Under The Waves

[h1]Передышка в жизни ради принятия[/h1] Это история о человеке, который переживает личное горе. Не способный справиться с утратой, он отправляется на подводную "вахту", чтобы отвлечься и найти себя. [h3]Плюсы: атмосфера и звук[/h3] В игре потрясающий визуал, отлично передающий атмосферу океанских глубин и фауны - круче будет разве что Subnautica. Также безумно понравилась музыка: спокойные мелодии, подчеркивающие безмятежность океана, после сюжетных твистов сменяются динамичными и драйвовыми треками. [h3]Минусы: пустой мир и левел-дизайн[/h3] Главный минус - [b]плохо проработанный открытый мир[/b]. Карта небольшая, но пустая: несколько видов фауны, пара типов ресурсов, которые не на что тратить, и [b]бесконечные скалы[/b]. [b]Левел-дизайн отвратный[/b]: ты буквально как крот ищешь проходы и пещеры, чтобы продвинуться дальше между этими скалами. Это сильно утомляет, как и общая медлительность геймплея. Я не против неспешного темпа ради реализма (как в RDR 2). Но когда человечество изобрело лазер для прожигания нефти, но не додумалось оснастить подводный аппарат клешней, из-за чего приходится каждый раз выплывать и собирать ресурсы руками - это выглядит не как реализм, а как искусственное затягивание и без того скучного геймплея. [h3]Сюжетные дыры[/h3] Сюжет мог бы спасти игру, ведь визуал и музыка на высоте. Но в итоге сценаристы вешают три «чеховских ружья», и ни одно из них не стреляет: Экологическая катастрофа ни к чему не приводит. Мистические элементы никак не объясняются - ни галлюцинациями от одиночества, ни аномалиями. Они просто есть. Личная драма героя раскрыта слабо. Нам не показывают предысторию и не раскрывают главный конфликт, из-за чего сопереживать трагедии не получается. В финал выводит именно эта ветка, предлагая "выбор из двух стульев", но и она остается нерассказанной и плохо поставленной. [b]Авторы взялись за все сразу, затянули хронометраж и не раскрыли ничего.[/b] [h3]Итог[/h3] Я не могу рекомендовать эту игру. Если вам нравится чиллить в океане и гриндить в небольшом подводном мире - игра[b]может[/b] зайти. Но если вы ищете полноценную игру с четким видением сюжета и целостностью, то Under the Waves [b]окажется пустой и скучной тратой времени[/b].

okay so the gameplay and visuals of this game are gorgeous and relatively solid. I love underwater exploration and recycling mechanics. but good god the story. This is an ungenerous take, and I'm sure some people found something in this game that I didn't, as a quick disclaimer, but this game was Not For Me. david cage is a guilty pleasure and I devour quantic dream games with enthusiastic masochism for their campy twists and experimental attempts at immersion. This one's story wasn't developed by him, I believe, but instead seems to be entirely inspired by his hatred of women and seems to be written from the perspective of someone who has only heard of marriage through descriptions of rom-drama. the exhausting breathless voiceacting adds a layer of frustration to the incomprehensible cliche manpain that will dutifully add nothing to the topic or themes, and isn't even experimental enough to be interesting or memorable. anyway though I really wanted to finish this game before reviewing bc the submersible IS so very fun and if you like ocean games you might find joy in this anyway, but unfortunately there's really no incentive to actually beat the game, since the entire story seems to have been played out 20 years before this game came out.

I wanted to love this game but the story is average, it's badly optimized and the gameplay is very poor

By no means a good game, or even a very good story, but if you want some undersea vibes it's a fine way to waste a few hours. Baffling choices made throughout. Occasional bugs. Heavy-handed moralising.

Lovely and pretty sad underwater adventure. It's not in any way similar to Subnautica, Under the Waves is kind of a story-driven "walking simulator" with ability to discover the whole map, but without any base bulding. You will get a very personal experience with several endings. It is an indie story-heavy game, so don't expect perfect visuals or deep mechanics. I had no any bugs during my playthrough. The only gripe I can mention - I did not like controls, they are mamageable, but not as good as in Subnautica (of course, it's also 1st vs 3rd person view thing). Can recommend this game, but only if you are ok with some sad plot :)

Didn't quite scratch the itch of being immersed in an isolating and vast unknown, nor the enjoyable routine of foraging and exploration I was expecting out of a game set in a seascape. Your character gets a "trauma vocation" ala Firewatch (Oceanwatch), as you work with big corpo to mantain undersea operations and prevent disasters. Devs were funded by what seems like a ecological activist collective, self-promoting and having their messages getting dropped in pretty heavy-handedly. Almost every resource collection has your character sputtering commentary about ocean waste, and there is even a point even where your player claims to be "getting in bed with the enemy" for being on big corpo's payroll, as you betray the lamentations of your ecologically-conscious scientist wife. As someone who does volunteer with ecoactivism I don't exactly disagree with the messaging but it [i]waters[/i] down the gravitas and spunk of the plot significantly with how often it gets hammered in. Controls and camera is sticky and clunky, even out of a submersible. Wildlife is not interactible, save for plot devices. The resources you gather barely amounts to anything useful for progression. This makes exploration a chore at times and unrewarding. Probably the worst offender has to be how unbearable the player character is to follow. The art style is in an uncanny valley between low poly and high fidelity and his face comes across as abominably ugly and oversized. Doesn't even have a good looking cheeks in that wetsuit with how much you'll be staring at it in third person. He also has the weakest voice acting compared to the side characters where it feels like he's mumbling a lot and sounds almost as flat as I would be at singing sea shanties. Part of me still feels like I was on the cusp of an interesting plot development, but I can't bring myself back to enjoy it any further once I dropped it. Not a bad experience but exceedingly mediocre in all aspects, with the exception of world aesthetics. It is a visually beautiful game otherwise.

Came for the diving, stayed for the feels! It's a comparatively short and not too difficult, stress-free game. Visually appealing, some riddles and exploration, some story, lot's of diving. Recommended!

The scenery and the graphics are quite good for this type of games. It delves you into the story by experiencing real loss and sadness. The music really tunes into it. I would also understand if some people do not like it because it's slow paced. Want an emotional exploring under the deep water game? Then this is for you!

The game was just so slow and seemed to drag on and on. I'm six hours in and I know I'm close to finishing it but I just can't bring myself to go through another hour of it.

What a lovely game. Swimming in an endless ocean really cool. Story is a 10/10 i aint gonna spoil anything. I think this is a port from ps5 though which make the swimming a bit tedious at points where you get stuck on nothing and cant swim forward no more 8/10