3.5/5

Under the Waves is an indie game published by Quantic Dream, which is how it got put on my radar. It's a third person narrative adventure game where you play the role of a professional diver working for an oil company. The game focuses on some deep topics, mainly grief, and how we deal with/overcome it. There's nothing here story wise that's too new, but it's presented very well in a nice game that never overstays it's welcome.

Gameplay consists of finding daily tasks your character is assigned, then going out of your underwater home into a sub to go around and take on these tasks. They can range anywhere from collecting resources to repairing structures. Eventually, a disaster strikes the company and you are sent on some more dangerous missions which open up some more mystery realizing everything isn't as it seems. The underwater area is pretty vast, and there are a lot of collectibles to find, underwater crashes to explore, animals to find and photograph, among other activities. It's a peaceful, zen like experience just driving your submarine around looking for artifacts and adventures.

Controls can be a little janky at times as this was developed by a smaller indie studio, but nothing that ever became too frustrating or ever became game breaking. The controls work surprisingly intuitively after you get the hang of them, and you'll be piloting your sub through tight corridors in no time without hitting any walls.

It's a short game that I had played through the Playstation Plus subscription game library. If you have that, I definitely recommend this game. Otherwise at $30 full retail it may be a little hard to recommend at that price, but any sale price below that is a no brainer.