Narrative-driven puzzle adventure at sea
Sub-Verge is a premium puzzle game made by developer Interactive Tragedy Limited. It's a narrative-driven adventure that follows a diver on a leaking submarine vessel trying to reach the bottom of the sea. He encounters a group of renegade divers who must decide whether to help him with his mission or send him back to the surface.
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Comparable to games like Phasmaphobia or No, I’m not a Human, Sub-Verge serves up both psychological and supernatural horrors that blur the line between reality and a waking nightmare. The story is told from different perspectives and offers various possibilities in how events can unfold based on player actions.
Horrors of the sea
In Sub-Verge, you’re a deep-sea diver aboard a leaking SubVee who is trying to reach the bottom of the ocean. You encounter a group of rogue divers, whom you will try to convince to help you reach their hidden underwater base. Use persuasion and cunning to manipulate them to achieve your goal, while running against the clock before your vessel gets submerged in water.
The core gameplay revolves around having conversational puzzles with eight divers, and convincing them to your side by offering them handles they can grab hold of, which serve as a symbolic gesture to gain their trust. Achieve your goal by manipulating and playing on each diver’s fears, loyalties, and doubts to create conflict among them, and use the confusion to guide them towards a consensus.
You must also be wary of the Krake, a horrific eldritch creature that lurks in the depths. You will also get to know about the crew’s missing leader, known as The Mind, and his mysterious past. There are different ways the dialogues can go, leading to multiple endings depending on your actions and predilection. Despite that, Sub-Verge is ultimately a short game.
A different kind of terror
Overall, Sub-Verge is quite a unique experience that offers a different kind of horror in the form of psychological terror and dread not brought about by monsters, but by man himself. Manipulate and deceive your way through the hearts and minds of an already fragile crew to get what you want before you get swallowed up by the abyss you so desperately want to peer into.
