Murky Divers - PC Review

The image shows a dark underwater scene. In the far back, a diver is being chased by a sea creature that looks like a squid with pointed tentacles. On the left is some coral, bubbles and green grass-like flora. Next is a diver swimming while pushing a shopping cart with two corpses and several body parts sticking out of it. Right of this is another diver inspecting something unknown underneath the stairs of a dilapidated and wrecked facility. At the bottom front of the image are two hands floating, facing the rest of the scene. The left hand is holding a rotten foot, severed from the calf. Upper left is a red and white pill cartoon graphic. Next to this is the text Murky Divers, with a silhouette of a diver replacing the ‘I’.

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Ember Studios ironically brings us an underwater, online cooperative, looting game called Murky Divers. From what I’ve heard, it shares a lot of similarities to Lethal Company. I haven’t played Lethal Company because of the space setting. Underwater is more my thing, because, it is similar to space but more, well, “murky”. You can purchase it for £6.99 right now on Steam. The release for 1.0 will be launching shortly on the 12th of December, giving you something to look forward to.

Warning: some GIFs used in this article might have flashing images.

“Every dive is a new adventure.” – Philippe Cousteau Jr.

Some of the Thumb Culture team and I gave the game a go to bring you this review, but if you prefer to go in blind then what are you doing here?! Go buy the game!

A corporate sign which shows a bill with funny eyes about to eat a leaf. the right side has a submarine which is sending an anchor down to a ship wreckage. — We’re here to help you.

Gameplay

In Murky Divers, you and up to eight other players go on expeditions deep underwater. While you can play alone, it’s much easier and more efficient to have at least two other crew members to help navigate and steer the ship. Use the sonar to help locate Expeditions via the marker with an anchor symbol on the map. During these expeditions you will collect body parts/experiments, destroying monitors for evidence, and collect batteries for upgrading your submarine.

The robot police bust into the sub while once poses triumphantly before a set of bars fall down from above. A flash transitions the crew to a line up with the Divers posing for their mug-shots. — Look at all the evidence. What evidence!

It’s important to fulfil your quotas/casualties, otherwise you gain a wanted level. If you become wanted, the police (yes, you read correctly; ocean police) pursue you and try to take you down, and show up at locations waiting for you. Once the max wanted level has been reached, it’s game over and you get a rather funny, yet silly scene of the police busting you.

Now a small tip before we move on. If you’re playing or intend to play Murky Divers with mouse & keyboard, remap floating upwards to the space bar. It feels a lot more natural that way and improved my gameplay experience.

The Submarine

The sonar also locates anomalies (marked by a question mark) and creatures (if they don’t find you first!) with a letter and number. You can dive deeper, but this requires finding more batteries to upgrade your submarine. You’re able to upgrade or improve various areas of the sub. We didn’t achieve much of this during our time on Murky Divers I must admit.

You can use the money you earn from selling body parts to purchase tools. Such as the trolley, which enables you to carry more stuff and more easily. A favourite we stumbled upon was the fun Sea Scooter. This helps you to get around faster , and do some sick tricks, like Thumb Culture’s Nath found out.

i'm observing my crew mate, attempt to perform tricks on the Sea Scooter. a tool which helps move the player faster. In the top parts of the screen we can see, A health bar, oxygen meter, and wanted level. — Look at Nath go!

Freaky plants and questionable items aren’t the only thing lurking in the depths, however. Extremely big and angry creatures also stalk the inky abyss and attack your ship. Your submarine has three hearts of health, and if you die, you can’t respawn. A wrench is nearby to help fix any holes after the sub has taken damage. You can helpfully find these holes by looking out for the water spewing in.

The monsters in the murky depths

Creatures can not only attack you, but curse you too. I was cursed by a whale during our playthrough. This not only caused my controls to be reversed (forwards being backwards, etc), but also allowed me to earn more money from experiments. So a mixed bag curse really.

While on the expeditions, the threats you encounter can vary. One major recurring creature was a swordfish like creature, with legs and a chainsaw on its face. It was as pretty as you’re imagining.

I am witnessing cremate swim up a enormous eyeball. The eye looks to have purply-pink veins. It then closes it's eye to activate a spell circle that then effects my screen with similar viens. — Hey little guy.

All the creatures in Murky Divers made it difficult to gather the experiments we needed. Especially as players can only carry two items at a time, that is without the aforementioned cart. If you die your body can be collected to help avoid penalties. However, you won’t respawn until the expedition is over.

Graphics & Audio

I love the visuals with the ‘murky’ water vibes. Everything about the game looks unsettling and uncanny. Suitably dark and grungy, Murky Divers can easily take you off your guard from something peeking at you from around the corner, or a watching Kraken gunning straight for you in open waters. I only wish was there was a window in submarine so you could see passing creatures like the Leviathan and Kraken.

Me looking over a crew's shoulder to check out the sonar. Several Dots are displayed. The orange dots have a letter and number which can be coded to figure out what it is. — So many blips.

Audio wise the game is also great. Hearing a monster from inside the sub easily raises the hairs on the back of your neck. Which definitely drives the frantic co-op play style.

Longevity

There are outfits in Murky Divers to unlock for anyone who likes to gather cosmetics. So far, at the time of writing, there sadly aren’t any achievements to work towards. The expeditions themselves last seven minutes with the two-minute mark making a large alarm. Just enough time to get eaten and your body sold for money.

Find your style of choice.

Final Thoughts

Murky Divers is supposedly playable in solo mode. It might just be because I suck at the game, but I heavily advise against this. The submarine has a lot to manage, and although it’s not demanding, trying to run away from the oncoming threats like the Leviathan and Kraken makes it challenging. I wasn’t able to check sonar, quickly swim to the engine to move the sub, then once again swim quickly to the wheel. It might just be a skill issue, but when it’s done solo, it just wasn’t fun. However, when I was joined by the TC crew, we easily organized and operated the submarine.

With the submarine conquered we came across another issue. When arriving at the expedition, we could barely survive due to how aggressive the monster was. Often these beasts were blocking the entranceway of the building we had yet to enter. Which became a chore. Add to that our wanted levels were nearly full after two missions, meaning the ocean police were gunning for us, it all became a bit tedious.

I had fun with Murky Divers, I did, but as mentioned above, it removes the fun when you’re just getting trapped or killed instantly by a giant ghost fish time time and time again. Maybe others might fair better than me, or maybe I’m better suited for Lethal Company.

With all that, I award Murky Divers the Thumb Culture Silver Award.

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

Back last year Jessy previewed Lethal Company, so why not go check out her article?

About Author

Kyle McGrath

I’ve enjoyed video games for as long as I remember and I don’t think there isn’t a game I wouldn’t play. For reviews, I try my best to make them simple and easy to understand. With so many games released daily, I attempt to play them all.

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Murky Divers – PC Review