Setting a game in the lower decks of a sinking cruise liner is definitely an interesting choice, but to make it a horror game rather than a straight escape game is even more intriguing. That’s what the two-man team at Globiss Interactive developed when they created Under: Depths of Fear and they worked with Rogue Games to get it on multiple platforms. Now that I played through it myself, I can definitely say that these two have serious potential moving forward because this game is not bad for the first title from a small team.

Story

Stuck in the lower decks of a sinking ocean liner ship, World War 1 veteran Alexander Dockter has to find his way to the top deck! Finding nobody around to help him and having to fight through the trauma of his past, it won’t be an easy task. Especially with him having to face terrifying entities from his past.

Gameplay

With straightforward controls, this game plays pretty much how you would expect. It is a defenseless horror title, so all you have to focus on is movement, crouching, and your interaction button. You will spend most of your time trying to figure out what room you need to get through and finding a key or switch to unlock your pathway forward.

The times when the game offers a more creative approach to the usual setup used of finding a way to open the pathway comes from your interactions with the entities and that you will occasionally need to bust your way through a door by running at it. You can actually move a few items by running at it as well, which they tell you about a little late in the game considering where the tutorial teaches you to do that and the first time you end up doing that.

There are a couple of sections that you will either have to figure out how to get through a section quickly before dying or end up hiding under a bed or desk in order to avoid the entity. These definitely help keep the game interesting and keeps the fear up as you play through the game.

Other than that, you will also come across a gun and a mine. Neither of these is meant to be used on the entity though as they are used to break locks or clear a passage. It is an interesting choice to give a weapon to the player in a defenseless horror game and it still not be used on the enemy but rather as a puzzle mechanic.

Visuals and Audio

Considering this game was made by a two-man team, I would say that the overall graphics and sound design used in the game were acceptable. There was a lot of silence in the game, but when they used music it was fitting to the scenario and tension-building aspects.

Replayability

I wouldn’t say there is since the game is played the same each time. However, they did a good job with the story and making it make sense for the game to happen all over again in a second playthrough. You don’t see that happen often and the only other game I can recall doing this was in Doctor Who: The Edge of Time.

What Could Be Better

There really is a lot of things that could be better in this game, unfortunately. Two factors save the game’s quality issues and that is it being the first title from a very small team and the game itself is pretty short.

Still, there wasn’t a lot of variety in the gameplay itself. It was pretty much finding the key, switch, or code and unlock the door to the next area. Sometimes you just shot the lock off, but the same thing over and over. At least the entity encounters were pretty good, all things considered.

It may have been because I was on the Nintendo Switch, but there were major performance drops sometimes when the water would start rising in the hallways. This really shouldn’t happen on a console, especially since there was no way to adjust the graphic settings.

Conclusion

Under: Depths of Fear is a great first step for this team and shows a promising future for them. I can’t wait to see what else they make, especially when they have a full team to work with. The game they made is pretty good and I did enjoy my playthrough on it, but it isn’t without a handful of flaws. Definitely would say it is worth the $9.99 price tag and a must-grab whenever it is on sale.