THIS RULES!!!

very minimalist, very chill, despite deep ocean games usually being hoenstly terrifying to me

i suppose the abstract detached nature of the interface helped there, as opposed to staring with your (virtual) eyes deep into the abyss, like, say, submerged (another great game, but i mean yeah it's scary the deep ocean is scary, alien or not!)

cataloging the life discovered while trying to uncover the truth of what happened was so extremely... nice to do

mmm i'm happy

A very unique game with an interesting premise - exploring an alien ocean and categorizing the life found there. Story wise, it starts off kind of slow, but as you uncover the mysteries of the ocean it really starts to suck you in. Discovering new species became more exciting, and the story explores some really poignant themes.

It also has a super unique style. Very minimalist, but by using different effects and colors, it somehow never got old.

Unfortunately, the gameplay itself is slow and clunky. Moving from point to point takes more button presses/clicks than one would hope. I didn't end up exploring as much as I would have liked to just because navigating the world took so long.

The story was fortunately short enough that I didn't give up before completing it. If you enjoy exploring and reading flavor text (or marine biology) - would definitely recommend giving this title a shot.

This game was gorgeous, simplistic with wonderful sound design. Just the little things like the music cues being tied to when you advance some text segments and the overall atmosphere of the blue and yellow HUD for the pod is just beautiful.

The game keeps it very simple and just gives you a great experience all the way through. Not so sure about the post-game content, it seemed a little hard to find the stuff I missed and research it (especially since you can't look at a map while in the pod), but the game was distinct enough during the game that I just fell in love with what was there.

I might have to check out Citizen Sleeper now that it's on Game Pass.

Grę kupiłem w ciemno na podstawie strony w sklepie. Zainteresował mnie koncept wcielenia się w AI, które pomaga futurystycznemu nurkowi badać oceany obcej planety. Od razu powiem, że się nie zawiodłem! In Other Waters to bardzo przyjemny indyk charakteryzujący się powolnym i spokojnym tempem rozgrywki. Tylko w dwóch miejscach na mapie gra wywierała na mnie lekką presję poprzez ograniczenie zasobów tlenu i baterii skafandra. Dwa razy udało mi się zginąć, bo się z tym zagapiłem. W praktyce w grze nie da się zginąć, kiedy nurkowi zabraknie na przykład tlenu, skafander uruchamia procedurę ewakuacyjną, w tym przypadku nawet nie tracimy odkryć, które udało nam się poczynić przy ostatnim wyjściu pod wodę, dzięki czemu gra nie jest nigdy frustrująca.

Jestem pod wrażeniem jak minimalistycznymi środkami wyrazu można dużo osiągnąć. In Other Waters robi to poprzez wykorzystanie dźwięku, ponieważ cały czas towarzyszą nam odgłosy oceanicznych głębi, które emitują różne dźwięki w zależności od naszego położenia i głębokości na której się znajdujemy. W tle przygrywa klimatyczna muzyka, która również dostosowuje się do wydarzeń na ekranie. Gra sprawnie operuje kolorami i ich nasyceniem, jasność ekranu i kolory zmieniają się w zależności od środowiska, w którym znajduje się nasz nurek, głębokości, tego ile promieni światła z trzech słońc planety Gliese 677Cc dociera do wody. Wszystko co oglądamy podczas naszych podróży opisane jest w okienku kontekstowym po prawej stronie, a teksty te są interesujące i potęgują klimat -- czasem wiąże się on z radością odkrywania pięknych stworzeń, a czasem z przytłaczającym uczuciem przebywania w oceanicznych głębinach, w kompletnym mroku, w skorupie małego skafandra nurkowego, który ciśnienie chce rozerwać, aby pozbawić nas życia. I te wszystkie emocje potrafi wywołać taka prosta technicznie gra. Jeżeli czytaliście "Rozgwiazdę" Petera Wattsa, to jest ten klimat.

