The Deep Blue
Narrative games are a very personal experience. Many allow the gameplay to take a back seat to their story, characters, environments or other narrative setpieces and push their potential to the brink. Titles such as Tales from the Borderlands prove that these games can have just as much action as their more combat-focused peers, while titles such as Gone Home prove that palpable tension can be achieved within storytelling and exploration elements. In Other Waters for the Switch is a unique twist on the narrative game genre, mixing inspired narrative elements with some solid UI-based gameplay. Taking the role of the AI companion, you will guide your human pilot through their journey to discover uncharted waters, find new life forms and attempt to rescue an old friend.
A Mysterious Mission
Ellery Vas is a woman on a mission to find her lost friend. Along the way, she will discover alien life, dark depths, and harsh waters that will test her intuition and knowledge. She can only do this with your help as her trusty AI Operator. Taking on the role of an AI gives the storytelling dynamic of the game an interesting edge, allowing you to be sympathetic or cold as you see fit in light of Vas’s discoveries or personal revelations. This is especially true when you begin to unravel the mystery of the world you are in and the whereabouts of her lost friend. This all fits together nicely when you begin playing the game, as the impeccable sound design and computerized twitches of the UI visuals gives the game a level of immersion that many titles struggle to achieve. It is easy to get lost in the captivating sounds of the flowing waters around you as you explore the depths of this mysterious world and see the various forms of wildlife dance around you. The mystery of Ellery’s lost associate is very well told and witnessing her reactions to your discoveries of both the alien life of the planet and the clues pertaining to her personal quest is emotional in its expression. It is truly a unique “fly on the wall” perspective and gives this game a unique personality of being the method of progression but not directly in the shoes of the protagonist.
A Seasnail’s Pace
Where things begin to fall apart for In Other Waters is in the gameplay and the performance on the Nintendo Switch. While it is rewarding to find new life forms, discover their origins and even see detailed sketches that bring the denizens and underwater vegetation to life; the pace at which you uncover these discoveries is incredibly sluggish. Elements around you must first be scanned with a sonar blip, then scanned again using a precision scanning tool. Both of these mechanics must be done to not only find life forms, but also to gather samples from the world around you and even move to another location. While the gameplay loop is immersive and evocative of the players’ role of an AI, it is not a very engaging one. It is also a frustrating exercise to backtrack to older areas to find useful samples to progress through the game. This pace becomes even slower on the Switch, as the game has very visible frame drops and even locks up at times. With such a minimalist approach to visuals in an already slow game that confines you to fixed locations, these problems are unacceptable. These gameplay and performance problems severely hamper the experience to the point of frustration that discovering what this game has to offer cannot remedy.
That Sinking Feeling
In Other Waters offers a lot to love. The deep sea world is mysterious and it is rewarding to go back to your lab to research your discoveries. The story is interesting and offers a point of view that is akin to you as a player. Being the witness to the story and how that affects your interactions with Elery is a unique experience that gives the game a personality all its own. However, the slow pace of the game makes other narrative titles seem like action games in comparison and you will soon tire of the slow pace at which the game chooses to reveal its secrets to you. The performance issues on the Switch only add to the dreadful pace of the game which makes the experience unbearable. While In Other Waters proves to be a unique experience it also proves to be a sluggish one that is hampered by performance issues that, at a glance, have no justification of being present. With a tiresome gameplay loop, a slow pace and performance issues that make it even more sluggish, don’t rush out to buy In Other Waters.
