack is excellent and perfectly complements your lonely swimming, the atmosphere is thick, and the occasionally wondrous moments are suitably awesome, in the literal sense. While you spend most of your time swimming alone in the grim dark of the sea, the moments where you find a sunken wreck or a friendly octopus act as a kind of catharsis, and always feel special.

While far from shallow, Under the Waves doesn’t quite reach the depths that it could have. Its ambient score, gorgeous stylised visuals and emphasis on tackling issues such as mental well being, ocean conservation and how we deal with grief illustrate just how much love has been put into the game. However, some of its more striking moments quickly come undone as a result of a lacklustre protagonist, whose monotone line delivery and poor lip-syncing can break you out of the seafaring spell, as well as the occasional bug. Nonetheless, despite Stan and some technical hiccups here and there, Under the Waves shines when you are roaming around the ocean, taking photos of the various ecosystems and cleaning up the environment to later put to use for crafting materials. Spending your days exploring the ocean may seem like a quiet task, and it is, but it is a meditative one that you should allow to wash over you.

Under the Waves is a flawed but impactful deep-sea denizen. The immersive gameplay, contemplative themes and powerful eco-conscious flare make the game a uniquely wonderful narrative adventure. Some of the finer details are uneven and taint the big picture, but you will come away moved in spite of its problems.

It lacks some polish on the technical side, but if you love exploration and aren't afraid of one big "water level", Under the Waves is like a treasure hidden in the deep.

Under The Waves is a truly immersive narrative-driven game. Although sometimes a little heavy-handed with themes that could do with more subtlety, overall its message is powerful and the atmosphere the game creates is second to none. It is, however, hampered by a few moments of technical clumsiness that stop it from being quite as effective as it could be.

Under The Waves is just a missed opportunity and it's a real shame, because its environmental message would still deserve to be listened to.

Infuriating. Fun sea exploration, but we can’t help wondering if Quantic Dream published this to make its own horrible writing look better by comparison. [Issue#33, p.92]

Under the Waves delivers an incredibly emotional story about grief and its ability to manifest in the realities of those who attempt to evade it. While the title's main narrative is powerfully effective, its secondary focus on environmentalism, fueled by a real-world partnership, diminishes the overall impact of the experience. Though its close-up visuals and optional objectives are marred by technical issues, the core of Under the Waves' gameplay is enough to keep players engaged in its mandatory tasks. The story of Stan is one many fans will resonate with, as it captures the difficult thoughts that accompany grief. Unfortunately, Under the Waves doesn't quite deliver a gaming experience deserving of such meaningful concepts.

It is imperfect but affecting, and hopefully after a few patches and updates, players will be able to enjoy it with fewer caveats. It’s peaceful under the waves. I can see why Stan, desperate to escape a measureless grief, would be drawn to it. But in the end, this turns out to be a game about what it takes to avoid being dragged under.

A deep dive into an emotionally resonant, thematically intriguing, and visually striking abyss, Under the Waves' waters are choppy at times, but there's pearls to be found amidst the turbulence of its enthralling ocean.

We’ve come away from Under The Waves with mixed feelings. We’ve very much enjoyed some elements of the game: exploring the ocean is simply wonderful, and the more tense moments set in the eerie underwater facilities have kept us on the edge of our seats. But there are plenty of frustrations, too, and the impact of the experience is ultimately dampened by the fact it all feels like one big advert for a non-profit organisation.