Dr Ellery Vas, której jako AI skafandra towarzyszymy, przez całą grę kataloguje napotkane okazy lokalnej flory i fauny. Możemy zbierać próbki, badać je w laboratorium, a następnie czytać o jej teoriach. Wyobrażam sobie, że musi to być nie lada gratka dla kogoś, kto jest z wykształcenia biologiem.

Minusów prawie brak. Przyczepiłbym się tylko do braku mapy podczas nurkowania. Mapę widzimy tylko przed wyruszeniem w drogę, ale później musimy już działać na pamięć. Na szczęście z reguły wystarczy podążać mniej więcej w zadanym kierunku. Miałem też jakieś drobne problemy z interfejsem gry, chyba nie zawsze poprawnie działały badania laboratoryjne -- tutaj jako obejście problemu zauważyłem, że najlepiej jest badać tylko jedną nową próbkę, potem od razu się przełączyć do widoku taksonomii, poczytać o niej i wrócić do laboratorium aby zbadać kolejną próbkę. Kiedy próbowałem badać je zbiorczo, to gra często jako nowe oznaczała teksty, które już czytałem. Pod koniec gry skanuje się pewne audiologii i tutaj gra przy niektórych nie zapamiętywała, że już ich odsłuchałem i wracały na mapę jako nieodkryte. Na szczęście nie jest to nic wymaganego do ukończenia gry.

Grę szczerze polecam, uważam, że takie małe produkcje mają swoje miejsce na rynku i są potrzebne. Tytuł idealny na handhelda!

Definitely a reader, so if that's fine with you, the very simple gameplay loop will be totally acceptable. The story is very good, very engaging, and all the flavour text is wonderful to read.

The only downside, and it is fairly large, is that one of the major game mechanics is the imposition of time pressure through your oxygen and suit degrading as you play in many sections. This is a fairly perverse incentive, as you want to be spending your time reading the excellent environmental descriptions and want to avoid going back to the same places over and over, as transiting an already explored area is fairly tedious.

But, this game is ultimately focused on delivering its story, and it is excellent at that, so I'm not going to knock it too hard for not being a masterpiece gameplay-wise.

What starts off on a high note with its otherworldly soundtrack, interesting narrative and feeling like you're exploring an alien ocean drags itself to a hault by the third hour. The clunky traversal system means you spend most of the game waiting to get to your destination. And the overwhelming amount of text thrown at you can get super tiresome. It sort of has some survival mechanics but they are easy to manage and ignore. Where they just shouldn't have existed.

I don't like criticizing games that are different like this but this really should have been a book. Or even a visual novel but there is just so little visual storytelling going on. To the point where I skipped large amounts of world building because it was large text info dumps. Which don't really do anything for the marrative and arguably hurts the world building.

Exploring alien oceans is one of the things I enjoy most in gaming but In Other Waters it was mostly exploring the world in my mind and listening to the music. That makes it hard to recommend.

So close to a masterpiece.

It's so conflicting to me because it's fundamentally a story-driven walking sim with a story that 9/11s itself at the last second... but I still love it.

the atmosphere, the soundtrack, the simple but super original and memorable gameplay mechanic. the way the world unfolds and feels super realized.

This game kinda does the ghost trick thing of being super context sensitive but somehow feeling entirely immersive.

you play as a suit AI (sort of) and your interface makes you feel like you (the actual payer) is accomplishing that goal. so in a sense it melts the fourth wall away entirely.

It's a bit like Subnautica but in a minimalist and linear way. You are on an aquatic planet where you discover for the first time life outside the earth. There are two characters, a human and an AI, the player is the AI and the goal is to help the human search for his partner who is supposedly lost on this planet.
The gameplay is unique and immersive while being very simplistic. It gives the same feeling of discovery of strange underwater creatures, but In Other Waters leaves room for imagination. However, the heart of the game is the well-written story and the lore you discover by scanning objects and reading analysis. It is more linear than Subnautica and there is quite a bit of text where you discover the mysteries of the planet.
It's a weird game that I wouldn't recommend to everyone, but if you want a relaxing sci-fi game, it might be worth a try.

