A sci-fi-ish [strike]walking[/strike] swimming simulator with a couple of action-y elements, marred by bugs, glitches and weak nonsensical plot/ending.
Somehow has a co-op mode; I have no idea what its point is, or how it would even work - narratively or mechanically - in this game. Judging by all the complaints, it rarely does even start properly and is very, very buggy.
[u][b]PROS: general visual, sound and music design, atmosphere[/b][/u]
Initially, with its narrative and aesthetics, the game is presented like it's something akin to James Cameron's The Abyss, or Peter Watts-style black smokers ecosystem exploration mystery. It does have a similar vibe, deep ocean is just alien like that, but the story/gameplay/idea is unfortunately almost entirely unrelated and not fleshed out at all.
Still, the devs succeeded in recreating the right mood and atmosphere. Gameplay is slow and somewhat tedious, but can immerse you in a trance-like state because of the sights, the sounds, the movement, the snippets of music. Ambience is great, environments feel appropriately oppressive and hostile, though often beautiful; movement is fluid - as it should be, if a little slow - but has some decent momentum.
The game is very linear - you can try to explore somewhat, but are constantly struggling with the current; locations are mostly barren; and you're on timer. The timer is not too tight, just psychologically uncomfortable. Also, it's almost impossible to get lost - even when standing still, you are always being gently nudged in the right direction.
Main mechanics is straightforward and simple. Your charge is respectively your timer, health and ammo. It's restored and maintained with the help of your companion, but it's sometimes tricky to make it notice and pick up the needed collectibles (which you can't pick up yourself). Or, on the opposite, it insists on collecting them when there is no need to, and charges into enemy groups. Or wanders off, or gets stuck somewhere across the map.
[u][b]CONS: dialogues, story, level design, bugs and glitches[/b][/u]
The writing is barebones, as are the characters. Actually, voiceacting is decent, though the lines often feel disjointed and disconnected from what is happening; the fact that they were recorded with varying sound quality does not help. Sometimes they overlap and become a broken mess if you move too quickly. Characters have a nasty habit of talking over each other with subtitles being incomplete and not always catching on.
Collectible "audio" logs are not voiced (except the very first one), which is explained with "audio log is corrupted, continuing with transcript only" - definitely to save on voiceacting. So you are just standing in one spot doing nothing, waiting for the next line to appear.
The game is riddled with bugs and glitches. Numerous holes in terrain and floating assets, enemy and companion AI acting up, gun shutting down between levels. There is not much of actual content, elements and challenges repeat over and over; it just drags on. The whole game is at least twice as long as it needs to be, and thus fails in creating suspense.
The narrative is weak and somewhat nonsensical, but the worst thing by far is the ending. Not spoiling it in this review, but... what?.. That's... not... how it works... at all. This depiction is disjointed, simplistic and amateurish at best, despite claims of working with "professionals". Aspects of what it claims to be about are conveyed so poorly, that I hadn't had a single glimpse of suspicion of what it really is, despite playing literally dozens of games with similar themes; I just thought it was a haphazardly written plot, and nothing more. You can't just stick such things to the ending and leave it like that, ruining the story as a whole. It's abrupt and anticlimactic, no plot threads are really resolved. That's just disappointing.
[b]Conclusion[/b]
The game does have the right atmosphere for the setting - ominous and haunting; it does a pretty good job at delivering appropriate trance-like experience. Recommended, if you desperately need your deep ocean fix, are easily enthralled by the views and the flow, and wish to experience that state; otherwise just play Narcosis instead - a much better game dealing with similar topics in similar environments.
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