Subnautica Rising: Revengeance is a nearly perfect adaption of Frank Schätzings The Swarm.
Despite its simple premise, this game manages to grab me by the leg and drag me down all the way to the bottom of the mariana trench before devouring me violently.
Story:
You are a shark. A very hungry shark. Like, the shark from Jaws looks like a goldfish with a mils appetite compared to you in this game.
After a fisher with the body of a fat norse god guts your mom, you´re left to fight for your own in one of the most hostile environments on earth: A polluted coastal area of an american city. In Florida.
Yeah, i was also surprised by the missing horror tag but here we are.
The story itself is mostly about you chewing on every unlucky mofo in the same ocean as you. Like, what did you expect? It´s a game about a bloodthirsty shark. You´re not going to get Bioshock Infinite out of a premise like this. Maybe from the Ace Combat devs but i wouldn´t bet on it.
Gameplay:
It´s an open world game with focus on exploration and of course combat.
You star out killing more catfish than the german police until you´re big enough to literally kill a whale and traumatize Schleswig-Holstein all over again.
You eat. A f*ckton to be exact. You can bite, wiggle your prey, whip it with your tail or grab a poor seal and use it as a projectile. Each animal had ressources that act as currency to upgrade your body parts.
Yeah, did i mention this game was like Deus Ex if Adam Jensen was a shark?
You can augment yourself into a bone tank, a living lightning or if you have the DLC you can become a lovecraftian entity that shoots lasers. Each mutation has passive and active bonuses that can save your day in the ocean.
Most fishes are barely an issue and are just relegated to cannon fodder as the game goes on. Later however, you´re up against the Ted Bundys of the sea: Orcas. While the sharks usually go down easily after a few bites, Orcas turn this game into Dragon Ball Z fights so make sure you got that dodging nailed down.
Also, there´s human enemies. You can snatch them off your boat or destroy the boat itself which will take longer but looks f*cking awesome.
Not to mention, the graphics and art direction are insanely good for a AA game. Each area is vastly different from eachother. You get a Bayou, a beach resort, a harbor, a flooded nuclear power plant and the open sea. The devs used lots of tricks like lighting and colo grading to give each area its own unique feeling.
It´s about 10 hours long and has a DLC if you want some more.
Fun gameplay, good graphics, solid experience.
RIP Timmy/10
