Submerged

In the end, Submerged successfully achieves what it sets out to offer: a relaxing and thought provoking exploration experience. Its a game that’s rough around the edges but grabs you from the moment you start playing, drawing you in until you’ve reached the game’s somewhat predictable conclusion. The lack of danger and urgency in the game as well as its possibly over-simplified game mechanics will...

Submerged attempts to replace tension with curiosity as a motivating force, and largely succeeds even though its environmental storytelling isn’t as dense as it could’ve been. It’s an unchallenging, occasionally beautiful experience that caters to our instinct to see what’s on the other side of the mountain. In the moments where Submerged rewarded inquisitiveness, I loved it. When it occasionally ...

What if the combat-free opening hour of BioShock Infinite stretched on for much longer? Indeed, what if you could explore the beautiful ruins of a destroyed city without having to constantly fend for your life? Submerged – a game developed by ex-Bioshock staffers, incidentally – attempts to answer these very questions. But does this sailing sojourn live up to this potential, or does it sink to the...

Submerged is very pretty, but there isn't much to keep you playing and it's not worth the price tag.

Submerged is...Well, it exists. It wants to stand beside games like Journey, yet missed the mark so much on why Journey worked. It puts you in a world and expects you to be amazed, but never delivers any reason to become attached or really, a world pretty enough to just become absorbed into visually. Float on.

It’s a reasonably short game for £14 – perhaps an afternoon’s stuff to do first time through. But it’s so unrelentingly lovely, and such a rare pleasure to be experienced without constant worry about being shot in the back of the head, or eaten by a wolf, or running out of time, or any of the other ways games so desperately want to concern us. Complete it, and it'll let you return to the city to f...

I found the climbing mechanics alright to begin with, but a side-effect of the “explore at your own pace” feature means you could stumble across the buildings in any order, meaning it does not get any more challenging. Collecting items on the way up depends largely on guessing the right direction to go as well, which means painful back-tracking if you can be bothered collecting it. Eventually, thi...

Within under ten minutes time you’ll have experienced all the game has to offer; boring boating, equally dull scaling of buildings and peering out a periscope to find the next white and green building to climb. There is no failstate, no urgency, no combat, just moving from point to point and monotonously collecting shit. The story isn’t interesting, the gameplay is boring, everything looks the sam...

After only ten minutes in the game you’ve already experienced everything that Submerged has to offer. It’s a rather dull and shallow title in what could have been an exciting and scary world. There is no combat, no urgency, and no chance of failure. The gameplay is boring, the landmarks and scenery are mediocre, and the story is almost nonexistent. Submerged is a rapidly sinking ship that never ev...

As much as I wanted to fall in love with Submerged, it’s standing proof that a game needs more than good looks and a unique angle to win me over. With the ’emotional’ story-driven approach slowly receding from the frontline of gaming, I’m left craving fun and challenging experiences that have us do more than haplessly roam within the confines of a digital sandbox.

All in all, Submerged is a nice game to play, with minimal things to keep track to. The map is easy to follow, the journal keeps track of the story (even though they’re only pictures), and the controls are simple. It’s also not a great game, but it is definitely a breath of fresh air from all the similar post-apocalyptic games out there.