Insomniac Games is on the lips of all these recent times thanks to its recent moves, which include announcements as famous as the expected PlayStation 4 Spider-Man presented in the past E3 of Los Angeles or quality releases such as the remake of Ratchet & Clank also
for the Sony console three months ago. Now, and in multiplatform format, it presents Song of the Deep , a hypnotic underwater adventure that encourages us to explore the ocean floor aboard a battered submarine in search of our disappeared father, an emotional
work inspired by the daughter of the creative chief of the study, Brian Hastings. Let’s learn more about this new downloadable title for PC , PlayStation 4and Xbox One in our analysis .
Song of the Deep tries to touch the sensitive fiber of the player with an emotional speech, a work that is presented as if it were a story, but far from focusing its efforts on the smallest of the house, manages to catch players of all ages, especially those who in childhood enjoyed
metroidvania court adventures , something that is well demonstrated after a few promising first steps of the adventure, but that loses some of its bellows throughout a static and superficial development.
Even so, the new Insomniac Games is interesting as a wardrobe background title, a simple and flat proposal that contains a certain charm, especially for a sensitive and detailed artistic design, which does not hesitate to capture the beauty and dangers of the seabed with a captivating audiovisual section .
In Song of the Deep we take control of the little Merryn , a witty girl daughter of a brave fisherman who does not hesitate to make his own submarine after the disappearance of his father on the high seas. Thus, after an unsightly nightmare in which she sees her
father trapped in the ocean floor, the intrepid girl starts off in her search armed with courage, with the firm conviction of finding her beloved father. Without going into any kind of gutting, Song of the Deep presents a truly captivating
and suggestive plot, with all kinds of situations and challenges, each one more surprising, all done with exquisite taste. The narrative bases its potential on
cinematics in the purest style of a visual novel, albeit with a negative point; and that is that the subtitles are presented on screen with a size too
small, making it difficult to read while we try to appreciate the quality of the illustrations, all splattered by a female voice that will tell us so mystical interactive story, in perfect English .
In terms of playability, Song of the Deep is excessively conservative , something that is not totally negative -in fact it works quite well in most of its development-, although we do expect that differential touch that a formula as established as adventure Metroidvania style exploration should contribute. So much so that it presents all the clichés of the genre in the
form of improvements for our protagonist -or rather, for her artisanal submarine-, solving puzzles and challenges to open new routes or discover treasures
that we have left behind, confrontations with standard enemies and some more imposing as heads of area … We do not deny that together it works, but as we play we will be invaded by a certain sensation of dejà vúif we have already played other titles cut by the same pattern.
As we say, our underwater vehicle has several features that, in turn, we can improve with coins obtained from enemies and treasures, some of them very well hidden. Such as a magnetic hook- ideal to eliminate certain types of enemies, interact with objects and throw them in the desired direction or grab a certain places, among other utilities, a propeller to catch
speed and overcome adverse marine currents or powerful light bulbsto improve visibility in darker areas or scare away some creatures.
And it is in the combats where some impact is lost when dealing with banal confrontations and without any kind of grace; Also, with each checkpoint,
if we decide to go back -something recurrent due to the very nature of the game-, the enemies of each zone will restart, making this mechanic one of the less fortunate aspects of the game.
It will be in the combats with the zone commanders when the virtues of a somewhat flat adventure as a whole come up, but with certain critical
moments, as when we must put into practice everything learned -and improved- to overcome some more elaborate confrontations. On the other hand,
there will also be room for many puzzles, some more worked than others, certainly, that we can also overcome once we have done with a certain level of improvement or a special object; In this sense, the exploration of levels takes on special importance .
