Depths of Sanity

Unfortunately, I can't recommend this. While it seems to be a technically well-made game with elaborate game design, there's just not much fun to have. After 6 hours, I really don't have any motivation to continue. The movement is too slow and squishy, the abilities and upgrades are super boring, fighting enemies is tedious, and the graphics are too ♥♥♥♥♥♥ to generate enough atmosphere. Overall, the best word to describe my experience is: Boring.

Most of the negative reviews here are talking about the movement and controls, but to me that isn't really the biggest issue (although yes, it is bad), because that could honestly be managed, if not by patience then there are difficulty options. The biggest problem to me is the game is just utterly dull. Even in an game that is going for "dread" vibes (which I do like) games are still supposed to be enjoyable to engage with and this one isn't. Moving around the world just is not enjoyable for me. I see no potential for combat to develop and maybe exploration would, but it's so boring I just can't bring myself to continue.

As other reviewers have said, the submarine feels sluggish and unpleasant to control. I had to switch to a mouse and keyboard because controller support wasn't working and made the controls even more unbearable. This doesn't feel good to play, which is a shame because the premise is very interesting, but there is no way I'm playing a whole metroidvania that feels this bad to play.

Just finished my first playthrough (I take my time :)). The story is not groundbreaking but still enjoyable - a nice, short Lovecraft-inspired narrative. The game is not particularly difficult, but some puzzles took time (turtles and long bubble streams be damned). Love the graphics, love the gradual descent into madness of everyone involved, including the title screen. Highly recommended.

It's quite a decent horror metroidvania, clear it was done by a very small team, but it shows promise and I hope they continue to make games like this.

Very good underwater metroidvania (weirdly underserved market, i must point out). Very well made, with solid gameplay, beautiful visuals, great atmosphere, thoughtful level design, etc. Goes oddly hard into breath of upgrades you can get and what you can do with them. Also, my god, the bosses, they are all such a blast to fight, and all are entirely unique in their mechanics and gimmicks. But, as a bit of a negative, doesn't really do any sort of damage upgrade until right before the final boss, and no movement upgrades at all (not counting one upgrade that would count, were it not for its balancing limitations...). And fast travel is unlocked way into the second half of the game, making the most fun part of a metroidvania, getting into previously inaccessible areas, quite a chore. [b]Despite that[/b], the game is fantastic.