Song of the Deep takes the familiar Metroidvania-style of 2D
adventure games under the sea with mostly successful results. The undersea world is filled with glorious
sights to see and incredible creatures brought to life through gorgeous visuals
and great sound design. The gameplay is
a little simpler and more slowly paced than a typical Metroidvania, but it
works well overall and features some surprisingly great puzzles. It does stumble just a bit towards the end,
but overall Song of the Deep is a fantastic 2D adventure game. See our full review for details.Game Details
- Publisher: GameTrust Games
- Developer: Insomniac
- ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
- Genre: 2D Adventure
- Pros: Looks great; awesome sound; fun Metroidvania gameplay; some great puzzles
- Cons: Insta-death red squids
- MSRP: $15
Song of the Deep stars a young girl who builds a ramshackle
submarine out of junk to go search for her fisherman father when he doesn’t
come home one day. She had heard songs
and stories from her father about a fantastical world that was hidden beneath
the waves but didn’t truly believe them.
It turns out, though, that it was all true. Gleaming treasure-filled cities, mermaids, mechanical guardians,
and more await as you explore the depths.
The story is told through narration that picks up just at the perfect
moments to make the game feel like you’re being read a storybook, and the story
itself is very well done Disney / Ghibli-esque fantasy that kids and adults
will both really enjoy.
The gameplay in Song of the Deep is pure Metroidvania. You explore a large open map to find new
abilities and items that allow you to open new paths and explore even
more. Since it takes place underwater,
however, your abilities are a little different from most games in the
genre. You find upgrades for the
submarine health and power, turbo boosts to help you fight against strong
currents, various types of torpedoes to fight enemies and open doors, lights to
scare away certain fish or light darkened caverns, a mechanical claw to grab
items, and more. You also get the
ability to leave the submarine and swim freely around in order to travel
through small openings. The game does a
fantastic job of spacing out required upgrades along with optional hidden stuff
at a terrific pace, so you always have some new toy to play with.
The actual moment-to-moment gameplay is a little different
from most similar games, though, again because it is under the water. You move more slowly and the overall pacing
of the game is usually pretty relaxing.
You can take your time and really soak everything in and I love that you
don’t ever have to worry about air or supplies or anything. There are enemies present, but they are
usually more of a nuisance than a real threat.
The focus here is mostly on exploration of the beautiful underwater
world and being able to take your time to really appreciate it.
That isn’t to say the game is boring, though, far from
it. While the combat is generally easy,
there are some great puzzles sprinkled throughout as well that provide more of
a challenge. The puzzles largely
revolve around pulling a switch to open a door, building statues with parts you
find, or blowing open new paths with mines you find and these are usually
pretty straightforward. When the game
turns the puzzles up a notch, though, such as a mind-bending puzzle requiring
you to reflect colored beams of light up a tower, things get much more
interesting.
Song of the Deep does have a distinct flaw, though, and that
is the last third of the game or so isn’t nearly as fun as the first
two-thirds. New enemies are introduced
that can instantly kill you and they just aren’t any fun as they immediately
send the difficulty level through the roof in a game that was generally pretty
easy to that point. There is also
suddenly an escape sequence, remarkably similar to the escapes in Ori and theBlind Forest, where you have to rapidly dodge and avoid a whole herd of these
insta-death red squids to try to reach safety.
It is a shame that the last chunk of the game is such a grind when the
rest of it is so fun and well done.
Song of the Deep is a very well crafted game that
Metroidvania fans will have a lot of fun with.
It actually gives me a lot of the same warm fuzzy feelings I get from
Ori and the Blind Forest, particularly in the story and presentation, so Ori
fans should definitely give Song of the Deep a try. I also like the shift in focus from combat towards more
exploration and puzzle solving, and any 2D indie game that isn’t a “retro
inspired hardcore oldschool difficult platformer” gets a thumbs up from me as
well. All in all, Song of the Deep is
well worth a look.
Disclosure: A review code was provided by the publisher.
