In Other Waters knows how to play to its strengths. Being a solo developed game about exploring a vast alien ocean the design had to be clever about its inherent limitations, which have been convincingly turned into strengths. The story is told from the perspective of an absolutely crisp minimalistic UI, in-Universe its the OS of a diving suit which has seemingly become sentient. Through the use of symbols and experimentation you must quickly work out how to work this unfamiliar dashboard without a manual in order to guide a researcher to safety.
I guess I should say, In Other Waters is a game about discovery and is best gone into blind, so whilst I won't spoil the plot specifics I will discuss game mechanics, so maybe you should go and play it before coming back (its currently 70% on steam and while its not perfect I definitely think its worth the 5 dollars its listed at)
I say it plays to its strengths because being viewed entirely through a topographic radar view of the ocean with select text blurbs describing the fantastical biodiversity of the planet it leaves a lot to the imagination, leaving your mind to picture these creatures. A very clever way to make a solo developer able to build a world which would be impossible to actually construct without either massive proc gen or a dev cycle measured in decades. Even more clever, completing the entry for a species reveals the researcher's sketch of it, rewarding exploration with being able to see a snapshot of the creatures.
Similarly the gorgeous UI and mild postprocessing colour filters to separate the feel of various areas like 8bit rpgs used to do (pokemon springs to mind) really do a lot with very little. Same can be said about the impecabble sound design which does a lot of the heavy lifting of the great atmosphere the game has going.
One of In Other Waters' failings is that it never really leans into the interface learning aspect. Figuring out the various functions of the suit are satisfying but pretty simple, and later additions are just straight up told to you. To the game's credit I don't think there was ever an obnoxious "use the fucking blowtorch dumbass" moment and the dialogue frequency strikes a nice balance of downtime/atmospheric silence and plot development.
The other wrinkle to the game are the various environmental hazards, managing oxygen and power as you explore various environments with several roadblocks. As you take samples of local plant and animal matter as well as take scans of the wildlife the base's entries get filled in progressively. There is however a limited inventory of samples which not only furthers the research back in base, but also serves as backup oxygen and power for the suit and even puzzle elements as their behaviour and interactions with other flora can be harnessed to proceed, which both builds the world and solves a puzzle simultaneously.
It reminded me a bit of RE4 in the way I had to constantly weigh up what to use and what to keep. I guess any game with inventory management but it led to a couple of agonizing moments when I was running out of power but the only source I had of it was a really valuable sample I would have to go really far out of my way to get another of. I held out until I was finally able to escape out of the cave and go back to base with the sample.
Unfortunately In Other Waters keeps the pattern here of just not leaning enough into this. For the most part the game is just not hard enough to really make these moments more than a fleeting few episodes. Most of the game is mostly just travelling through relatively empty space occassionally collecting samples, and I weep for those who did not find out the shortcuts for travelling cause man, thats too many clicks at times. At the same time, whenever the game does throw danger at you it demands speed in a game that is best enjoyed leisurely, reading the various blurbs and advancing taking it all in. My ass was not reading those blurbs when I was slowly running out of oxygen or swimming against a strong current.
I am sympathetic however, because for all my complaining there are several reviews both on this site and the steam discussion page complaining about the game being obtuse and not understanding what's going on, so maybe it would be unhelpful to demand it potentially turn more people off? The dev's next game Citizen Sleeper seems to have proven a lot more popular, though ironically I bounced off it pretty hard when I played it. I'll definitely give it another shot now that I have played this.
Another thing that might turn off some, your only dialogue options are yes/no answers to questions by the researcher, given the nature of your being an OS interface. But Im not too bothered by it. Whether or not these options change all that much Im not sure, but Ive always been of the opinion that smaller in scope, character decisions are more meaningful than the more literal choose your own adventure fractal development nightmare of splitting the universe in half based on whether or not I ate chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. In this respect, I think In Other Waters succeeds, for all the nitpicks I could continue making, I was looking forward to its unfolding intrigue and whilst some beats are pretty predictable, the game managed to surprise me a few times. Hell, I think when done well a plot point you predicted can be just as satisfying as one which took you by surprise, especially given the risk of having to do more ludicrous twists to keep people guessing.