Sights & Sounds
- Not really much to look at. It kind of looks like a webpage with too much JavaScript or an overdesigned Tableau dashboard
- Luckily, the music is very good. Very chill stuff that'll help you relax

Story & Vibes
- I don't really want to spoil too much of the story because it's the biggest thing it's got going for it. Suffice it to say, it's quite an interesting sci-fi narrative with lots of intrigue
- Beyond the main plot, the game is very exploration-based, with an impressive amount of imaginative and detailed science fantasy to learn about
- The game is incredibly relaxing in spite of the occasionally stressful plot points

Playability & Replayability
- Gameplay mostly involves clicking on location dots and reading. Beyond that, you occasionally have to collect samples, run some of your submarine's movement systems, or disperse materials into the water around you
- In spite of the amount of time you spend exploring, you'll also find yourself going back to your base to further the story and do science

Overall Impressions & Performance
- I really loved the story, the exploratory gameplay, minimalist visual design, and music. Just understand that the pacing may be too slow and the gameplay a little too sparse for some tastes
- Given the overall lack of things happening on your screen, you shouldn't expect much trouble running the game

Final Verdict
- 6.5/10. If you're looking to just chill out, wander an exoplanet's ocean, and read a good story, this game will scratch an itch

Shelved for now. A neat game, with really calm vibes. I think the idea of the player being the AI that controls the characters suit and is being directly spoken to is a cool thing, that I've seen in a few of the games I've played lately. Breaking the fourth wall but intentionally? Active third person? I'm not sure what the phrasing would be for that but I think that's cool. I'm putting it down for now since I think I want to save it as a "chip away slowly" game, and right now I'm looking for something a bit different.

Great narrative game with minimalistic nautical control console visuals about discovering and cataloguing an alien sea and the first non-human life that's been found within. Can be slow and backtrack-y at parts, but overall satisfying controlling the dive suit as it's very tactile to use. The narrative is interesting and unique, although to me it ended unsatisfyingly.

Theres often some conflict between all the nicely written text and you needing to move quickly through dangerous waters, so you end up missing a lot of text or dialogue because you cant waste time reading it, which is a shame. You get all the necessary information, its just extra fluff that's missed.

Very satisfying and natural reward system for collecting all the specimens across the ocean

Masterful narrative/exploration game oozing with atmosphere, but probably not for everyone.

Game is mostly focused on linear story which is very well written, thoughtful and immersive, both in terms of character/events and environment of the planet with all it's little details. Little choice you have is mainly relegated to exploration. In terms of gameplay, it is very minimalistic, you basically move on graph of nodes and scan, occasional other activities require max 2-3 mouse clicks. There are few places where you are time/resource pressured, but margin for error is large so it should not pose any challenge. Graphics while very limited do amazing job of environmental story telling and creating atmosphere with simple shapes and colors. Music is phenomenal, greatly adds to the mood of the game.

The only negative I could find is that movement is bit clunky, requiring more clicks then it should.

In the end all elements of the game fit together very well and create something memorable and unique, well worth the time, as long as you can put up with the simplistic and slow gameplay.

It's very unique in its core concept but that wasn't something that dragged me in and kept me playing.
The whole game is meditative and finding the exact mood where I felt that connection strongest certainly wasn't every day.

Given the themes of the game, I find it very interesting that practicing a mindfulness in approaching and playing the game felt like the appropriate way to play it.
I think this also matches up with the colours and soundtrack of the game. Both are simple at their cores but absolutely soaked in pure colour and bleeding life from them.

There was never a doubt that I was on an alien planet, far beneath the surface, studying all the I could see, giving time to the study, and feeling the world embellish itself through Ellerys notes and sketches really struck a chord. With everything else tied to the feeling of discovery, the game aligns itself into a soft pace of diving, finding, and making peace with what you find.

It was a real pleasure to play and it'll be stuck in my brain from here on out.