Under the Waves is a narrative adventure game developed by ‘Parallel studios‘ and published by ‘Quantic Dream‘. Under the Waves is said to be coming out the 29th of august 2023 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and pc. Under the Waves is clearly trying to do something deep here. X35 Earthwalker has tamed the deep and so will be the judge here. Let’s take a look.
In Under the Waves players control a dude called Stan. He’s a professional diver. He’s in deep… literally. In the ocean under the waves all by himself. The year is 1970 and it’s a futuristic advanced 1970 to have this kind of tech. Stan is having a struggle in his mind. He experienced a “life-changing loss”. He can’t seem to get over it and move forwards. He’s got a decision to make. What will he do?
Smart move by Under the Waves. Now Stan being in the north sea is actually a good representation of his situation. He is all alone and isolated from the rest of people. Yet Stan mentally isolated himself and made himself all alone. He is right where he wants to be. Can he stay there forever though? As he gets deeper in his mental isolation, things start to happen in the ocean. As in strange events… deep down.
We checked out some Under the Waves gameplay and it’s mostly what we expected. Under the Waves stays having you dive down into the ocean. Mix of gameplay and cinematic to make the ocean more active. Use the submarine and see different things. Things like a sunken ship. Big cool creatures like even a whale. Under the Waves has Stan equipped with a special wetsuit. Expect underwater plants and even plants. They got a story here so pay attention. Heard it was deep.
Overall Under the Waves seems like a good game. The graphics are very good. The lighting is very good. The visuals could have been better. The ocean with all the life in it needs to be presented and displayed in excellent levels. It needs to be big. Also looking so big compared to us. Lots of life and look the part. The ocean is arguably going to be the biggest thing for us concerning Under the Waves. Hopefully the story will be as narrative driving and deep as we hope… and as portrayed by the developers. The developers ‘Parallel studios’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what it brings forth. Now Under the Waves may be in the ocean but it ain’t deep enough for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a narrative adventure game developed by ‘TellTale games‘ and ‘Deck Nine games‘. The Expanse: A Telltale Series episode 1 is said to be coming out the 27th of July 2023 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and pc. X35 Earthwalker is very aware of the Telltale series games. Time for a new adventure. The Expanse: A Telltale Series might be up to something here. Let’s take a look.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series episode 1 is all the way up in space. So yeah, there’s no jumping ship this time. You basically follow a lady called Camina Drummer on a ship called the Artemis. Her choices of course will determine everything. You know the drill by now… it’s a Telltale game. There’s a mutiny… a bloody one. So yeah, not everything is as it seems, think about things clearly, get ready for quick time events and pay attention to clues.
Now comparisons will always be made. Previous Telltale titles either had illusions, human threats or monsters. It’s looking like human threats again. The mutiny will probably be the most in your face threat but there’s also going to be space pirates… no, not Metroid space pirates. Actual raid, attack and probably board type pirates.
We checked out some The Expanse: A Telltale Series gameplay and it’s what we expected for sure. Exploration is the key thing in the game. This time you are exploring in space, on the outskirts of an asteroid belt. You will even get the chance to scavenge wrecked ships… in zero g. Hint to players: Camina Drummer’s resolve matters here. Those who know the story already through certain media will haver an advantage here. We prefer jumping in blind and getting the new experience.
Overall The Expanse: A Telltale Series looks like an alright game. We have sort of low expectations for this game. We know exactly what we want from this game as well. Visually it looks very good. The voice acting is very good too. There’s a lot of character interaction as well. Wonder if betrayal gets thrown into the mix. The developers ‘TellTale games‘ and ‘Deck Nine games‘ have done a veery good job so far. Looks like a lot of work went into it. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye open for this game. Now The Expanse: A Telltale Series may have dangers in space but those are simple stuff compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
The Quarry is a horror narrative game developed by ‘Supermassive Games‘ and published by ‘2K‘. The Quarry is said to be coming out the 10th of June 2022 ion the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC. The Quarry is another big story narrative design making game. Delivering great narrative games is not that hard but there’s things that need to be taken into consideration. X35 Earthwalker is the expert here. Let’s take a look.
