1 
0 Recently released in early access on the PC, Darkwater aims to deliver something new to what some may call an overcrowded survival genre. Targon Studios has opted to take some of the best features of a number of similar games, jiggle them all into a nice pie, then bake it for 20 minutes at 180 degrees. With the hope that a nice pudding comes out. Were they successful? To find out I assembled some other members of the Thumb Culture team to hold my hand fill all the crew spots.
Watch Out For The Darkness
So, are you a fan of this genre? The Steam page lists a number of genres, action, adventure, casual, indie, RPG and strategy all feature. How would you describe Darkwater? Let us know, once you’ve read the review of course.
Gameplay
Starting up the game for the first time, you are asked if you want to check out the tutorial. I would recommend doing so, just so you can get a quick grip of the controls. They aren’t difficult, with only a few inputs needed to play the game. What this does, though, is introduce you to the world in a nice easy environment before all hell breaks loose.
The main premise of Darkwater is simple: you need to take command of your submarine and survive the frozen icy depths of an alien moon. Sounds straightforward, right? Well, it really isn’t. You only get a finite amount of fuel to move between points on the navigation station. Some of these points will either house an Outpost or a Store. Thankfully, the later you can purchase more fuel for your sub.
Heading to an outpost is where things get a little bit more interesting. Docking on an outpost opens the hatch of your sub, allowing you to venture onto an alien land. This was my first and probably only real bugbear of the game. Each outpost, even though they were meant to be different, just felt too similar. Yes, there were the odd rooms that were different, but in general, each of the outposts felt similar. Your job at these locations was to scavenge anything you could to sell for profit. Putting your money towards submarine upgrades, fuel and even weaponry.
Alien Worlds
As you journey further in Darkwater, you get to the Terminal Stations. These open up other options to move between areas towards the final goal. You need to move between 5 of these areas before you get to the end. In each section, you will have different enemies to deal with. At first, we had some rude player character models with some fancy purple crystals on. These were dispatched easily with a couple of hits to the head. Further on you got some crabs, bouncing oysters as well as other character models with different rage levels.
Defeating these was straightforward, but just keep an eye on your health because if you do happen to die, you come back in an interesting way. Well, if being a rat in a little area with a TV monitor counts as being back. At least you can keep an eye on proceedings safely! If your crew manage to get to a Store, they can buy you back as a crew member at a low cost of $20. Nice and straightforward. You do, however, come back with nothing. No wrench, no weapons, no lights.
Playing through Darkwater with a crew is definitely the way forward. Especially when it comes to piloting the sub. If you choose to venture to an unmarked point of interest on the navigation station, you might come up against some enemies. They are dispatched with some good teamwork. Firing your torpedoes at specific elements on the enemy sub can disable systems. Make sure you aim for the weapons first, then you can sometimes just leave them to run out of oxygen, meaning a nice, easy win for you. You need to be careful of the damage that your submarine takes as well. Fixing leaks and repairing systems with your wrench is imperative. So make sure you keep an eye on the rising water level.
Graphics & Audio
Darkwater has great graphics. Each of the areas is rendered in a gorgeous manner. With dark and atmospheric lighting, although the ridiculously flashing lights at one stage were not great. Especially if you suffer from any photosensitive condition. I’d actually recommend that the developers take out the flashing lights completely.
The character models looked great, but hopefully, we might get some customisation options to be able to differentiate between players.
From an audio perspective, it was great. It was atmospheric, and with the game chat being proximity, it definitely makes you feel isolated if you happen to get split up from the group. The sound effects on the submarine were great, especially in battle. The explosions rocking the sub and all the chaos going on really added to the panic factor.
Longevity
On Darkwater‘s Steam page, there is an Early Access road map, with updates planned for the rest of 2025. This makes me feel happy, as there is a great foundation already built in the game. There just needs to be more of it, more variety across the board, and a great game can become exceptional. Playing this with friends is the way forward; many an hour can be spent moving through the icy waters, discovering more and more areas.
Final Thoughts
Darkwater has had a great start. Like so many early access games, though, it’s really all down to how often the game is updated. Keeping the game fresh and new is the key to a good early access phase. With the roadmap and how the game seems straight out of launch, I think it’s going to be just fine.
Playing with friends, we laughed, we got scared, and we destroyed some pirates. What more could you want from a game?
Disclaimer: A code was received to write this preview.
YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Discord | Podcast
About Author
