Game EXP: Deep Ones (NS)

Disclaimer: I received Deep Ones free of charge from the developer Sometimes You via IndieGamerChick through her #IndieXmas2018.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that I post about the game on social media channels including Twitter.  My article of the game reflects my own views and thoughts about the game without any outside influence.

A few things before I get into the meat of what my experience playing the game entailed.  Deep Ones is a self proclaimed love letter of sorts to the ZX Spectrum gaming system.  I have only once seen a ZX Spectrum operating in person back at PAX10 (Penny-Arcade Expo 2010), and while I did not personally play the game (I do not recall which cassettes were brought), it was an impressive and interesting experience watching the games be loaded onto the system via cassette tape in a way that I had never even conceived of before.  This might have put me at an immediate disadvantage to starting the game, but I still felt that the subject matter (H.P. Lovecraft inspired) and the retro-indie-esque-ness of the design were right up my alley.

Upon starting the game, I was greeted with what looked like a Buddha type figure sitting in front of a TV screen holding a controller.  As it turns out, it is actually just a depiction of Buddha sitting.  So this screen popped up with no text, no sound, nothing.  Convinced that the game had frozen after pressing all of the buttons on the Switch controller multiple times, I closed down the game and restarted.  The same screen came up without any further fanfare.  This time I let it sit for longer than the initial 10 seconds and did not see anything so much as Buddha blinking, or a hint of sound.  So I closed down the game again.  By this point I was getting a bit frustrated and a bit sad.  This was a game that I had received for free with the intention of playing and talking about in the Twitterverse and for a game that only wanted to crash made a little sad.

Well, after more than 25 seconds and less than 30 seconds, the screen transitioned to the opening title screen.  In a series of two replies, developer Somestime You commented that "It's a Buddha :) Buddha want to to be calm while game is loading.  That was the main idea behind this screen."  So, the title screen loaded and I was able to start playing.  Deep Ones, taking its name from aquatic creatures in the H.P. Lovecraft story "A Shadow Over Innsmouth," and after the intro movie where a giant tentacled creature from the deep pulls down your submersible, there does not seem to be much in the way of Lovecraftian lore.  This probably was not the best head space to go into a game that I thought looked visually interesting.

That being said, until I reached the battle against the gam of sharks, I was having a lot of fun, taking into account the limited mobility of the character, the inability to shoot while jumping, and the tendency of the game to have a split second delay from when I pushed the Y-button (which shoots the gun) to when it fired.  That fight against the sharks though nearly did me in.  I tried on three separate occasions to kill all of the sharks before my three health points were bitten from me, the second attempt last more than 25 minutes and I do not know how many lives.  After putting the game down for a day, I came back and barely managed to kill the last shark with one health point remaining, all before jumping off of the cliff nearby aiming towards a lone large seahorse that was eager to swim away at any moment.  While being chased by a giant shark.  And gaming pro tip for this section when playing on the Switch: use the directional buttons instead of the joy stick as I found it easier to move forward and up and down to avoid the obstacles.

I think that battle against the sharks was my biggest complaint during a couple of hours of gameplay.  The shark mini-bosses seemed to come out of no where and was significantly more combat heavy than any other time in the game, which consisted of invulnerable sea anemones that shot out projectiles, and killable walking sea turtles that also, inexplicably, shot out projectiles.  After traversing an area that was filled with various forms of undead pirate and what looked like TNT throwing prospectors, I have given up most hope of there being much Lovecraft in the game.  But, the game play is pretty solid and aside from a few misfires in the way of the slow firing pistol (or is it supposed to be a harpoon gun?), Deep Ones is a pretty fun game, but only if you do not at all mind the purposeful retro early 1980s appearance and style of play that came with the ZX Spectrum.



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