By Craig Pearson on February 3rd, 2012 at 2:57 pm.
Depth Hunter‘s a Fisht Piercing Shooter, if you’ll allow me to be so dreadfully mean to the English language: you’re a diver in the not-so-competitive world of spear fishing. That means you take deeeeeeep breath (why not interactively take part in the blog post by holding your breath?) and plunge into the azure waters looking (still holding your breath?) for fish to spike with your harpoon (now find a nearby body of water to dive into, like a lake or a spill in the nearest public lavatory). No air tanks: just you, your mask, your spear and what’s in your lungs.
The demo is up on Desura, and it’s worth playing. The life of a spear hunter is simple, relaxing: swimming calmly through lagoons, full of flecks of matter glimmering in the god rays, you’re on the hunt for fish. The underwater world is alive with potential poisson, from darting schools to lazy, slow rays. You feel heavy but buoyant, movement is lovely and floaty, and the slow speed of underwater life means you drift through the scenery, mind empty of anything but the patterns of the fish and pondering where fish fingers come from. The fish flit along the coral and rocks, targets for your pointy vengeance. Er, I liked to pretend they killed my uncle, otherwise I’m just a jerk with a speargun maiming fish in front of their families.
The harpooning is not as successfully captured as the lagoon. It’s easy enough to spear one, but ratcheting in a spiked pike is confusing: when you’ve rodded a cod, there’s an odd little mini-game you play against the tautness of the wire and the pull of the fish that I found baffling. I managed to get one fish fully caught because it was relatively close to the diver, but anything over 10 metres away seems to be able to wriggle free of my dart and left me shouting bubbly curses at the nearby anemones.
You might think that’s a big problem, but I actually resent having to do anything in this sort of environment so I wasn’t too fussed about being unable to fathom the odd system. It’s fun to just watch as the fish gather around coral, nibbling at it, darting off when you get too close. There’s a photography mode for Pacific pacifists, and I took time out to just explore and snap some snappers with my camera. There’s a freeplay option greyed out in the demo’s menu, which I’d hope would take care of my adventurous streak, but I can’t vouch for that.
The full game is full to the gills with sharks and shipwrecks, and if it was a tad cheaper I’d have already bought it. But I’ll wait for a bigger sail. Sail? Get it? Now consider this open-season on comment puns.
Depth Hunter is out now.
03/02/2012 at 15:01 Soulstrider says:
Underwater hunting? I have to say it’s a very fishy concept
03/02/2012 at 15:06 Echo Black says:
I welcome the idea, better than playing another cod
03/02/2012 at 15:09 bear912 says:
The spear-fishing part sounds a bit watered-down to me…
03/02/2012 at 15:09 starclaws says:
RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
03/02/2012 at 15:09 JackShandy says:
Without a trout, bear912. I might buy it when it comes out – give me time to mullet over.
03/02/2012 at 15:12 Blackcompany says:
This might catch on, but I have this sinking feeling that it won’t…
03/02/2012 at 15:12 AshEnke says:
I hope they get the chance to tuna bit the hunting mechanics.
03/02/2012 at 15:13 Monkey says:
Looks pretty shallow
03/02/2012 at 15:13 Skeletor68 says:
Could be a load of pollocks or could be magnifishent.
03/02/2012 at 15:20 db1331 says:
I’m icthyin to give this a try.
03/02/2012 at 15:22 simoroth says:
In my opinion the gameplay could be more fluid.
03/02/2012 at 15:22 Jorum says:
lets not coral about whether it’s any good or not.
besides I’d welcome a new wave of exploration games.
03/02/2012 at 15:24 Morlock says:
Sounds like a must-buy, waterver the price.
03/02/2012 at 15:26 ElElegante says:
I don’t know why everyone’s being so negative. My interest has definitely been piked!
03/02/2012 at 15:27 NathaI3 says:
this should s-lake my thirst for fishing
03/02/2012 at 15:29 jimbobjunior says:
Is this the right plaice for the puns?
03/02/2012 at 15:40 Jubaal says:
This definitely looks like it has a plaice in my games library!
03/02/2012 at 15:40 julianbenson says:
Herring about this I knew I had to have a look
03/02/2012 at 15:41 Suits says:
Let’s hope it all goes swimmingly.
03/02/2012 at 15:56 Zarunil says:
I’ll either have a whale of a time or completely flip trout.
03/02/2012 at 16:02 Raiyan 1.0 says:
This game looks nice, I hope it does whale.
(Kudos on the ‘obvious pun bait’ tag. An observation on puns being a pun itself. So meta.)
03/02/2012 at 16:05 Raiyan 1.0 says:
I dunno how you guys can harbor such ill feelings towards such a game concept.
03/02/2012 at 16:13 Grey Ganado says:
I think the trailer music could use more bass.
