Submerged

 PC
Submerged Image
Metascore
47

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
5.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 59 Ratings

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  • Summary: Submerged is a 3rd-person, combat-free game in which the gamer explores a mysterious, flooded city and discovers the beauty of desolation in vast outdoor environments. She takes on the role of Miku, a young girl who has brought her wounded brother to the city in their small fishing boat.Submerged is a 3rd-person, combat-free game in which the gamer explores a mysterious, flooded city and discovers the beauty of desolation in vast outdoor environments. She takes on the role of Miku, a young girl who has brought her wounded brother to the city in their small fishing boat. [Uppercut Games]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 12
  3. Negative: 6 out of 12
  1. XGN
    Aug 6, 2015
    85
    Submerged is a great indie-game that proves you don't always need violence in a game for it to be great. Though it's a little on the short side, it's still a great ride.
  2. Hooked Gamers
    Sep 4, 2015
    70
    The setting is lovely, with nature taking hold of the waterlogged city. The day night cycles add a living atmosphere to the setting, and the appearance of the sea monsters add some further drama to the story. And although I loved the telling of the stories and the landscape in which Miku finds herself, there isn't quite enough variation in gameplay to keep players interested for longer than necessary.
  3. IGN
    Aug 7, 2015
    68
    In the moments where Submerged rewarded inquisitiveness, I loved it. When it occasionally stumbled in that responsibility, I found myself wishing for a more polished and complete world to explore.
  4. Slant Magazine
    Aug 3, 2015
    40
    While the visuals are nothing to scoff at, this nascent title is a baby that could've been thrown away with all the bathwater.
  5. Riot Pixels
    Oct 29, 2015
    37
    Submerged is just not worth two hours of your life.
  6. GRYOnline.pl
    Aug 4, 2015
    35
    Submerged is a game that is not a game. A hollow shell. An empty box with huge ambitions, an ugly, badly designed, at times painfully dull product. There is no atmosphere, only boredom and embarrassment. There's enough good exploration games that you can simply avoid Submerged altogether.
  7. Destructoid
    Aug 3, 2015
    30
    Within under ten minutes time you'll have experienced all the game has to offer; boring boating, equally dull scaling of buildings and peering out a periscope to find the next white and green building to climb. There is no failstate, no urgency, no combat, just moving from point to point and monotonously collecting shit.

See all 13 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 12
  3. Negative: 4 out of 12
  1. Skirmish
    Aug 5, 2015
    10
    Submerged is truly beautiful. Visually of course, but I am finding the combination of the music and the way the story is delivered is reallySubmerged is truly beautiful. Visually of course, but I am finding the combination of the music and the way the story is delivered is really touching.

    I have grown a bit tired of brown hued wastelands. Don't get me wrong, I have been a fan of the Fallout series since the beginning and I find post-apocalyptic worlds really compelling. But Submerged's lush green world, full of life, offers a refreshing alternative.

    I am finding this to be an intriguing experience so far with mystery, and maybe menace, lying behind what seems like tranquility. This game now sits along side Journey (on my PS3) as an example for my non-gaming friends of what games can strive for.    … Expand
  2. AuldWolf
    Aug 9, 2015
    10
    I love this game. Not only in that it's one of the more enjoyable experiences I've had in recent years, but in that it's also something of aI love this game. Not only in that it's one of the more enjoyable experiences I've had in recent years, but in that it's also something of a social experiment.

    I know it's hip to ignore how many peer reviewed, cited studies published in respectable sources like Nature about how gamers have below average intelligence and tend to become increasingly more aggressive with the more video games they play that pander to their instinctive urges. I understand that. The defensive circlejerk must be preserved! However, the more defensive a group of people are, the more true something tends to be.

    I'm a rare kind of 'gamer' in that I prefer Myst, Portal, Gone Home, To the Moon, and games of that ilk. I find the Destructoid review especially telling as that's how I feel about the average gamer's video game. Oh, I'm killing crap, I'm being a crazy murderhobo, I'm stealing things, and pretty people are fawning over me and singing my praises. Except the story is paper-thin, the experience is hollow, and it's all designed to make me feel like I have a big dick. What's the difference in fighting a wolf from a dragon? None. The game just makes you feel more powerful when you're fighting a dragon.

    There's been articles about that where developers have explained that none of their dim-witted audience actually wants difficulty or complexity, they want power fantasies. That's why the dragons in Skyrim are easier to take down than most of the other opponents in that game. It's designed to make stupid, unintelligent, lacking people feel heroic, handsome, and perfect. It's entertainment for stupid people. It's the reality TV of video games.

    This, however, is something different. Where I can't tell the difference between fighting a wolf and a dragon in a stupid person's video game, the Destructoid person couldn't see the differences presented by the environment. Their eyes were closed to the game, I found the environments to be incredibly diverse and interesting. And whereas it was just a mindless collection quest to someone without the mind to appreciate a story without words, to me, it was piecing together the history of what happened from small pictographic images.

    And regarding the gameplay and those buildings? Clearly they frustrated the Destructoid reviewer. I can just see that thick brow furrowing. But back in the '80s and '90s, maze games were common. This is just a 3D maze game, it's you versus the obstacles presented by the environment, it's not a power fantasy or about violence and aggression. It's the satisfaction gained from traversing the environment and working out the devious, sly paths through it to find the pieces to the story.

