Diluvion is a 3D deep sea exploration game which lets you control your own submarine. Does it explode to success or sink to the absolute bottom? Let’s find out:
AUTHOR: Abhigyan (BANNED from SoQ)
STATUS: RELEASED
DEVELOPER: Arachnid Games
PUBLISHER: Gambitious
GENRE: Action Adventure
RELEASE DATE: 2nd Of February, 2017
TYPE: SINGLE-PLAYER
Gameplay:
Diluvion is set in a post-apocalyptic world which has sunk into oceans after a great flood and humans are forced to live deep down in the depth of the seas in their submarines. You are given the job of captaining your own submarine and recruiting and upgrading your crew and ship. There are whole cities buried deep beneath the seas and you have to explore them and fend off enemies using your submarine’s guns and torpedoes.
You explore the depths of these dangerous waters in a 3D perspective of your submarine while you switch to a FTL like 2D perspective when you’re interacting with your crews. This crew is one of the most important parts of your submarine and the management of this crew at important stations is crucial to the battles in Diluvion. For example, employing two members at your gun station will help you reload faster and so on. This crew also needs an ample amount of oxygen to survive which makes sense considering the backdrop of the game. The game can also be dauntingly difficult at times if you run out of resources at an important time and the game makes sure that you pay for your mistakes with its infuriating checkpoint system. You can save your game when you find some green fish which are most prominent in major settlements while the game also saves when you recruit a new crew member or discover an important location. But this system can easily make you lose hours of your progress just because you couldn’t find the damned fish. The UI of the game is also all over the place and kills the overall visual elegance of the game single-handedly. The AI of the game can also tend to be sometimes silly and hand themselves over to you without putting up an actual fight.
The story of Diluvion is interesting and the lore present here is really fun to explore. The crew tell interesting stories of their own and you will often come up to strange places which are just awe inspiring. You can also buy your own home base later on in the game and then upgrade it in RPG style which helps in your future endeavours. You can also upgrade various parts of your submarine to increase its hull and armour which increases attacks, defence and the ability to venture farther below in the depth of these waters. You also have the choice to choose from the few submarines you are given at the start. While Diluvion is pretty much a linear game with quite a bit of handholding, it gives room for some really interesting exploration. But all of this is let down by a really bad UI and control system which holds Diluvion from truly achieving what it aspires to be.
Visuals
The best part of Diluvion is its amazing visuals. It nails the isolated environments of the depth of seas and the steampunk design of its ships and cities. More often than not you will come across some real marvellous looking ships and cities which have been consumed by the waters and they look haunting. The hand drawn 2D perspective when you switch to talk to your crew members also lends itself to the visuals and is done neatly. Most of the exploration in Diluvion is also made interesting due to these visuals which shows an unique world and tells a story of its own. Effects like explosion and other things are also done well and they are distinguished well from their surroundings.
Sound
While the main soundtrack is average, what propels Diluvion to another level is the use of sound effects. These sound effects make the whole exploration prospect much more isolating and daunting. Overall, Diluvion has an amazing sound design which lends perfectly to its visuals.
Overall
Diluvion is a game that presents a unique world and provides interesting lore to go along with it, but is hugely let down by its UI design and the frustrating checkpoint system it has. It is in dire need of some polish and the price might be a little steep for some people but, if you can look past the problems, you will find a gorgeous world that begs for exploration.
RATING:
(click on the image to see the rating explanation)
