Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 20/12/2024 01:59

Murky Divers – Review

We’ve been playing our fair share of cooperative horror games lately with titles such as The Outlast Trials, Terrorbytes, and Panic In The Woods. It was a somewhat unfamiliar genre to us, but now it has become one of our favorite pastimes when playing games with friends. When we saw Murky Divers enter Early Access a few months ago, it immediately got added to our backlog to feature on the site. Sadly, with titles pouring in, we didn’t have sufficient time to publish a preview for this quirky-looking horror title. Now, with its full release, we made sure to take our time to dive into the abyss and see what the game is all about. Story While the game doesn’t really have a story to play through, there’s is a bit of lore when you look it up. In essence, you’ll be going around different underwater sites to dispose of evidence from illegal medical trials while also avoiding the police. It’s a simple premise, but it works for a title such as this. Graphics Murky Divers has a unique pixelated graphical style. The game looks modern and retro simultaneously, creating an interesting blend in the process. Your submarine has quite a few details in its interior, and the abandoned structures you’ll be exploring also have various assets. While you’ll encounter quite a few recurring elements and locations, everything remains interesting to explore. The developers also know how to use lighting to their advantage, as you’ll literally be swimming in a near-dark setting for most of the game. This, in combination with the many winding pathways and corridors, creates an unsettling and disorienting atmosphere. Sound The overall sound design isn’t bad. Murky Divers opts for a less is more approach. This heightens the atmosphere further, as you’ll have to make do with environmental sounds, making the creepy critters in the dark stand out even more. The SFX are decent, albeit nothing too special. Everything is functional, but we have seen similar titles do a bit more with their soundscape. Gameplay Murky Divers is a cooperative horror game much in the same vein as titles such as The Outlast Trials. This means that you, and your allies, will be working together to achieve your goal. Murky Divers does take on a more roguelike nature, as you’ll always start a run with a pre-specified party size, on a difficulty of your choosing. If you and your party gain too much notoriety, it’s game over and you’ll have to start from scratch. In the game, you’ll have to go from one location to the next with your submarine, while avoiding other dangers that lurk in the depths of the ocean, to dispose of evidence of illegal medical trials. Each location, however, is randomly generated and it’s not as easy as you might think to obtain the evidence that you need to dispose of. Toning down the difficulty during your first few runs will help a tremendous amount. As stated several times, you’ll have to go out with your submarine to explore underwater structures and dispose of any type of evidence of past illegal experiments. As you are underwater, your field of vision is extremely limited, and you have to keep track of your oxygen levels. Only when returning to the ship you can heal up and replenish your oxygen tank. It’s all very straightforward, but the game does make you feel uneasy, as it’s easy to get lost in the different structures. There are many pathways, and the further you go, the more difficult it might get to remember the way back. Sprinkle in a few relentless monsters, and you might get disoriented even quicker. As the game also makes use of proximity-based chat, no one might even hear your cries for help. It’s all very well crafted and the underwater setting lends itself perfectly for a title such as this. If you fail to make it out, and your allies cannot retrieve your body within the time limit of your excursion, you’ll be penalized. The same goes for not collecting enough evidence. Your star rating will go up, and the police will eventually bust down the doors of your submarine if your wanted level is too high. Some consumables can reduce your star rating. You can have different save files on one game, as depending on your crew size, you’ll get a different submarine to commandeer. The game does its best to make everyone feel useful, and the bigger your crew size, the more people can still help to navigate, for example. Navigating is important because if you don’t pay attention, you might run into police submarines or even bigger and more dangerous monsters. As you progress and collect batteries and cash, you can use the batteries to power the different stations inside your submarine and you can use the cash to buy upgrades for your character. You can purchase a speedy underwater scooter or a grappling hook, for example. If you have a capable team, your progression is noticeable, and it becomes a pleasant (but creepy) grind to keep going. While most of what the game throws at you is enjoyable, not everything is perfect. For starters, the controls can be a bit clunky, especially to grab onto items. It felt rather clumsy and unresponsive during our first few runs. What also felt a bit unfair at times were the actual monsters that lurk in the deep. These could be rather relentless and some never stopped chasing you and would then camp in front of your submarine’s doors. The latter was still the foundation of many hilarious situations, but it did feel unbalanced, especially on higher difficulties. Conclusion Murky Divers is one of those titles that you’ll play for weeks on end with friends to then revisit once in a while for a great party game experience. We loved the overall aesthetics of this quirky title and the gameplay loop proved to be extremely enjoyable. While it took us some time to figure out some of the game’s mechanics and goals, it eventually added to the overall charm of this horror-themed cooperative title. If you love games like The Outlast Trials and want something original, we can easily recommend Murky Divers. We do hope, however, that some enemies are patched in the future to be slightly less relentless.