03/02/2012 at 16:15 Necroscope says:
Does anyone recall playing the Shark! game that featured a heartbeat pounding whilst you hunt or were hunted by various sharks? I think it’s available on the newer home of the underdogs site. Or older. Try both. It’s a bargain bin kind of game but the only game where you shit yourself underwater.
03/02/2012 at 16:29 Brass_cankles says:
Underwater FPS? As a fan of COD, this seems interesting.
03/02/2012 at 16:29 squareking says:
Any word on multiplayer? I’d love to try this with a grouper two.
03/02/2012 at 16:31 brulleks says:
Ruddy hell, that looks brill.
03/02/2012 at 16:41 Bluerps says:
I’m sharked by the amount of fish-related puns here.
03/02/2012 at 16:45 One Pigeon says:
These puns are so bad they’re making me feel eel
03/02/2012 at 16:50 Craig Stern says:
Let’s hope it scales. Otherwise, I can’t sea it shelling well.
03/02/2012 at 17:02 Nero says:
Whale whale whale, this sure looks interesting.
03/02/2012 at 18:12 ThinkAndGrowWitcher says:
The controls look diffikrillt to learn – hope there’s a good in-game kelp system.
03/02/2012 at 18:54 Tams80 says:
The environment looked too orange and the textures too roughy.
03/02/2012 at 18:56 phuzz says:
I coelacanth what you did there.
03/02/2012 at 20:02 Boothie says:
Looks interesting enough, but no i dont think ill take the bait
04/02/2012 at 00:04 abigbat says:
All the puns are here. I think this is nice.
04/02/2012 at 00:14 Spacewalk says:
I just hope that it’s not dumbed down for con sole.
04/02/2012 at 07:48 Fearzone says:
I might give the demo a try just for the halibut. If I don’t like it, there is more fish in the sea.
04/02/2012 at 21:25 vivlo says:
I’d gladly dive into this. Sounds breathtaking !
06/02/2012 at 02:23 Unaco says:
I might shell out a few squid on this when it comes tr-out.
03/02/2012 at 15:03 Novotny says:
Needs TNT
03/02/2012 at 15:03 philbot says:
Just another bloody FPS. *Yawn*
03/02/2012 at 15:05 Jubaal says:
First Person Swimmer?
03/02/2012 at 15:10 Blackcompany says:
Could. Not. Agree. More.
03/02/2012 at 18:37 SuperNashwanPower says:
Fish Poking Simulator
03/02/2012 at 20:32 Casimir's Blake says:
Hang on, first person games are – if anything – ON THE WANE. I see third person games so often nowadays, they make me lose interest immediately.
I’ve no desire to try this game, but I credit the devs for making it first person, and attempting to make it IMMERSIVE.
03/02/2012 at 15:08 iARDAs says:
First time ever heard of Desura.
I will look into this platform
03/02/2012 at 15:13 bear912 says:
It’s rather lovely, actually. It’s focused on indie games and mods, mostly. I particularly like the ability to keep various mods and free games up-to-date, which is a bit of a pain if you have a bunch of them to keep track of. The selection also continually improves, so if it doesn’t have mod support for your favorite game right now, there’s a good chance it will get added in the future.
03/02/2012 at 15:19 iARDAs says:
Thank you for the explanation.
it seems rather lovely. There are few indie games out there that looks nice but is not present in Steam or Origin. So i will look in to them right now.
I am just downloading Dead Meats Lead. It says the game is free now since the company got shut down. Seems a cool game to kill a few hours
03/02/2012 at 19:29 SuperNashwanPower says:
Desura, now updating at a massive 23 KB/S.
Twenty three. They could hand deliver each pixel and it would be quicker.
EDIT: OK once its installed, the games come down pretty rapidly. Depth hunter is arriving at 160kb/s :)
04/02/2012 at 02:07 Maltose says:
Just saying, kb =/= kB. 1 kb = 8 kB, so Desura’s actually updating faster than your game download. ;)
04/02/2012 at 21:54 bear912 says:
I feel like there might be something else going on there. I often get over 1 MB/s downloading from Desura… Not sure why it’s being so slow for you.
03/02/2012 at 15:09 Berzee says:
I didn’t even finish the third paragraph before I had to exhale. :(
04/02/2012 at 00:06 Skabooga says:
I made it if panicked skim-reading counts.
03/02/2012 at 15:16 Jekhar says:
Wow, i’d like to sea (harhar) another take at Sub Culture with this Engine.
03/02/2012 at 17:17 Khemm says:
I was about to post this. Someone remebers this kickass game, yay.
03/02/2012 at 15:16 caddyB says:
That text caption thing was totally uncalled for.
04/02/2012 at 00:18 Spacewalk says:
Yeah, it stung pretty hard.
03/02/2012 at 15:17 Iskariot says:
I wish the incredibly dull underwater world of Skyrim would look half this good.
