Submerged

Exploration can get very boring when you're just doing the same thing over and over again, but the intriguing game world, soothing soundtrack and unfolding story ensure Submerged keeps its head just above water.

60%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, replayability

78% User Score Based on 1,622 reviews

Critic Score 49%Based on 5 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $3.74

Buy NowGet on Steam$19.99

Buy NowGet on Xbox Games Store

About

"Submerged" is a single-player, horror platformer game with an interesting plot, sensational graphics, and a phenomenal soundtrack. As Miku, you explore a mysterious flooded city in a small fishing boat, seeking supplies to save your dying brother. The game features vast outdoor environments with a rich, vibrant habitat, providing a serene and relaxing game experience. However, it is very grinding and buggy, with a dense atmosphere and high emotional stakes, but it's not very replayable.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,627 reviews

story352 positive mentions

grinding57 negative mentions

story
1,352 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
69%
5%
The story of "Submerged" revolves around a young girl named Miku who explores a submerged city to gather supplies for her injured brother, Taku. While the narrative is conveyed through simple pictograms and cutscenes, many players find it minimalistic and predictable, often feeling that the story lacks depth and engagement. Despite its shortcomings, the game's unique storytelling method and beautiful visuals create a relaxing atmosphere that appeals to those who enjoy exploration and environmental storytelling.
- “The story is interesting and cleverly brought, and I hope that the sequel maintains this strong and promising basis.”
- “The story revolves around Miku, the main heroine of the game, who takes care of her wounded brother Taku by finding various supplies around this foreign, unexplored submerged city.”
- “The story is surprisingly touching even though it's not spoon-fed to the player, which is also really appreciated.”
- “Music is sweet, graphics are pretty, but the story felt non-existent.”
- “The story is barebones and the final twist is kind of cringey.”
- “The collectables are what tell most of the story but it's so abstract and unclear, it doesn't leave players with a satisfying ending in my opinion.”
gameplay
560 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
67%
15%
The gameplay of "Submerged" is characterized by its simplicity and repetitiveness, primarily involving exploration through boating and climbing buildings to collect supplies for the protagonist's brother. While the game offers a visually stunning environment and a relaxing atmosphere, many players find the mechanics to be basic and lacking depth, leading to a monotonous experience that can become tedious over time. Overall, it appeals to those seeking a casual, non-violent gaming experience, but may disappoint players looking for more engaging gameplay or narrative complexity.
- “The gameplay itself is very relaxing in comparison to a lot of games.”
- “The gameplay is extremely simple, not a word of English is spoken in-game, and it doesn't have any enemies or even a fail state of any sort.”
- “The gameplay is just some light climbing puzzling and exploring the city by boat.”
- “What tempered my excitement is the repetitive nature with both the visuals and gameplay.”
- “Gameplay is absurdly mindless.”
- “The gameplay is extremely basic and amounts to little more than a collectible hunt -- find supply caches to help your brother, find boat upgrades to make your boat faster, find collectible cards that supposedly tell the story of how the city was destroyed.”
graphics
471 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
37%
7%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful art style and atmospheric visuals that effectively convey a post-apocalyptic world. However, some players note that the graphics feel dated and occasionally suffer from technical issues, such as flickering textures and repetitive designs. Overall, while the visuals are often described as stunning and immersive, they may not meet the expectations of those seeking cutting-edge graphics.
- “The graphics are absolutely phenomenal.”
- “The visuals are stunning.”
- “The graphics are beautiful.”
- “This game has fewer collectibles, a weaker story, uglier graphics, and worse level design.”
- “The graphics aged poorly.”
- “Submerged also feels unpolished and quite ugly in some areas, which is surprising since it was built using Unreal Engine 4, but sadly most of the game feels outdated graphically in each area, as the water effect is basic, the shadows sometimes don't align right and the overall look of the environment feels like it came out of an early PS3 title and not something that came out in 2015.”
music
453 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
35%
4%
