Stardiver

Stardiver is an ambitious indie sci-fi adventure developed and published by Green Planet Games that attempts to fuse underwater exploration, six-degrees-of-freedom movement, narrative mystery, and action into a single, expansive experience. Set on the alien ocean world of E_41H in the year 3076, the game casts players as a lone pilot awakened from cryosleep and tasked with uncovering the fate of a missing AI research vessel, a collapsed underwater base, and the remnants of a long-forgotten civilization. From its premise alone, Stardiver positions itself as a blend of deep-sea exploration and space-age science fiction, striving to deliver a sense of isolation, discovery, and slow-burning intrigue beneath the surface of an endless ocean. Movement is one of Stardiver’s defining features and also one of its most demanding aspects. The game uses a full six-degrees-of-freedom control system, allowing players to move freely in all directions while piloting their submersible craft. This system gives exploration a strong sense of physicality and realism, making underwater traversal feel closer to piloting a spacecraft than swimming in a traditional aquatic game. Mastering this movement is …

I thought sci-fi, underseas, simulator, and got hooked. Sadly, I must report that I got instantly disenchanted by this. The way the controls worked felt really off-putting. I don't know, man. For some reason, this game basically forces you into thinking you need another reticle besides the main crosshair for pitching and yawing. And the ship only pitches or yaws once that second reticle passes the main crosshair. And don't get me even started on how bonkers it is when you do that with reversed Y-axis controls. You're basically moving a cursor in the opposite direction than you're used to, just to make the vehicle go the "right way." When moving with a gamepad, the ship responds immediately. None of this happens. So obviously, there'd be no real need for another reticle that pointed where you go to or shoot. Such as Freelancer had, if I recall correctly. However, on the gamepad you bank by pressing down the stick. So one of the most essential — and therefore most important — features in plane-like controls, something you need to perform as precisely as possible, requires you to apply pressure in a different vector, which completely kills precision. One thing after another like t…

This is a tough choice. Got through the tutorial, did some mining, some scanning, and some fighting. The controls take a bit to get accustomed to, but doable. The visuals are decent for what it is. The pace is slow, but methodical. The games "AI Buddy" does a lot of hand holding, but I suppose its tolerable. The area you play in doesn't feel very big at the start as you are never far from the base it would seem. At the US$15, I would suppose you do get your money's worth in the game.

very smooth to run

Got this for -90% off, but even still, i wouldn't recommend. The concept of the game: "what if Descent, but underwater & with very minimal 'base-building'" is fine; however, the game is rife with Euro-jank aspects. The world comes across as if someone made a map and scattered random "toys" (things) haphazardly around. For example, there is an odd juxtaposition of soviet-era industrial buildings and an oversized stereotypical flying saucer UFO, but then on the other side of a ridge there is also a colossal T-Rex skull. Like what are we doing here? The combat is strange because it utilized all 6 degrees-of-freedom with enemies approaching from many different vectors, but they are incredibly difficult to track since they dart around in zig-zag patterns as though the "water" is just empty space (it is). Also, your ship movements are very sluggish even with increased sensitivity, which compounds the "difficulty" of combat. While you can play the game with a controller, i wouldn't recommend that as the game often reads strafing as dodging (two repeated inputs to the same side). The biggest offender of the Euro-jank moniker is the UI. Oh, god, the UI. It resembles the one from Subnaut…

Enjoyable underwater shooter with lots of exploration and challenges . Good graphics and sound. Wish it had native vr option but I got it in VR using the vorpx app and has decent 3d immersion .