I have always wanted to go scuba diving. It is on my bucket list. Though when having a fear of deep water and the unknown, it might be a while before I get to tick this one off. Luckily, I can still experience it slightly with the help of gaming. This game is incredible but confirms my fears of open spaces of water with sharks, Sea snakes, and the numerous amounts of other things that want to eat you while you are swimming in the ocean. I know this is not the case in real life, and it is just a game but still. I do not think I have felt so small in a Game for a while now. There are times I would hide in a cave, scared to come out due to the Great White Shark that wanted to call me lunch. That aside, after seeing the trailer for this game on YouTube and then looking into it on Steam, I wanted to check it out and dive into the deep and uncover the mysteries surrounding Death (The Kraken).
Death in the Water 2 is available on Steam and is a single-player wave-based shooter. That is packed full of tension, horror, and adrenalin-fueled action. You play as a specialist deep-water diver, who has been hired by a team of marine Biologists, to investigate Black Water Bay after a local fishing boat sent out a distress call and was recovered without any survivors. Explore the waters to try and uncover the mysteries surrounding Death (The Kraken) while you fight to survive against the sea life.
The player sets out on various dives (waves) that help unravel the story and explore Black Water Bay, discovering treasure and supplies that will help you heal and defend yourself when things go south. The open-world locations are made up of ruins, wrecks, and various reef formations that you must overcome while completing specific tasks. Sharks and other sea life will be present but not always aggressive, just like sea life in the real world. They are quite tame to begin with and will only really attack you if provoked. As the game progresses, the sea life will become more aggressive and even more so when the Kraken launches its mind control attack, and all creatures start to attack you.
What makes this game even more intense is that the Kraken can launch its mind attack at any point during a wave, which makes you everyones first choice of food. This makes the dives much more challenging as you will have to fend off the sea life while completing the dive objectives. As the dives progress the difficulty gets hard, which in turn cranks up the tension and addictiveness. One of the things I love about Death in the Water 2 is how its open world makes you feel like you can explore everything, even thogh it does tell you not leave the dive area if you stay to far.
There is a good number of different sea life that has been incredibly animated and look so lifelike. The game does feature some mythical creatures, but I will not spoil that for the players. The enemies will navigate through the ocean, reacting realistically to the situation they are in as well as how they hunt you down, whether by sight, sound, or scent. One of the weapons you can use is a Chum Grenade that will gain the attention of the sea life and give you a chase to heal, resupply or simpley swim to safety.
Use treasure to purchase and upgrade your weapons and diving gear to allow you to hit harder or not have to resupply your oxygen as often. You can get Shotguns, Sniper Spearguns, and a few other weapons that each have their advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation you find yourself in. If you are getting attacked by the smaller sea life then using the Spear Gun and Manta Ray Handgun is a better way to go as they are fast reloading speed and more nibble. When being approached by a Great White Shark the Sniper Speargun might be the better option. I love how Death in the Water 2 allows you to play how you want and overcome every dive your way. I let my partner play a dive and she used completely different weapons and played through it in her unique way. This is why I feel like there are endless possibilities for how you can tackle each dive due to the way the sea life reacts and how you can choose to overcome them. While out on dives you will come across oxygen tanks as you must monitor your oxygen levels. This adds to the whole experience as not only do you have to worry about the countless Sharks that are trying to eat you, but when are you going to be able to go out into the open to refill your air supply? Managing your ammo and health packs is also something that you need consider as the bigger sharks hit harder which will drain your heath and there is nothing worse than firing your spear gun at a shark and realising you have no ammo left.
Graphically I’m in love with this game. It truly creates the perfect atmosphere while playing and the way they have captured the lighting, animal models and gameplay is spot on. The sound is another thing that elevates the game, the sound of something moving in the distance, the sound of the water, and the environment are incredible. I think one of the scariest things with Death in the Water 2 is how little noise there is in the ocean, countless times I would turn around to see a shark sneaking up on me. It is terrifying when you turn around and see the mouth of a shark about to gobble you up. Other than the sound of your weapons firing, your feet kicking in the water and the odd bit of air that comes out of your scuba gear makes everything else eerily quiet and this helps make gameplay more intense.
I feel like Death in the Water 2 has a limited amount of replay value, once you have played through the game once you kind of unlock everything you need to get the full experience. If you want to get a better score, then you can do multiple playthroughs which is highly possible due to the game being addictive and stunning. I like the fact that each mission plays out differently in terms of what you come against, I had played a mission, died halfway through, and had to restart it but it played out differently from what I’d come up against before. This helps so much with keeping the game feeling fresh and keeping you on your toes. The ending was a bit anti climatic but still was very enjoyable.
Conclusion
I think we need to highlight the fact that this game was made by two friends Neil (the artist) and Edward (the coder) between them they founded Lighthouse Games Studio. The remarkable thing is that these two have made a game that can put some AAA titles to shame. I have had some much fun playing Death in the Water 2. It’s a solid game with very little to fault it on, the only thing that I found a bit annoying was the repetitive elements to the dives and the ending but overall, it wasn’t that big of an issue to drag me away from the tension and action-packed gameplay that is on offer. What’s more, it is only £16.75 on Steam which is crazy when you think about the cost of games on the market at the minute. I would happily pay more for Death in the Water 2 as it honestly deserves all the praise I’m giving it. If you suffer from Thalassophobia like me then this game will have you on edge from start to finish but it is worth every moment, this is the best underwater horror experience I have ever played and I highly recommend it. For those reasons, I’m giving Death in the Water 2 a well-deserved 8 out of 10.
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