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and soothing qualities, enhancing the overall atmosphere and providing a relaxing experience. However, many reviewers noted that the soundtrack is limited and repetitive, often leading to stretches of silence or a lack of variety. Despite these criticisms, the music is considered one of the standout features, effectively complementing the game's visuals and emotional tone.
- “The music is lovely and soothing, and so is the landscape.”
- “If you liked Journey, Gris, or Abzu, this game strikes the same vibe with amazing visuals, chill gameplay, and an absolutely amazing soundtrack to go along with it.”
- “The soundtrack is beautiful and fits well with the surroundings and the style of the game.”
- “The music gets repetitive.”
- “The music is sweet, but melancholy.”
- “The soundtrack is too short and therefore repetitive but still very fitting.”
atmosphere
202 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
30%
3%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its beauty, tranquility, and immersive qualities, often described as haunting and melancholic. Players appreciate the combination of stunning visuals, a gentle soundtrack, and a day-night cycle that enhances the experience, making it ideal for exploration and relaxation. However, some reviewers note that the gameplay can become repetitive, detracting from the overall enjoyment of the atmospheric elements.
- “The atmosphere is really neat, and the environmental storytelling is pretty well done.”
- “A beautiful, wonderfully designed environment and atmosphere for a little story about the power of love.”
- “The graphics are beautiful, the music is soothing, the atmosphere screams 'explore me!', the wildlife is interesting, the story is simple but the way you get the pieces here and there make it fantastic.”
- “You'd think the atmosphere of a story full of such terrible decisions would be some sort of anxiety-laced masterpiece, but it isn't.”
- “It's a game about atmosphere and exploration, but without enough of an atmosphere, and exploration which is boring and without much purpose beyond heading to the dot the telescope put on your map.”
- “This game just sucked me in with its atmosphere.”
emotional
75 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
97%
3%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its touching narrative centered on sibling love and sacrifice in a post-apocalyptic setting, conveyed through minimalist storytelling and beautiful visuals. While many players found the story heartwarming and immersive, some criticized the lack of emotional depth and engagement due to gameplay mechanics that detracted from the narrative experience. Overall, the game is praised for its emotional resonance, despite mixed feelings about its execution and pacing.
- “This is an emotional tale of triumph where you play as a girl who is trying to protect and heal her brother in a post-apocalyptic world submerged in water.”
- “The story is surprisingly touching even though it's not spoon-fed to the player, which is also really appreciated.”
- “It's a simple exploration game with climbing and boat-faring, but the heartwarming story of a sister trying to save her little brother is solely told through pictures and music, brilliantly so.”
- “Too slow-paced, a boring story, and bad mechanics...”
- “Boring story.”
grinding
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2%
98%
The grinding aspect of the game is frequently described as tedious and repetitive, particularly due to the climbing mechanics and backtracking required to collect items. While some players appreciate the exploration and visuals, many find the gameplay becomes monotonous and frustrating over time, detracting from the overall experience. Overall, the game is seen as a mix of enjoyable elements overshadowed by a grindy and tedious progression system.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “I do really love the ideas and the intention of the game, but it ends up very tedious very quickly.”
- “The game mechanics can become repetitive and even frustrating as every puzzle can seem similar and even tedious.”
- “Half of this game is climbing and the climbing is extremely boring and tedious; like I said before there's no way to die so all it is is just find the right path up the building to get the box.”
replayability
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
60%
30%
Overall, the game is criticized for its extremely low replayability, with many players noting that it can be completed in just a few hours and offers little incentive to return after finishing. While some appreciate the initial experience, they agree that once all content is unlocked, there is no compelling reason to replay, making it feel more like a short demo than a full game. The consensus suggests that the game's lack of depth and content significantly detracts from its long-term value.
- “Replay value depends upon what kind of experience you're after.”
- “It does have replay value in the same way that a book has re-reading value.”
- “Although its replayability would drop dramatically with more than 2 or 3 plays, unless the map is shuffled around, it's a really fun game and gets you really into it without you knowing.”
- “It's worth around 5 bucks in my opinion due to the length of the game and lack of replayability.”