The story in The Quarry easy to understand. Basically a whole group of teenagers, 9 of them, have the Hackett’s Quarry camp all to themselves for one last night. They are the camp counselors. They are all by themselves in a forest upstate in New York. So no adults, definitely no children and off course no rules. On top of all that, it’s summer. So you can imagine how this will go. Teenagers, during summer, camp all to themselves with no rules. What do you think is going to happen?! If you know, then you know. Interestingly though, things then take a turn for the dark and bad side. As in dangers, horrors, life and death moments and more. So you know, make decisions that could get someone killed or make you regret it later.
The Quarry, being a big horror story game, automatically brings in all the attention. Players will think of previous games like this. For example: Until Dawn, Man of Medan, Little Hope, House of Ashes and Detroit: Become Human. Now those, especially Detroit is are big titles that many youtubers and streamers have played and made content on. Millions have watched and enjoyed them. Emotions, decisions, mistakes, and characters deaths are remembered. So the Quarry already has high expectations and will be judged deeply. We hope the developers were prepared.
If you want more details, go play the game. You should know the deal by now. There’s a story and you follow the characters along. You make decisions and see how the story unfolds. The developers claim there’s “life or death decisions around every turn”. We hope so. Many past big narrative games fail when it comes to this. They were too easy. Hardly felt in danger a lot of the time. The games need to be harder. It needs to be more punishing. It should be that if players pay attention and use some logic they can make good decisions… unless the player is a sucka called Berleezy. Look up Berleezy and Detroit. There’s things we recommended to the previous games but the developers aren’t wise enough to listen to X35 Earthwalker who is wiser, smarter and a better developer in every way.
The Quarry also claims to be an “unpredictable night of horror”. We are hoping it’s unpredictable. These horror narrative games can’t be completely unfair though. These games need to have an auto save permanently record system where players can’t undo their choices unless there’s an in game choice to reconsider. Players need to live with their decisions. If they need to try again, they have to delete and start again but the game should keep count if this is their second attempt or not. They also need to remove the feature to pause the game during timed decision making parts. No pausing. You have limited time for a reason. Gameplay needs to be mixed up too. Quick time event, point and click, walk around and interaction.
We checked out some The Quarry gameplay and it’s what we expected. Giving us a real Until Dawn feeling. Little Hope focused on character traits and if ignored had some consequences. Detroit: Become Human had many variables that determine the ending you got and we hear there’s well over 40 different endings in that game. The Quarry we hear also has numerous variables which determine how the story ends. This means more replayability as well. Now check this about. It’s been said that each of the 9 teenagers have 10 to 12 different ways they can die each. Meaning that keeping them all alive is king to be a tough task. That’s what we want to hear. We also heard that the play length time of a run is around 10 hours. That’s big! We like that there’s bonuses for playing again. Not only are there collectible cards which we won’t explain here but there’s a death rewind feature. You can undo and retry the first 3 character deaths in your next run through of the game. Some mercy. This seems like the biggest game of its type yet.
Overall The Quarry is looking excellent so far. The Quarry is clearly aiming to be the biggest and the best of these big narrative games. There’s lots of replayability, lots of death possible, difficulty seems very high, the setting is good and is definitely more like Until Dawn which is the best of the Supermassive games… games. We still have some concerns mainly regarding the characters themselves and their interactions. They are teens alone in a camp with no rules. Will it be realistic? Will hey hold back? Will there be drama. Will The Quarry wuss out? We will have to see. Oh and no gravity defying unrealistic towels this time. No one believed that crap in Until Dawn. The developers ‘Supermassive Games’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t excited for this game but we will see what its got. Do not disappoint us! Now The Quarry may have many ways for teens to die but non of them would work on… the ‘Earth Walk!’
