The theme of grief is not new in the world of video games: works such as Spiritfarer, What Remains of Edith Finch and the very recent The Wreck have shown the public that video games can also address painful themes, such as death and loss. Parallel study, with the support of Quantic Dream as publisher, follows the same path with its under the waves, an underwater adventure with a strong narrative thrust, but also equipped with elements typical of many open world video games.
And here lies the main problem with Under The Waves: the message is diluted (forgive us the term when we talk about a video game set in the ocean) by the presence of mechanics that are anything but functional when it comes to transmitting it. The existence of tedious missions to collect materials, repair structures and create objects that we will almost never need to use, all elements that demonstrate the opportunity to subtract, sometimes, instead of adding. An overabundance probably dictated by the desire to bring a work undoubtedly characterized by complex issues, but which, ultimately, turns out to be a double-edged sword.
But let's go in order: we tell you about Stan and his underwater adventure in ours. Review of Under the Waves.
Down in the blue
After his life takes an unexpected turn, Stan He decides to spend several weeks in an underwater station at the request of the oil company he works for. Under The Waves is set in the 70s, but in an alternative past, with some retro-futuristic elements: here Stan, assisted by an on-board computer, unthinkable for the time in the real world, can move in the depths of the North Sea . with ease thanks to Moon, a compact and easy-to-handle submarine.
Over the course of the eight hours needed to complete the adventure, Stan will sink deeper and deeper into the affliction that torments his soul. If the days are characterized by the performance of often trivial tasks - finding plastic to make certain objects, repairing that pipe that leaks at the bottom of the sea - the diver's nights are much more tormented, populated by the ghosts of a past that Unfortunately, it is still dramatically current. And here lies one of the main problems of Under The Waves: the juxtaposition to drama by Stan of discordant elements, excessively heterogeneous with respect to what should be the focus of the narrative.
Parallel Studio has partnered with Surfrider Foundation Europe, a non-profit environmental organization that has been working for many years to safeguard the oceans and the life forms that inhabit them. Through entries in Stan's diary and dedicated trophies, the developers enter data on the pollution and real drama that marine environments experience due to the ruthless exploitation of their resources by humans. Unfortunately, this information is often provided without further background, exclusively textually, without creating an adequate contextualization of it within Stan's personal drama, which will be divided into a series of days spent in the (sometimes disturbing) embrace of the abyss Marine. The desire to raise awareness about issues related to environmentalism and ecology is certainly laudable and interesting, but given that we are inside a video game, we would have expected a better integration of everything within the gameplay of Under The Waves: unfortunately, the ocean and the animal and plant species that inhabit it all too often remain a passive backdrop to Stan's underwater adventures and sorrows.
A very busy life on the ocean.
During the days that he will be busy working for UniTrench, Stan will find himself carrying out missions (mandatory to continue the adventure) related to the exploitation of the seabed to extract oil. As expected, as the hours go by we will see ourselves increasingly questioned about Stan's involvement in a business - that of black gold - that is among the most harmful and polluting in the world. At a playable level, all this translates into the need to explore the ocean aboard Moon, following the indicators that will tell you where to go to carry out the task in question.
Unfortunately, the interface and map don't shine clearly, and sometimes you'll get sidetracked by imprecise directions. For example, we could be told the place to recover a certain object, but the entrance to reach the corresponding area could be in a completely different place. The fact that the ocean does not offer particular attractions does not help to increase the involvement in frustrating situations: Parallel Studio has filled the backgrounds with screens to build various types of objects with a rudimentary system of the elaboration of, but we often find them superfluous, seeing and considering that fuel and oxygen tanks (necessary for Stan's survival underwater) can also be found directly in the stages.
Not to mention the gadgets with no real functionality, intended solely to decorate Stan's underwater home. We don't really understand how and why a man in Stan's situation should be interested in all this, and this, obviously, frequently shifts the focus of Under The Waves in directions far removed from the project's objectives.
As mentioned above, for the narrative elements related to the partnership with Surfrider Foundation Europe, in our opinion this overabundance of indicators, objects, schemes and mechanics that are not strictly functional to convey the message of Under The Waves diminish, and not a little, the power of Stan's (at first moving) existential parable. The often singularly flat voice acting and the presence of completely inadequate facial animations (but improved with the release update) don't help matters. On a graphical level, Under The Waves is far from being a spectacular experience on PlayStation 5, but given the small size of the team and its intention to focus more on the story and Stan's feelings than on the technical aspects, we cannot say that it is of a capital sin. Overall, however, the ocean created by Parallel Studio is very visually unmemorable.
During our testing, we encountered a fair number of bugs and crashes before the aforementioned patch, although the situation has improved since then. We would like to note the very welcome presence of a good number of accessibility options related to the size of the subtitles, the possibility of inserting a background to contrast the color of the texts, the possibility of modifying the color reproduction of the HUD and the dimensions of the radar and targets. The soundtrack composed by Nicolas Bredin is interesting, although at times it seems too present and invasive. The lyrics of Under The Waves are translated to Spanish.
Conclusions
Tested version PlayStation 5 digital delivery PlayStation Store Price 29.99 € Holygamerz.com 5.5 Readers (2) 6.4 your voteStan's journey into the depths of the sea and into his psyche is part of a long series of video games dedicated to the processing of grief, but it fails to make a truly significant contribution. With a message diluted by completely avoidable mechanics in a context that would like to put the psyche of a tormented man at the center and a sometimes forced insertion of naked information linked to the (although interesting and laudable) topic of environmentalism, Under The Waves is a program which suffers from an evident lack of focus, as well as the inclusion of elements taken from open-world video games, with the probable objective of awakening the interest of an audience accustomed to this genre and transporting them to the depths of the North. Mar. Unfortunately, however, these choices lead to confusion and an unpleasant feeling of unhappy mixing in a product struggling to find its own identity.
PRO
- Interesting history
- The inclusion of topics related to environmental protection is commendable.
AGAINST
- The inclusion of open world mechanics is unfortunate in this context.
- The indicators sometimes mislead the player.
- Dubbing, often very flat, makes empathy difficult
- Technically improvable
- Messages related to environmentalism are often inserted in a forced manner and not contextualized in the playful fabric of the work.