- “Having completed it to 100%, I would say this game has zero replay value.”
- “After that, though, I admit that the game won't have much replay value.”
optimization
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
23%
31%
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while many players report solid performance with smooth frame rates and good graphics even on older hardware, others experience issues such as stuttering, frame drops, and audio problems during cutscenes. Despite these inconsistencies, the game is generally considered well-optimized for PC, with beautiful visuals that enhance the experience.
- “The game is well optimized, and head-scratchingly beautiful.”
- “Gorgeous game that runs smoothly even on older hardware (GTX 660 + Intel i5 3570K).”
- “The game is very well optimized for the PC and the graphics are pretty detailed.”
- “There's occasional minor stuttering and frame drops while exploring with the boat; I guess it's loading chunks of the map on the fly.”
- “I also had some very bad graphic issues with stuttering pictures and crackling sound during the cut scenes.”
- “The bad: the game is very poorly optimized.”
stability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
82%
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players reporting a smooth experience free of crashes or significant glitches, while others encountered frequent bugs, visual issues, and even system freezes that led to forced reboots. Overall, while the graphics and gameplay are praised, the presence of glitches and inconsistent performance detracts from the experience for many users.
- “I experienced no glitches or bugs, and the achievements were very easy to get just by exploring and progressing through the game.”
- “It is beautiful, almost no glitches.”
- “The game freezes at the splash screen, shows as 'not responding' in task manager, and forces a system shutdown and reboot.”
- “I'm not up for troubleshooting just to get the game to load, so I refunded this.”
- “The game is buggy and has a tendency to crash.”
character development
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
Character development in the game is noted for its strong bond between the main characters, enhancing the narrative experience. While the character designs are generally praised for their alignment with the world, some players feel that the graphics appear slightly dated and that the characters can come off as uncanny due to anatomical inaccuracies. Overall, the character design is appreciated, particularly for its natural animations and visual storytelling elements.
- “Character development shows an incredible bond between the two main characters.”
- “The world itself is beautiful, and the character design is well done and matches the world design, especially as you get into the story.”
- “I love the character designs, and the animations are a little weirdly weighted at times, but especially during moving and climbing, they look really natural.”
- “The only complaint I have is with the graphics. I'm running it at max and it looks a tad dated, but it's not bad for an indie studio. It's the characters; I don't know, maybe I'm hypersensitive to anatomical errors in games because I've spent a lot of time learning about character design, but they just seem a little bit 'off'—slightly uncanny. Perhaps if they were a little less realistic and more stylized, it might work.”
- “Lack of character development.”
- “Character development, checked.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as a mix of unintentional and intentional comedy, with players finding amusement in absurd situations, such as the boat mechanics and a nonsensical ending. While some moments are genuinely funny, particularly during relaxed gameplay, the overall humor is often overshadowed by a disappointing conclusion.
- “Now, here's something funny for you to think about.”
- “But no, the ending is so stupid that it made me laugh.”
- “The other good part was the boat sections, which were relaxing, and the boat tended to drift instead of turn, which led to unintentionally funny moments.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The monetization of the game is criticized as a cash grab, with players feeling that the $20 price tag does not reflect the underdeveloped plot, lack of engaging gameplay mechanics, and outdated graphics. Despite an intriguing premise, the overall execution leaves much to be desired, leading to disappointment among users.
- “The core idea that probably started the development of this game wasn't bad, as the premise of a city submerged underwater with only two survivors left seems intriguing, but that somehow ended up being this: an underdeveloped plot and universe with no memorable characters, almost no gameplay mechanics, and outdated graphics, all made for a quick cash grab of 20 bucks.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, as it seems like the developers are more focused on squeezing money out of players than delivering a quality gaming experience.”
- “It's frustrating to see a game with potential reduced to a series of paywalls and microtransactions that detract from the overall enjoyment.”