03/02/2012 at 15:18 MrThingy says:
No ottapus. :(
03/02/2012 at 16:36 Brass_cankles says:
Spear gun? Octopus? This suddenly seems relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5DyBkYKqnM
03/02/2012 at 19:31 MrThingy says:
Haha, great video! Amazing (and very crafty) creatures.
03/02/2012 at 15:19 db1331 says:
I need to know if the sharks will attack you or not. If so, that would turn this game from FPS to survival horror, for me.
03/02/2012 at 19:00 squareking says:
The sharks aren’t even real. They’re animatronic. Except for the really large sharks. Those are real.
03/02/2012 at 15:24 Tei says:
The first part of the video looks very good. But wen the initial game start, I have notice a huge FPS drop, maybe to 30 or less. Then the actual gameplay looks like too gamey and casual. A game with realistic graphics deserve a pseudo-realistic gameplay that is fun. Having something like a “minigame” may make not justice to it. I think every platform *must* have a game of this type. There are some people / some particular mindset, that is a perfect fit for this visuals. I think the Wii as a game called Eternal Ocean (or something similar) and is very popular.
03/02/2012 at 15:25 Jorum says:
I found Endless Ocean on the Wii strangely engaging, even with the limitations of wii graphics.
This looks like a massively prettier version so interesting.
Although having oxygen tanks to allow for deeper exploration etc would be nice.
03/02/2012 at 16:47 Matt says:
Wasn’t that the game about petting fish with jelly hands?
03/02/2012 at 17:18 Urthman says:
What I wouldn’t give for a high-quality PC game like Endless Ocean 2. For all the silly plot and character writing and excessive hand holding, it’s still the best pure exploration game I’ve ever played.
Beautiful environments, nifty secrets and surprises in every nook and cranny. I was amazed simply by how consistently they were able to dig up a neat factoid about every creature in the ocean that was interesting enough to keep me clicking and reading every description.
03/02/2012 at 15:33 enfuego says:
I work at a speargun factory. Instead of visiting exotic locales, I just ship guns there, so this will be a refreshing change for me. To use my outdated surfer vernacular, this looks totally radical dude.
03/02/2012 at 15:56 Jesse L says:
Your life is ripe for use as a poignant New Yorker short story.
03/02/2012 at 15:38 Mr.Dreadlock says:
I find alt text very disturbing
03/02/2012 at 15:45 JackShandy says:
As a concept?
03/02/2012 at 15:52 Echo Black says:
It came off as a bit dickish to me, too.
03/02/2012 at 19:16 Matt says:
Eh, it’s mostly just inaccurate: that’s a manta ray, not a stingray.
03/02/2012 at 15:58 Quetzo says:
Craig, as you are a press guy, you’ll probably get the key for free:
“If you are blog owner or press guy, please drop e-mail to info@biart7.com and we will give you free serial for review. “
03/02/2012 at 16:11 Thirith says:
This reminds me (in semi-amnesiac fashion) of this ancient (like, ’90s!) abandoned Bullfrog project. I remember a tech demo that had you in some sub moving about underwater, and at the end there was something with tentacles. For the time it had pretty amazing underwater effects. Does anyone else remember this, or am I going Molyneux in the head? (The demo was on a CD-ROM that came with some German mag, PC Player or Gamestar.)
03/02/2012 at 16:16 Styles says:
I approve of this. If you’re spearing fish in a computer game you’re not out killing innocent shit in real life. Computer games for the win!
03/02/2012 at 16:52 Alehr says:
I wish I had a camera with a “quality” meter.
03/02/2012 at 17:23 Berzee says:
Odell Down Under with guns.
03/02/2012 at 17:23 Urthman says:
Don’t be afraid, son, that’s just a Warning Shark.
03/02/2012 at 18:52 reishid says:
Underwater stuff scares me. Same reason I can’t close my eyes while taking a shower. I keep on imagining a sea monster or a shark swimming towards me. X_x
03/02/2012 at 19:18 Matt says:
Do you shower by filling the bathroom from floor to ceiling with water?
03/02/2012 at 18:58 Tams80 says:
You can’t get me! I’m a swimmer!
*clicks through*
Ah! Why do I have to be a slow reader!
03/02/2012 at 21:13 Gurnu says:
Anyone else notice how the logo looks like a deer?
03/02/2012 at 23:08 buxcador says:
Big FAIL at water refraction calculation
04/02/2012 at 00:35 BasuraBurger says:
I’m only getting this game if it comes with a bathtub peripheral and maybe some complimentary goldfish for the premium edition.
I’d really be impressed if you can pack some 50 cent goldfish into little baggies and claim they are worth $40. Baby sharks on the other hand. . . .
04/02/2012 at 04:01 InternetBatman says:
Looks like a PC version of Endless Ocean with killing, which is awesome.
06/02/2012 at 03:28 Eddythemaster says:
It’s a-boat time someone made a game like this.