Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss

About

"Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss" is a single-player, first-person psychological drama set in 1905. As a deep-sea diver on the ship Thalassa, you must investigate the mysterious disappearance of your crew and the ship's fate. With only your support Bailey guiding you from the surface, dive into the depths, uncover clues, and unravel the mystery of what truly happened onboard. The game offers a captivating story that explores human emotions and interactions.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

90%

Audience ScoreBased on 184 reviews

story82 positive mentions

optimization14 negative mentions

The game features a beautifully crafted story that is engaging and emotionally impactful, often leaving players deeply invested in the characters and their fates.
The underwater atmosphere and graphics are stunning, creating an immersive experience that enhances the exploration and mystery-solving elements of the game.
The mystery mechanics are well-designed, allowing players to piece together clues and uncover the narrative in a satisfying way.

The game suffers from technical issues such as slow loading times, stuttering, and occasional crashes, which can detract from the overall experience.
Some gameplay mechanics, like the interaction prompts and the timing of when clues become available, can lead to frustrating backtracking and a feeling of disconnection from the narrative.
The pacing can be slow, which may not appeal to all players, especially those looking for a more action-oriented experience.

story
182 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
53%
2%
The game's story is widely praised for its emotional depth, compelling characters, and intricate narrative that effectively explores themes of grief and human connection. Players appreciate the unique storytelling approach, which involves piecing together the plot through exploration and discovery, although some note that gameplay mechanics can occasionally disrupt immersion. Overall, the narrative is described as engaging and thought-provoking, making it a standout feature of the game.
- “The story was so engaging and heart-wrenching.”
- “I loved how the slow, heavy walking speed and the underwater dimness and obscured vision metaphorically brought the grief of the storyline to life.”
- “The storytelling is strong from start to finish, weaving loss and human connection into a compelling experience.”
- “The protagonist hallucinates a fair amount, which weakens the storytelling.”
- “Sadly, it does feel a little unpolished and does have a few bugs; however, this doesn't take away from the story.”
- “If the above reasons are fixed, I would rate this a 4-star instead, since the story does have some noticeable gaps in the ending.”
gameplay
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
67%
7%
The gameplay of *Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss* focuses on mystery-solving and exploration, featuring simple mechanics that can sometimes hinder the experience due to visibility issues with interactable items. While the mystery mechanics are engaging and effectively guide players in piecing together clues, they can also present challenges that require multiple attempts to resolve. Overall, the game offers a solid narrative experience with beautiful graphics, though it may lack replayability due to its story-heavy nature.
- “Mystery/detective games often struggle to actually give the player the experience of solving the mysteries, but Thalassa's mystery mechanics work very well -- guiding you toward which types of evidence to examine and what types of connections to look for, but you still need to mentally make those connections to be able to mark a mystery as complete.”
- “Not the longest game (I finished in 11 hours with breaks included), but it has a well-done story, beautiful graphics, and gameplay that definitely captures the feeling of exploring a recently wrecked ship.”
- “While the gameplay is centered around exploring the Thalassa, what keeps you engaged is the shifting perspectives you have on the crew and their actions.”
- “There's nothing distinct about the gameplay compared to other walking sims, but the story is very moving and the atmosphere is absolutely incredible.”
- “The mystery/deduction mechanic, which to me is the highlight of the game, also stumbles sometimes.”
- “This kind of micro-mechanical friction is pretty pervasive.”
graphics
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
25%
8%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their stunning detail and beautiful environments, effectively creating an immersive atmosphere. However, players have reported performance issues, particularly on ultra settings, leading to stuttering and frame rate drops, which can be resolved by lowering the graphics settings without a noticeable loss in visual quality. Overall, while not on par with triple-A titles, the game's visuals are considered impressive and contribute significantly to the storytelling experience.
- “The graphics and underwater sounds were amazing, and really made me feel like I was in the game.”
- “Super story rich, amazing graphics and detail.”
- “The art is gorgeous, and the subdued colors and somewhat hazy graphics did a great job of making me feel like I was truly underwater.”
- “Game ran like ass on ultra settings (not a hardware issue). FPS were fine when standing still or walking straight, but turning caused FPS drops and stuttering. Lowering the graphics to high solved the issue entirely, and I could frankly not see a difference in graphical fidelity.”
- “Graphics on ultra were a bit glitchy for me until I turned it down to medium.”
- “Constant micro-stuttering no matter the graphics setting.”