    In a stupid person's video game, you gather a shopping list of quests to go to places, and kill things, and then you return home to be fawned over and swooned at. Perhaps something of a 'story' will be offered, but by and large it'll be a shallow experience.

    In this, you head out and you traverse the environment to find snippets of a story that it's up to you to be smart enough to figure out. And when you return home, the affliction of your character grows worse. It's up to you to fight off the hopelessness of that, and to know what's going on. Your motivation isn't to screw the pretty maiden after slaying the dragon, it's to heal a boy who's sick and on the verge of death.

    So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not as vapid as all these negative reviews and reviewers, and that I'm drawn to more complicated, deep games. They can go stick their manswords in things, I'll play games that actually task me with using my mind, not my dick. That's just my preference, thanks.

    What can I say about Submerged, then? It's not a violent male power fantasy designed to make you feel as though you're the perfect alpha male. Does that make it a bad game? Hardly. It just makes it a niche game that won't be appreciated by most gamers.

    And as such, the reviews of it will mostly just reveal the amount of intelligence the person who reviewed it has.    … Expand
  4. ConvexFever
    Jan 1, 2017
    8
    This is a very interesting game that I truly enjoyed playing. While the graphics left something to be desired at times, the overall look ofThis is a very interesting game that I truly enjoyed playing. While the graphics left something to be desired at times, the overall look of the game was staggering in its beauty. This is not a game where you can control the outcomes, and it isn't a flashy combat game. Unfortunately, many people were expecting this type of gameplay going in, which is reflected in the overall rating of this game.

    This is a game that tells a story. Three stories in fact, and should not be seen as anything other than that. When you buy this game (for a fairly reasonable price) you are buying its story; and that story is a phenomenal one.    … Expand
  5. esxdri
    Aug 5, 2015
    5
    I was really looking forward to playing Submerged.
    Well, is it good or bad? I might even tell you everything about this game, because it    I was really looking forward to playing Submerged.
    Well, is it good or bad? I might even tell you everything about this game, because it lacks so much content.
    The graphics are nice and I like driving on a boat in the ruined city and finding unusual structures, but that is pretty much everything I like about this game.
    You spend most of the time climbing half-sunken buildings to look for medical supplies that your brother needs and it is highly repetitive and boring.
    This game will take you about 2-3 hours to complete and I am actually glad that it is not longer, because I never felt so bored hoping for the game to end in a long time.
    If you want, you can look for collectibles that reveal the city's story, but that is just more building climbing for a piece of picture. You can also find boosts scattered on the water that help you sail faster.
    5/10 - Visually nice, but repetitive and boring.    … Expand
  6. blubberguts
    Aug 17, 2015
    5
    I had seen screenshots and was looking forward to this game, but it was a disappointment.

    The start is good, city looks pretty, and your    I had seen screenshots and was looking forward to this game, but it was a disappointment.

    The start is good, city looks pretty, and your boat lands. You lay your brother down and start off to explore the city...what ? I can't jump? I can climb like goat but can't jump? Feels weird.

    So you explore the city....which consists of finding boxy buildings with bits of moss you can climb, and "bumping" into them. The game takes over and puts you on the wall. Hmmmm... you cannot fall. Also, there is only one path to climb each building. No enemies either. And my brother just lies there. All I can do is boat around and climb a preset path. Excitement is rapidly fading. This isn't a sandbox game it's just a game full of big boxes.

    There are three kinds of rewards: Climb the building completely and get rewarded with a look through the telescope to the next kind of building. Also, each building may have a box of health for your brother. It also may have little books on pedestals - if you get one it tells a "story" by showing you a single, brightly coloured heavily stylised image of something, and some grunts in an unknown native language. So what's the story? I don't know; the language is unintelligible and the pictures are so highly stylised I couldn't understand what they meant.

    So. No enemies. No way to die. Only one thing to do - explore. No-one to talk to. (Even your brother just lies there). No rewards except books I can't understand and health kits for my brother that don't do anything - you just "collect" them. Only one path up the buildings, apart from a secret area where a book or health kit might be.

    This game is pretty and that's it. It's kind of fake; what looks like a big city teeming with life turns out to be full of empty buildings (most of which you cannot climb) and nothing else.

    Oh man it was boring. Deleted and uninstalled. Let it submerge back into the depths from which it emerged. It's a terge.    … Expand
  7. Xzenor
    Mar 4, 2020
    4
    It's pretty, it's boring...very boring.

    but for real, it looks really nice. it's a sweet style. but holy crap that stuff is repetitive.    It's pretty, it's boring...very boring.

    but for real, it looks really nice. it's a sweet style. but holy crap that stuff is repetitive. It's like a lot of reviews already mention, boat, climb, boat, climb, boat, climb, boat, climb...
    The story made me curious but the slow and mundane game-play made me quit half way..I can't do this, it's too... boring.
    I'm just gonna YouTube the game to see the story because playing it is not worth my time.    … Expand
  8. Idiota150
    Aug 6, 2015
    0
    Boring as hell with seriously dated graphics. Feels extremely cheap, little effort and money has been spent making this game. Destructoid'sBoring as hell with seriously dated graphics. Feels extremely cheap, little effort and money has been spent making this game. Destructoid's (critic) review is spot on. Don't waste your time or money on this garbage.… Expand

See all 12 User Reviews

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