At first it was not bad, but then the game feels very repetitive and sharks are very annoying. even if you shoot them or use the knife they don't go away and they keep attacking you. It would be better if they add more things to do in the game, more open space, fish identify, photo mode to identify the fish and add every fish that you see and photograph in a encyclopedia and less annoying sharks please.
This game is pretty and fun, but isn't a "simulator." Just like the arcade "flight sims" "F-15 Strike Eagle" isn't the same as "X-Plane v11."
Others have pointed out major issues with realism in this game. The "timer instead of air consumption model" is especially bad. But that's not, to me, the worst issue, believe it or not. That might well be based upon a "design decision" to make the game more arcade-like and less realistic.
No, the bigger issue, to me, is that the game utterly fails to approximately accurately model the actual means of controlling ascent or descent.
This game is TERRIBLE in that regard. As an experienced SCUBA diver myself, I find this odd. I mean, the mechanism to control ascent and descent isn't THAT hard to understand, much less to model mathematically. You have extra weights on a belt (or in pouches) to help you stay under... they provide a constant gravitationally-based force downwards. You have a BCD (inflatable vest hooked up to your tank, with auxiliary mouth inflation usually present) which you fill with air, or release air from, to make you more or less bouyant (producing an upwards force) The air compresses with depth along a well-understood curve, and expands as you rise, so as you rise, bouyancy increases (requiring release of air from the BCD), and as you descend, bouyancy decreases (requiring air to be added to the BCD) if you don't want to drop like a stone or rise like a bubble.
The "add air/release air from the BCD" and "emergency drop the weights!" functions are not, mathematically, at all complicated. So why no one can ever actually model them reasonably accurately in a game... is just bizarre.
This is a fun game, but don't come away from it thinking you know ANYTHING about how diving actually works. Treat it as a game... don't imagine, for an instant, that it's actually a SIMULATOR.
I'm a big fan of Everblue 2 on the PS2 (and ocean games in general). From the store page that's what I thought I was getting but the similarities end at the ocean. Disclaimer: At time of review I've only played to 4th area.
Gameplay: You're placed into an enclosed area where your objective is to collect trash and treasure to gain EXP. Occasionally you'll need to avoid sharks that buzz around you like a fly using your little lazer gun to scare it off for like 3 minutes before it comes for your booty again. Very annoying. Gameplay gets pretty repetitive pretty quickly.
Controls: Very floaty. Makes sense for a diving game but it feels a little too extreme. Takes ages to accelerate and ages to stop. It is fun to zip/drift around the level at 200mph though, since your diver has a top speed of a torpedo it seems.
Graphics: It has its moments. Most of them are displayed on the store page however. Just like the gameplay the models and textures can get repetitive. The sand itself has a noticeable pattern, especially when looking at a distance, you can see where it repeats. And the flora/rocks seems like it was haphazardly placed doesn't really seem natural? Not sure how to describe it.
-Graphic Options are minimal: Has Resolution, Shadow Quality, Shadow Distance, Some form of AA (2x - 16x), and some post processing effects.
Performance: Pretty bad, at least for me. Running a 2080ti/6800k at 4K resolution. Many frame hitches, and can barely reach 40fps in some areas unless im looking at the ground. Not a smooth experience. I should note I dropped resolution to 1440p and fiddled with graphical options and fps did not change much. Rivatuner showers cpu usage at 20%ish and GPU at 50%ish.
Other: Sound design is decent, animations are stiff, dialogue/voice work is meh but the worst part of this is the Splash logos on game launch are unskippable.
As others have pointed out, this is in no way a simulator game. You'll learn about as much about SCUBA diving playing this as you would about flying a space shuttle from playing X-Wing. This is a game where you swim around pretty environments collecting seashells and treasure, your oxygen supply serves as a combined timer and health meter, and you have a weird ray gun to scare away sharks and dissolve fishing nets. About the only educational parts are the factoids on the loading screens and a few comments about Egypt and the Old West in the DLC (which I do recommend getting if you like the base game).
Once you've gotten past the misleading title and know what you're actually getting, it's a fairly fun game. There's an impressive variety of environments, from a lush lagoon to pirate wrecks, polluted reefs where you pick up litter instead of treasure, an icy arctic level, underwater ruins, and more. This helps alleviate the frustration you may feel from trying to find every last bit of treasure in each level- the radar you use to help locate items has a very short range, and it can be tedious trying to track down the one item you're missing for 100% completion. Of course, finding everything isn't mandatory- you can easily move forward and even get all the upgrades to your equipment early on, and after that finding treasure only helps with getting achievements.
I think English wasn't the first language of the game's creators, as some of the dialogue sounds like it was generated by an internet chatbot- this gives Professor Adams, your business partner, a vaguely sinister, inhuman quality that I actually found a bit endearing. The ending of the base game is disappointing, but the ending of the DLC is a fun homage that more than makes up for it.
If you're looking for a realistic sim game as the title would imply, avoid this. If you're looking for an epic underwater adventure game, get Subnautica. But for something more casual with some pretty scenery, this fits the bill.
