Submerged

Climb the gray buildings within the beautiful landscape of an urban apocalypse; cross the reflections of the sunset and moonlight on the sea aboard a boat. This marks the beginning of quest to rescue younger brother amidst the submerged city and the concrete jungle covered in green.
수몰된 도시와 녹색 덧칠된 빌딩숲 속에서 남동생을 구하기 위한 여정.

It is a very relaxing exploration game with no combat or worries that you will fall to your death that I very much enjoyed. I love old decayed buildings so it made it even better. and the little bit of music there is its lovely.
There is a few things that I wish the game would have:
- a sprint button,
- more stuff to collect and explore (you can’t explore all the buildings),
- the ability to go inside of buildings,
- being able to set a checkpoint on the map so you could orient yourself a tiny bit better.
Seemingly controversially I enjoyed this one more than the sequel Submerged: Hidden Depths.

Submerged is one of those games where it feels like it’s made for players like me. Players who enjoy exploration, collecting things and more. I was very excited to play it initially but my excitement got tempered over time. The game feels like a mix of Zelda The Wind Waker (in terms of travelling with a boat) and Uncharted (in terms of climbing) but it simplifies those elements into one game. The story telling is the Journey kind where you’re not told what’s going on but you’re supposed to interpret the short cutscenes and 100 art (60 being optional) you find through exploring or automatically receive every time you find one supply for your sick brother. There are 10 supplies that are found in 10 proper buildings bigger in size compared to the tiny buildings and houses. There are other collectibles you can find that are optional and they’re: 26 boat upgrades, 8 landmarks and 8 creatures. The story ends after collecting the 10th supply but you can continue your progress with exploration mode.
The game does an excellent job of letting you explore an unknown world with enough collectibles that make it worth it. The structure of the gameplay/progression is clearly laid out and everything is recorded neatly. You can keep track of what you’ve collected and what you’re missing, the map is handy and I like the idea of using a telescope to track collectibles near you. The story, while pretty predictable, is clearly told for the most part despite the lack of text. The music is surprisingly good with some catchy songs that are enjoyable to listen to. The achievements are fun, fair and don’t get in the way of the game. It took me 6 hours to 100% the achievements. You can save at any time and teleport to the hub world from the settings menu.
What tempered my excitement is the repetitive nature with both the visuals and gameplay. The game heavily re-uses assets and there aren’t many of them. So the buildings look very similar and I got that feeling early on. The same can be said about the simple gameplay, what you experience in the first proper building (for the first supply) is exactly the same with the next 9. Nothing changes aside from a different climbing route. The music also has the same ones used, the selection is pretty small. It’s good that you can 100% the main game within 6 hours because it already started feeling old around the 2 hour mark. The reason I’m saying ‘main game’ is because you can hunt for a new collectible called vision in exploration mode. I’ve only seen the first one where it shows a gameplay screenshot of what appears to be a preview of the sequel. Normally I’d like going back and collect these visions but I really didn’t feel like going through the same map again. And there are luckily no achievements attached to them, so it was an easy skip.
I still enjoyed my time despite the repetitiveness. It’s the kind of game to turn everything off and just relax for a bit. You can’t really complain with 90% off (€2) even if I wished for more. I’m expecting the sequel to deliver on that since it appears to be a massive upgrade compared to the first. The first is a good introduction, laying the foundation for what will hopefully be a great sequel.

