The sea is a cruel mistress. Its ways and waves are unknowable, following a logic that also defies the mortal human mind. Her creatures, her dear children of darkness, take forms we will scarcely imagine or forget, should we’ve got the misfortune of seeing them. In some ways, it’s nature’s biggest mystery: a darkness that goes on and on, beckoning us with the siren song of recent discovery, beckoning us to our own break.
This was the muse from which HP Lovecraft drew lots of his famous horror mythos, using his deep-seated fear of the ocean to put the groundwork for contemporary horror as an entire. His stories, tales of fragmented psychics and creatures beyond comprehension, have inspired generations of art in all media. The newest on this shadow-drenched line of succession is Deepen“a single player fishing adventure with a sinister current” from Black Salt Games.
No shelter
While this is a superb wordplay, “upstream” doesn’t fit here. Deepen isn’t, as some say, a comfy game with evil bubbling below the surface, but a full-fledged, terrifying horror, steeped in anxiety from start to complete. It’s clear from the title screen itself, with sudden flickers of red and green breaking the stillness of the essential menu, ensuring we all know something’s unsuitable. We kick off the sport and a brief cutscene hits this house, showing the grizzled sailor we control stranded on the shores of the Great Marrow, where he’s greeted by a cheery but disturbing mayor.
In a proud tradition Animal crossing, we start the sport of debt, having received a ship from the mayor after ours was mercilessly wrecked against the rocks. To repay this debt, we must go fishing, so we got down to just do that. For a game that’s seemingly based on fishing, the systems that govern it are incredibly easy. You can fish in any “troubled water” area, so long as you’ve gotten the correct equipment for it. The fishing process consists of a brief time-based mini-game that varies by fish and area, but never takes greater than a number of seconds to finish, less for those who decelerate the beat.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
Once you’ve got caught a fish, one other mechanic comes into play: Tetris-a storage dance that you’re going to need to perform to suit the utmost variety of fish on the boat on each trip. This is further complicated by the proven fact that your equipment, from motors to rods to nets, also takes up storage spaces, offering an interesting alternative between high-quality equipment and capability as you progress, in addition to increasing equipment options and hold size.
Behind the dream wall
Encouraged by quick catches and straightforward mini-games, as you embark in your first round of fishing, Deepen prepares his first big scam. ‘Cause you see, other than being a fishing game, Deepen it is also a time management game and runs on a timeline that progresses much faster than you would possibly expect. One second you will be reeling juicy-looking cod, and the subsequent night it’ll drop like a guillotine blade, interrupting a pleasing day of fishing in sudden fog and fear.
If modern gaming on the whole hasn’t made you be careful for the last hours of the day, it’s likely the dire warnings from the people of Greater Marrow will. That said, it comes up so quickly, and it may possibly accomplish that if you’re fishing and oblivious, engrossed in your personal little world, that how prepared you’re doesn’t matter. The night will catch you and the calm waters of The Marrows suddenly don’t look so inviting.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
The genius of this primary overnight exposure in Deepen is that there isn’t any imminent danger here, however the sound and visual effects will persuade you that it absolutely exists, instilling a way of panic that may easily result in navigation errors, and you will notice your boat crash against the rocks that shower the waves around you recent Home port. Panic, appropriately, is one other mechanic that comes into play here, represented by the massive eye within the navigation bar at the highest of the screen.
Night, although barely more dangerous than through the day as a consequence of poorer visibility, isn’t the essential source of problems Deepen: Panic is. This is a worth that increases the longer you stay within the harbor without resting, and it also jumps massively if you’re exposed to certain unnatural creatures lurking in dark corners Deepenwater World. The higher the panic value, the more distorted the screen becomes, containing the red and green ones from the essential menu, and the more odd your encounters turn out to be. New rocks and dangerous creatures spawn with panic levels high, conspiring to depart your boat as a salvage pile on the ocean floor.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
This is a rare case of Lovecraftian horror in well-made games. Like a more flexible version Carried by bloodThanks to the Insight, Panic system, the fear comes from the player character’s jagged mental health, not easy monsters. The horrors you encounter are dangerous not only due to the physical damage they’ll inflict in your ship, but additionally due to the panic spikes they deliver that alter the world around you, in turn making it more hostile. He’s a wise mechanic, that is all Deepen intertwines with elements of fishing, storage and time management, creating an online that’s difficult to get out of.
The call of the waves
You will notice this as you turn out to be more confident at sea, staying out at sea later and later to fish far-off, keeping your eye on the clock but ignoring it nonetheless. You’ll notice this as you study the in-game map and set goals as you fight your way towards distant rocky islands, whilst the darkening horizon warns you to show back. Deepen is a game that always beckons with the promise of more: another catch, another side quest. It’s a fishing fish, drawing you in with the golden charm of progress, while waiting jaws just out of sight, able to swallow you whole for those who take an excessive amount of.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
And those jaws are very sharp, rest assured. The consequences of excessive arrogance and safety within the open waves might be serious. If your boat is totally destroyed, you might not only lose a random, sometimes essential cargo overboard, but additionally all of your progress since your last docking. Such events might be irritating, little question, but they’re nonetheless essential to make sure the rate vital for Deepen the impact it intends to realize.
This cycle of risk and reward, this ever-turning triangle of temptation, victory, and destruction, is the beating heart Deepenand it is the core that may take you thru the evolving gameplay scenarios it has to supply with ease. While it ostensibly presents itself as a fishing game, soon your attention will shift from the inhabitants of the deep to its treasures and scavenger hunts will begin everywhere in the map in quest of some amazing artifacts. This hunt takes you thru the sport’s five biomes, each more distant and dangerous than the last, and introduces you to a gaggle of salt-streaked characters, each with a story to inform and a request for favors.
In search of a better truth
While the essential storyline provides a smooth escalation of difficulty and complexity, taking you thru a spread of fishing styles from coastal to hadal fishing, Deepenthe open seas mean you can approach his world in any order you see fit. There are soft gates because distant islands are harder to succeed in with weaker early-game engines, but nothing really stops you from venturing so far as your curiosity takes you. This is a welcome approach given Deepenworld and theme, but not one which makes an enormous difference given the short nature of the story and every of its episodes.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
However, there may be greater than the beaten waves. From secret areas to rare items to one-of-a-kind “exotic” fish, there’s plenty to seek out for the dedicated angler. It is apart Pokemon-the typical task of catching every fish in the sport is to go looking every inch of the map, day and night, to catch all of them. Consider the side quests, a few of which have multiple endings depending in your actions, and you have got a world that is ready for replays, providing you with enough incentive to return back if you’re done with the essential quest.
Of course, you do not need any additional reasons for this. Deepen it is a incredible game, a superb exercise in easy mechanics and a robust atmosphere that you will love to return back to repeatedly, whether for completion or pure enjoyment. It’s like a rusty music box you will retrieve from the depths after a number of hours: so compact and compact, dripping with atmosphere and meticulous intrigue, you will be joyful to let its rattling song play on and on.
