We all want to explore more of the ocean, but what if you were forced to keep going deeper and deeper? Shinsekai Into the Depths by Capcom took a relaxed approach to this Metroidvania adventure. This isn’t the typical game you are accustomed to seeing, such as Resident Evil or other Capcom polished games. Into the Depths will push you to explore with a limit in order to save yourself and possibly other human survivors.
In this post-apocalyptic journey, humans were forced to find a way to live underwater to survive. But now, another ice age has happened to cause humans to find yet another way to stay alive. Ice has begun to form, shrinking living spaces, and in some cases destroying them. With your oxygen and skills, you must move on to thrive.
The beginning is very beginner-friendly. Almost everything you do is guided with a tutorial, and you will need all of these skills so pay attention! Your oxygen is displayed at the top and will run out faster with specific movements. So for example, if you want to go for a larger jump than normal, you have to be aware that you will be using more oxygen than normal. This trade-off system makes the players think about how they want to play and survive. Over time more oxygen becomes available as well as the tools to repair your oxygen tanks and upgrade your suit.
Visually the game is relaxed and not so polished and edgy. Couple this with relaxing music that doesn’t overwhelm players at the wrong time, and you can literally explore for hours. At first, I really thought my character was in a fish tank. The deeper the exploration, the more I figured out that sea creatures are scary and seem huge! They can also do a lot of damage if you aren’t prepared. So this definitely wasn’t a fish tank.
There really isn’t a bad thing to say about Into the Depths, except that you can only buy this digitally. Otherwise, the controls handle very well with little to no extenuating effort. The music is great and visually you’re getting everything you need for the plot. Capcom really did well by relaxing on the style of this game. I recommend this game for a pretty casual player that doesn’t want to go crazy fighting bad guys the whole time.
9/10
Available on Switch and IOS