emotional
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of "Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss" is highly praised, with players describing the story as engaging, heart-wrenching, and capable of evoking strong feelings, including tears. The game's stunning graphics and immersive sound design enhance the emotional experience, while the compelling narrative and well-executed voice acting contribute to its psychological depth. Overall, it is regarded as a touching journey that leaves a lasting impact on players.
- “Heartbreaking and hauntingly beautiful, I couldn't stop thinking about it once I was finished.”
- “This game made me cry twice, but I enjoyed it :)”
- “Definitely an emotional journey but so worth it.”
atmosphere
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
45%
15%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its emotional depth and stunning graphics, creating a tense yet chill experience without jumpscares. Players appreciate the beautifully crafted underwater ambience, reminiscent of the Bioshock series, although some technical issues slightly detract from the overall experience. Overall, the atmosphere is described as incredible, enhancing the moving narrative and immersive gameplay.
- “Very atmospheric, slowly paced game about coming to terms with death.”
- “There's nothing distinct about the gameplay compared to other walking sims, but the story is very moving and the atmosphere is absolutely incredible.”
- “A beautiful and very enjoyable game with an excellent atmosphere and solid story.”
- “And with the game’s stutters and audio problems, the modest underwater atmosphere is compromised.”
- “Great voice acting; good atmosphere, long repetitive animated sequences, and certain strange anomalies (e.g. ladder dropping down so fast underwater? where are the dead bodies? how can you breathe for so long underwater?)”
- “After I saw the first couple of trailers, it really reminded me of the BioShock 1 and 2's ocean atmosphere.”
optimization
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
15%
70%
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with players reporting persistent stuttering and frame drops, particularly when turning, regardless of graphics settings. While some adjustments can improve performance, many users still experience issues that detract from the overall experience, leading to frustration and a desire for future patches to address these problems. Overall, the game is considered poorly optimized at its current state.
- “When I decided to boost the deck's watts to 15, that lowered the crashes and improved performance, allowing me to complete the game and almost achieve every achievement.”
- “I don't want to rob myself of what seems like a great story and game due to these performance issues.”
- “Being that the game has little to no replay value, I choose to stop playing for now in hopes that the performance issues get fixed.”
- “Game ran like ass on ultra settings (not a hardware issue). FPS were fine when standing still or walking straight, but turning caused FPS drops and stuttering. Lowering the graphics to high solved the issue entirely, and I could frankly not see a difference in graphical fidelity.”
- “Constant micro-stuttering no matter the graphics setting.”
- “I did have some issues with the game stuttering and the image splitting apart at times, and had to adjust the image quality, but I was able to play without much issue after making adjustments.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game has received positive feedback, with many players appreciating the emotional depth of the soundtrack, which evokes comparisons to Hans Zimmer's work. While there isn't an abundance of music, the underwater ambience and effective voice acting contribute to a compelling audio experience that enhances the game's emotional impact. Overall, the sound design is rated well, with an 8/10 score reflecting its quality.
- “This is a great game for that, and I really enjoyed the music and artwork for it.”
- “It is heart-wrenching, especially with the amazing soundtrack that reminded me of Hans Zimmer at times, and the voice acting just hits the exact spot and note to make you cry.”
- “Sound: 8/10 (there's not a whole lot of music, but there is plenty of underwater ambience; I found the audio experience to be rather good.)”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game offers a solid experience with a score of 8/10, but its replayability is limited due to its story-heavy nature and minimal gameplay mechanics. While there are multiple endings, they are predictable, and the only significant reason to replay would be for an optional achievement, making it likely a one-time play for most players.
- “Overall: 8/10 (solid experience, though one that has somewhat low replayability. This is a story-heavy game with minimal game mechanics, so it's one of those things that you'll probably only play once. There are multiple endings, but it's easy to imagine what the other ending(s) would be, and one optional achievement that would very likely require a replay of the whole game if you didn't realize it was a thing for you achievement hunters out there.”
- “Being that the game has little to no replay value, I choose to stop playing as of now in hopes that the performance issues get fixed.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is reported to have significant stability issues, with major bugs that can force players to restart from the beginning. However, users note that there are no shuddering, glitches, or crashes during gameplay.
- “Seriously buggy, and I mean major 'restart the game from the beginning' bugs.”
- “Seriously buggy, and I mean major 'restart the game from the beginning' bugs.”