The crushing weight of the ocean floor isn’t the only thing weighing on Stan’s heart in Under the Waves.
Deep diver Stan is our main man in this under the sea adventure, set in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
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With Subnautica under my belt, I was drawn to Under the Waves’ aquatic charm that boasted clear blue sea, exciting missions and seemingly deep narrative. But to be honest, Under the Waves is not what I expected.
I was quite literally thrown into the deep end with the controls. A few guidelines here and there was not enough to sustain my life under water.
The purpose of the game is to perform exploration tasks for Stan’s employer, UniTrench. It’s a daily cycle, with Stan needing to return to home at the end of each day to rest, cry and sleep.
In the beginning, I kept running out of oxygen, damaging my sub vessel, Moon, and struggled to escape it even when it wouldn’t drive. I was unsure of where to get more oxygen, how to fix my sub or frankly, where to go for most of the missions.
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Advancing through the story, I only got more frustrated with the lack of information given on where to go, impacting my enjoyment of this title. As if feeling clueless wasn’t enough, the extremely depressing narrative and the foggy blue water made it hard to play on —alas, I did.
I found little charm in the deep dark sea, the blue cascading shadows down and blocking my path.
Moon was written off at one point, I couldn’t go any further. After a rage quit, and few days break from the game, I returned and somehow it was all fixed. Confusing…
Stan is quite a robotic looking character, at the end of each day he would even sleep in his beanie and wetsuit. Not comfortable at all, and if I’m honest, rather strange. He’d even shower in the get up!
Publishers Quantum Dream are known for their deep narratives, with Detroit: Become Human, Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain under their belt — just to name a few. The studio is also working on the upcoming Star Wars Eclipse game, so my expectations on story were high.
Yet Stan’s story was one of despair, his marital troubles and hallucinations of his deceased daughter didn’t leave much light in Stan’s life.
As the player, you certainly felt it.
Despite being alone under the waves, Stan’s loneliness is broken up only by the few and far between interactions with his colleague, Tim and wife, Emma on the surface.
Between Stan’s sad and lonely vibe, the lack of decent vision in the water, and the clunky controls of Moon, I really didn’t enjoy this title as much as I’d hoped — which pains me to say.
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Being quite literally under the waves, swimming through the water and collecting rubbish wasn’t all bad.
The score was gentle and listening to whales in the distance and performing basic tasks each day could almost give it a cosy title, if it wasn’t for the frustrating gameplay.
Under the Waves is a sombre experience. It’s certainly not for everyone, and while I didn’t despise it… I really just didn’t love it.
Quest Daily scores Under the Waves:
6/10
A review copy of Under the Waves was supplied to Quest Daily by the publisher.