In Other Waters was a lovely little surprise, I thought I was going to bounce off it hard when I saw it on my list of games, but it turned out to be a good match for me. I even caught myself getting out of bed from my groggy state by going "oh boy I get to play some more "In Other Waters" before going to uni in a couple hours; which is always a great sign.
I guess I should say, In Other Waters is a game about discovery and is best gone into blind, so whilst I won't spoil the plot specifics I will discuss game mechanics, so maybe you should go and play it before coming back (its currently 70% on steam and while its not perfect I definitely think its worth the 5 dollars its listed at)
I say it plays to its strengths because being viewed entirely through a topographic radar view of the ocean with select text blurbs describing the fantastical biodiversity of the planet it leaves a lot to the imagination, leaving your mind to picture these creatures. A very clever way to make a solo developer able to build a world which would be impossible to actually construct without either massive proc gen or a dev cycle measured in decades. Even more clever, completing the entry for a species reveals the researcher's sketch of it, rewarding exploration with being able to see a snapshot of the creatures.
Similarly the gorgeous UI and mild postprocessing colour filters to separate the feel of various areas like 8bit rpgs used to do (pokemon springs to mind) really do a lot with very little. Same can be said about the impecabble sound design which does a lot of the heavy lifting of the great atmosphere the game has going.
One of In Other Waters' failings is that it never really leans into the interface learning aspect. Figuring out the various functions of the suit are satisfying but pretty simple, and later additions are just straight up told to you. To the game's credit I don't think there was ever an obnoxious "use the fucking blowtorch dumbass" moment and the dialogue frequency strikes a nice balance of downtime/atmospheric silence and plot development.
The other wrinkle to the game are the various environmental hazards, managing oxygen and power as you explore various environments with several roadblocks. As you take samples of local plant and animal matter as well as take scans of the wildlife the base's entries get filled in progressively. There is however a limited inventory of samples which not only furthers the research back in base, but also serves as backup oxygen and power for the suit and even puzzle elements as their behaviour and interactions with other flora can be harnessed to proceed, which both builds the world and solves a puzzle simultaneously.
It reminded me a bit of RE4 in the way I had to constantly weigh up what to use and what to keep. I guess any game with inventory management but it led to a couple of agonizing moments when I was running out of power but the only source I had of it was a really valuable sample I would have to go really far out of my way to get another of. I held out until I was finally able to escape out of the cave and go back to base with the sample.
Unfortunately In Other Waters keeps the pattern here of just not leaning enough into this. For the most part the game is just not hard enough to really make these moments more than a fleeting few episodes. Most of the game is mostly just travelling through relatively empty space occassionally collecting samples, and I weep for those who did not find out the shortcuts for travelling cause man, thats too many clicks at times. At the same time, whenever the game does throw danger at you it demands speed in a game that is best enjoyed leisurely, reading the various blurbs and advancing taking it all in. My ass was not reading those blurbs when I was slowly running out of oxygen or swimming against a strong current.
I am sympathetic however, because for all my complaining there are several reviews both on this site and the steam discussion page complaining about the game being obtuse and not understanding what's going on, so maybe it would be unhelpful to demand it potentially turn more people off? The dev's next game Citizen Sleeper seems to have proven a lot more popular, though ironically I bounced off it pretty hard when I played it. I'll definitely give it another shot now that I have played this.
Another thing that might turn off some, your only dialogue options are yes/no answers to questions by the researcher, given the nature of your being an OS interface. But Im not too bothered by it. Whether or not these options change all that much Im not sure, but Ive always been of the opinion that smaller in scope, character decisions are more meaningful than the more literal choose your own adventure fractal development nightmare of splitting the universe in half based on whether or not I ate chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. In this respect, I think In Other Waters succeeds, for all the nitpicks I could continue making, I was looking forward to its unfolding intrigue and whilst some beats are pretty predictable, the game managed to surprise me a few times. Hell, I think when done well a plot point you predicted can be just as satisfying as one which took you by surprise, especially given the risk of having to do more ludicrous twists to keep people guessing.
In Other Waters was a lovely little surprise, I thought I was going to bounce off it hard when I saw it on my list of games, but it turned out to be a good match for me. I even caught myself getting out of bed from my groggy state by going "oh boy I get to play some more "In Other Waters" before going to uni in a couple hours; which is always a great sign.