Under The Waves Reviews

A very well made game. Polished presentation that makes swimming around a joy. Control is a highlight here; every time I jumped into the minisub felt enjoyable all on its own. I also liked the light exploration elements and took the time to explore the wrecks and take pictures of fishies. The voice acting is well done, though the protagonist has a habit of trailing off and not finishing his sentences that got old, fast. Not every character did it, so I’m assuming it was a choice. The crafting system felt trivial and mostly unnecessary, like something they added to help kill time. Unfortunately, the button prompts to interact with anything was often finicky, and I found I had to angle the camera or position the character just-so just to get the prompt to activate. Tedious. The game verges into psychological horror towards the end, with cramped, dark, maze-like sections that I also found tedious, though I do think the atmospheric tension was effective. I enjoyed the earlier semi-open gameplay far more. As for the story… I’m divided. It’s a tad preachy, and mixing in the grief narrative with the “oil company bad” plot feels gross. Maybe I wouldn’t have felt that way if the Surfrider organization wasn’t so prominently part of the game? Perhaps that primed me to be more cynical? I did appreciate the ambiguity of whether his visions are real or whether it’s a psychosis. Let us all wonder.

I'd recommend this game if you are playing it for the story and the vibes. Swimming around the ocean is pretty cool and the game is very pretty but there aren't a lot of reasons to do this outside of collecting things. The story deals with some heavy subject matter but I thought it was good, there's an environmental story and a more human centered story going on, I wish the two resolutions were a little more related, it would have been more satisfying. The gameplay is very light, I think there is potential here in a sequel, maybe if there were some environment and active threats to deal with, and if the survival elements were turned up a little bit, I found I was never in any danger. One note, the graphics settings are very minimal and tbh should have more options for a pc game, and I did experience a bug with progression on a side objective, I didn't even realize it until I beat the game and looked up what I was missing to get a particular achievement. It wasn't anything too big, but worth noting. If you plan to 100% the game you'll probably need at least 2 playthroughs and may have to look up something because you wouldn't know that an objective did not show up for you. Overall it was a good experience and I had fun with it, I really like games set in the ocean and this definitely fit the bill.

very relaxing. you get into the story. a little preachy, but very well made, chill game.

I enjoyed the game, but it has its advantages and disadvantages. I liked the design, the atmosphere, the beautiful underwater world, the voice acting, the game mechanics. But at the same time: 1. The game crashed three times. Once it pulled Windows down with it .I had to reboot. 2. As many have noted, there is too much propaganda against oil production. The protagonist constantly chatters about it to himself, which looks more like a symptom of mental illness than the rational thinking. 3. I really regret that the developers missed the opportunity to make something as good as Subnautica with elements of survival, crafting and free exploration of the beautiful underwater world they were able to create. In this game unfortunately, you need to spend too much time wandering around dirty, destroyed and dark underwater rooms. There are almost no other missions. For this reason, you most likely will not want to play it a second time.

What a beautiful and emotional game. I didn't expect this to have such a strong and heartfelt ending(s). Under the Waves is a must for people who like to think deep and feel the meaning of life. The game itself is fun, and the story is amazing.

This was... hard to recommend. It's a tale of preservation and grief. It is a flawed game, with moments of frustration, poor design choices and terrible pacing. BUT I can't think of a more beautiful underwater simulation, and the ending hits hard, which almost makes the 10 hrs worth it. If you love the ocean, and crave a beautiful underwater experience, you might like it,.. but be prepared for some sections where you will grit your teeth.

I got this game because QD published it. I also got the PS5 version and played many hours there. Now here's the problems that make it pretty much unplayable. Crashes, on the PS5 it crashes. More than any PS5 game I've seen so far. The save granularity is very high. When it crashes it goes back to what ever quest checkpoint you last did. Which can be at least 30 min or more. The crashes are really a pain. Last time, and I mean last, I crashed back to the same point three times. Also the game has a very low rent, amateurish quality to it. Finally, the sanctimonious messages about water pollution are very annoying. I don't throw plastic bottles in the oceans, not even in storm drains, I rarely use plastic bottles at all. So shut-up about it. Ironically the game is sending the opposite message. You want plastic bottles in the game because you need them for construction. So actually please throw more plastic bottles in the ocean!, so I can pick them up to make things. Try harder next time. Don't publish crashy unfinished junk.

I'm a bit torn about this game. On the one hand, the underwater atmosphere is superbly captured, the environmental protection message is strong and important, and not too overly contrived, and the main story is occasionally touching, if you can empathize with the protagonist and his story. I also liked the soundtrack and the atmospheric soundscape. On the other hand, the graphics, while atmospheric, are terribly washed out (even indoors!), and the game tends to crash and stutter frequently. The protagonist also speaks too slowly, repeats too many words, uses too many filler words, and makes odd pauses, which I can certainly imagine being realistic for certain people, but in a game that gets a bit annoying over time. Furthermore, the attempted mystery approach backfires a bit, and the questions raised are mostly left unanswered or—in the worse cases—simply never addressed again ([spoiler]the time mystery with the submarine in the cave?[/spoiler]), which makes them seem more like plot holes than enigmatic. It seems like much more was planned here and then probably fell victim to the limited budget. All in all, you get a nice game for little money, but you should be prepared to overlook some less than perfect scenes. By the time the credits rolled, I was quite satisfied, and I'm hoping for a sequel that's technically better, perhaps with a greater emphasis on the mystery aspects and a bit less on the dream sequences.

Crashes at the same place in an unskipable cutscene. Every single time. Tried every suggestion I could find in the forum. Seems like it's been like that for 2 whole years and isn't patched yet. The scene is the end of the day 2. So if you want this game, don't spend too much time exploring and gathering materials on the first 2 days. Just focus on the story missions to see if you can play this game or not.

To be completely honest, the story was good but the game play was so frustratingly redundant I was annoyed more often than enjoying this game. There is SO much back tracking. You will have to walk/swim at the speed of under water walking, just to find a door. Exchange 5 seconds of dialogue, then go walk navigate a very confusing maze to find another door. Do this over and over again and you finally get through the game. I additionally felt that the trailer was very misleading. I thought this was going to be some type of spooky exploration game but it turned out to be a pretty boring anti oil company shout out. Which sure, I agree with, however that's not why I bought the game. The crafting and resource gathering was borderline pointless as they give you everything you need. Every mission was just a maze to get through, for what feels like to extend gameplay under the guise of immersion. Idk. Maybe get it on sale if it's under 5$ but I am a bit annoyed that I didn't realize how bland this game was until I was almost done with it. Would not recommend. I enjoyed it enough to finish it. I was very happy that it ended tho if that makes sense. Finished it out of pure stubbornness I guess.