Submerged: Hidden Depths PC review - Sailing across waves of serenity

Indie developer Uppercut Games' Submerged: Hidden Depths is one of those games that puts the player in the backseat instead of letting them grip the wheel and veer off-road. This new sea-faring adventure puts players in the naked soles of a brother-sister duo as they explore the submerged remnants of a past civilization.

It is also a sequel to 2015's original Submerged, including similar mechanics and pacing. Is the upcoming sequel a worthwhile entry for newcomers to experience? Or does it play its cards too safely for its own good?

Welcome to Submerged: Hidden Depth's flooded post-apocalyptic world

Let's talk about the story first. After the events of the first Submerged, the brother Taku has grown up and accompanies Miku as they come across a new area engulfed by the never-ending vastness of water.

The region is home to an unseen entity called the Mass, which is also responsible for the animal "clones" that players will encounter across the world. Unfortunately, corruption has spread across the isles, and it's up to Miku to help heal the unnatural black presence using her powers and revive nature in its place.

The cutscenes deploy a cinematic depth-of-field effect for the background (Screenshot from Submerged: Hidden Depths)

There is more to the story than that, though. It also touches on the strained relationship between the duo thanks to past events involving their sister's ability to heal the Mass.

There's also another narrative layer pertaining to the one and only NPC in the game that the surface-level plot does not address. That's right, Miku and Taku are not the only sentient beings in this forgotten land.

No spoilers, but it's an enjoyable narrative despite being somewhat cryptic at first and a new setting compared to whatever's out on the market right now.

From point A to B, all across the sea

The open-world hides many collectibles to uncover (Screenshot from Submerged: Hidden Depths)

I covered the initial impressions of the game in our recent preview, highlighting the first hour of gameplay. Unfortunately, the game did not evolve past that period. What you see is what you get right up until the credits roll.

Most of the player's time will be spent checking out the open-world waterscapes littered across the map. It is jam-packed with content to discover. This includes Seeds located across nine dungeons. Lookouts unearth surrounding markers on the map, and Diaries expand upon the narrative and world-building by delivering the overall story to players piece-by-piece.

Upgrades also allow the motorboat to travel at max speed for extended periods. Relics have Taku fish out artifacts from aquatic depths, while Landmarks are a step back in time, featuring ruins that meant some value to the past world.

Discovery is the name of the game (Screenshot from Submerged: Hidden Depths)

All in all, Submerged: Hidden Depth's open-world is beautiful. However, it is also kind of barebones and essentially window dressing. Besides the activities mentioned above, there's not much to do. Minus the animal compendium to complete, these green-veined critters range from seals and crabs to dolphins and bears.

The Journal keeps track of all encountered items and events. While exploring, Miku can use her telescope to chart out points of interest in the distance, which are automatically marked for the player's convenience.

The controls are mostly solid, especially for the boat, which is easy to handle. It can boost and swerve across turns just fine, though some tight spots can slow it down. Miku (and Taku for some non-main dungeon areas) can move around and interact with contextual objects using the interact button.

Of puzzles and platformers

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Covering the critical spectacle of the game, the dungeons have Miku go through intricately crafted set pieces. This sees the sister make her way across the platforming and lever switching sections to extract a green orb (i.e., the Seed) and place it in the corrupted core to cure the mass of the "sickness."

Doing so magically brings life back into the inhibited flora of the said dungeon. The boat also plays a role in some dungeons, letting the duo create paths using conveniently placed objects like makeshift bridges or open barred entrances.

Assassin's Creed: Submerged Edition? (Screenshot from Submerged: Hidden Depths)

Platforming mostly plays itself. This is not a surprise, given the game's laid-back nature. There are no fail= states, nor can the duo die. There is no combat either.

Progression is gated by puzzles as well. Miku will encounter levers that open doors and plate switches that require weights to open, allowing her to move forward. They're nothing complex as the solution is usually a few jumping and climbing segments away.

Overall, the path to the goal is linear, but players can follow specific lanes off the main road to discover collectibles. They often require a little bit more effort to obtain, like an extra set of vines to climb or a small series of ledges to shimmy across. After that, it's back to heading towards getting the Seed.

Exploring every nook and cranny

The dungeons also have wonderful vistas to take in (Screenshot from Submerged: Hidden Depths)

These dungeons also contain a set of Diaries that unlock new story excerpts for players to learn more about the world. Then there's also the Style collectibles - these are some neat cosmetics for Miku's hair, attire, and boat. Like the Diaries, they also come in sets, and players must collect nine pieces before equipping each cosmetic group.

Interestingly, these items also emit a series of subtle melodies when nearby, hinting at their location. Another type of cosmetic is Flowers. There are nine of them throughout Submerged: Hidden Depths (one in each dungeon), and they let Miku decorate her hair with an eye-catching floral ornament.

The puzzles are fairly simple (Screenshot from Submerged: Hidden Depths)

However, dungeons are still very straightforward at the end of the day. They might be thematically different, like the Marinelli shipwreck or the towering Vattna Hotel, but they're all fundamentally the same, with primarily similar puzzles and platforming portions.

So admittedly, Submerged: Hidden Depths does get stale when played at a stretch, even considering the sights to see and things to collect. It's not a particularly long game either, clocking in at around 6-7 hours, a little more if you decide to chase down everything there is to see.

Graphics, sound and performance

The game is a looker, no doubt about that (Screenshot from Submerged: Hidden Depths)

The game was reviewed on PC with the following specifications:

Processor: Intel Core i5-8300H @3.9 GHz
RAM: 8 GB DDR4 @2666 MHz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 4 GB
Storage: 500 GB NVMe SSD

If there is one aspect that Submerged: Hidden Depths is worth buying for, it's the world design. Unlike its predecessor, it boasts a more vibrant color palette, with blues, yellows, and greens popping off the screen.

This Unreal Engine 4 title has a beautiful cel-shaded aesthetic, and a handful of in-engine cutscenes are also well-animated. The water shader is particularly eye-catching. There's also a Post Card mode (essentially a photo-mode), letting users take gorgeous camera shots of the game's numerous locales.

There's not much to report on the good side of things. Music that plays when exploring usually consists of orchestral tunes. Nothing memorable, but not poor either. The voiceover is done in a fictional language, with the voice actors doing an excellent job of setting their tone despite that.

While the game runs fine at 1080p in Medium settings with an average of 40-45 FPS, it seems demanding for how basic and static the open world is. More than a handful of stutters when exploring out on the boat are likely to be related to background asset streaming. It could certainly do with an update to iron out the kinks.

In Conclusion

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Submerged: Hidden Depths is a safe sequel in every definition of the term. It does not reinvent the wheel but rather takes familiar concepts to deliver a calm exploratory experience. While the visuals and narrative are its highlights, the monotonous gameplay and technical flaws do slow down the smooth sailing, not in a chill way.

On a side note, the game allows players to continue exploring once the finale is wrapped up. But besides that, there isn't any replayability here. It's a one-and-done experience. The game has been out on Google Stadia for the past couple of years. It is now available on PCs and consoles as well.