YOU
You play as Miku, a young girl who looks to be about 12 years old. You have a younger brother with you, Taku, who is unconscious and injured. The world has been flooded, and you and your brother are arriving at a building (the shrine) in your boat. You carry your brother in and lay him down. Now the game begins.
SUPPLY BOXES
You have to collect 10 supply boxes (food, clean water, bandages, medicine, bug spray, etc) from around the city. To do this, get back into your boat, ride over to a skyscraper, and climb it. The skyscrapers which have supply boxes can be identified easily. Hanging from the top of them will be giant tattered banners with red & white stripes.
The supply box will either be at the top of the skyscraper, or near the top. When you open the box, you will automatically fast-travel back to the shrine where your brother is. Rinse and repeat for several hours until you have finished the story by climbing 10 skyscrapers and collecting 10 supply boxes.
SECRETS
There are "secrets" located throughout the city. I don't see why they are called secrets, because they are neither secret, nor hidden. They look like brightly-shining diamonds floating above pedestals. When you touch them they disappear from your sight, and a new entry will appear in your journal. Your journal tells the story, but not with words. The story is told with hieroglyphic pictures on cards, so you're probably not even going to understand most of it.
There are over 100 secrets in the game, but only 60 of them which tell the needed story. Each skyscraper will usually have 3 to 5 of them. The rest are scattered about the city on other buildings or structures sticking out of the water. You do NOT have to find all of them to finish the game. To finish the game, you merely have to find all 10 supply boxes.
CLIMBING
Climbing the skyscrapers is done by using and navigating rooftops, balconies, vines, and ledges. The task of making it to the top of each skyscraper, and finding all the secrets located on various balconies and rooftops, is a puzzle for you to solve. Climbing paths will split, and some will lead you to dead ends.
CONTROLS & SHORTCUTS
The controls are as simple as can be. Movement is the standard 'WASD' keys, and interacting with an object is 'E'. Shortcuts are 'J' (journal), 'M' (map), 'T' (telescope), and 'Esc' (menu options). In the menu you will find a "postcard" option which lets you take screenshots without the GUI showing.
MISC
You cannot slip, fall, walk off a ledge, or drown. You cannot be hurt at all. There is no combat, no skills to learn, and no leveling up. You have a telescope to use, which can help you locate secrets and supply boxes, but you don't have to use it at all. You'll discover everything just by boating around the city. Whenever you come close to something important, it will appear on your map.
PERSONAL
I bought this game because the concept of exploring a flooded/submerged city sounded exciting, and because of the graphics. The graphics are absolutely phenomenal. However, the game wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. There's no variance here. Just "ride in boat, climb skyscraper, ride in boat, climb skyscraper, ride... ". As such, after about the first hour I became bored.
Finding all the secrets just seemed to be busy work to pad the game's play time. Also, the near-constant chittering of the dolphins and the screeching of the seagulls/pelicans became quickly annoying and highly irritating. And it rains a lot, which really dulls the scenery. I wish I had played this BEFORE buying the sequel, because I could have saved myself some money.
Although I was very disappointed by the game, as it did not match my expectations, I'm giving it a thumbs up because the game DOES do what it was designed to do, and does it well. I experienced no glitches or bugs, and the achievements were very easy to get just by exploring and progressing through the game.

Submerged is a relaxing exploration game, with no combat or danger whatsoever. Which makes it a perfect game for listening to podcasts or watching videos while playing it.
You traverse with a boat on the water in a city flooded by water, exploring it as you're looking for supplies for your injured/sick brother. As you're looking for these supplies, you are also able to collect secrets and upgrades for the boat. The latter are just making you go faster from what I understand.
The story is somewhat easy to follow and is more told through cutscenes and the drawings you collect/unlock through playing the game. Not everything is obvious as there is a lot given to you as the player to intepret. However, even if you choose to ignore the story you will do fine in the game.
If you want something cozy and easy to play while doing other tasks, I can definitely recommend Submerged! I'm glad to see that the previous Stadia-exclusive sequel has made it to Steam, as I'm excited to play that one as well.

6/10
Cool indie game for a laidback chilling experience.
The story is interesting and cleverly brought, and I hope that the sequel maintains this strong and promising basis.
The graphics are okay, but the overall visuals and experience of evolving in a post-apo world is terrific. 'Submerged' is made for players who enjoy adventure and wandering searches.
Even if it is short, the games is quite repetitive : you climb up a monument, get some stuff, then go back home just to realize that you need something else. This is a short and easy, and you can't die during the playthrough. However I got stuck few times and had to reload... I discovered some other bugs here and there.
Fortunately (or not, depending on what kind of player you are), there are some collectibles to get during the travels, some things to upgrade your boat, some creatures to encounter, or just fragments of the lore to find. The day-night cycle provides a little extra as it changes a bit the atmosphere, while also making it more difficult to focus on climbing passages due to poor visibility.
The music is really beautiful, too bad it just happens less than a third of the game, the rest of the time it is just silence and distant waves sounds.
Expected from the plot, there is not much to expect from the classic and poor mechanics. Definitely enjoyable but very far from being a must-play.

This is a game where I wish there was a maybe choice on if I would recommend it. This game is unique but surpassed by its sequel in every single way. If I played this first instead of the sequel I would never have bought the sequel. If you enjoyed the sequel and wouldn't mind more, this game provides a rough experience. If you are thinking about getting this game, get the sequel and try that first.
Pros:
-solid concept
-solid fundamental gameplay concept
cons:
-compared to the sequel this game is very rough around the edges. nothing is consistently good and what is good is almost there.
-This game plays easily 2x slower than its sequel due to animation speed.
-There are some graphical issues with pixelization of water effects/LOD loading that were noticeable while playing.