“More games need to take place under water,” I always say before reminding myself that the briny depths often play host to some of gaming’s most annoying/irritating/blub-blub-blub-drowwwwning sequences. There really is no better place for unrelenting weirdness and instinctual fear than under the sea, though. I’m pretty sure they said exactly that in the Little Mermaid song. That in mind, I’m pleased to see games like SOMA, We Need To Go Deeper, and now – perhaps most ambitiously of all – Diluvion at least trying to make, as Jules Verne put it in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, “The Cold Downthereplace” more interesting and less patience-testing. Trailer for this very nicely arted game (it comes from the makers of Ballpoint Universe) in this post’s Cold Downthereplace.



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Diluvion is described as an “open world exploration game set deep in the ocean,” which is enough to whet and/or wet my appetite. Here’s the premise:

In the uncounted centuries since the flood, humanity has been driven into the oceans as a layer of ice freezes over the world. Now, trapped in the oceans, civilizations rise and new kingdoms form. Explore the depths, and discover the stories they have to tell. Pilot a submarine and command her crew

Use sonar to search for salvage

Defend your sub with an arsenal of flak cannons, torpedoes, railguns, and more

Explore an open world of deep ocean

Sounds right up my alley, and probably yours too unless you somehow dislike the idea of eel wranglers. Yes, this game has eel wranglers. Look at that. Early art showcases a lot of other enticing oddities as well.

The only real catch, which could be another water pun if you want it to be even though I wasn’t intending that? Diluvion won’t be out until autumn of 2015. That’s quite a wait, but it makes sense given the proposed scope of this thing. So then, patience. To tide me over, I guess I’ll go dig up that old Aquaman game. One quick session with that and I won’t even want to go underwater again for another year.

Seriously though, what are some good underwater games? BioShock is an obvious one, but it also mostly keeps its distance from the pool, the drink, the planet’s unfinishable Big Gulp, etc. What else is there?