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Under the Sea's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Mental Engagement | #2 | 4.400 | 4.400 |
Overall | #3 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
Overall | #4 | 4.047 | 4.047 |
Lasting Impression | #9 | 3.900 | 3.900 |
Characterization | #11 | 4.020 | 4.020 |
Atmosphere | #13 | 4.280 | 4.280 |
Emotional Engagement | #18 | 3.480 | 3.480 |
Ranked from 50 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
As usual, one of the most solid (if not THE most solid) games of the jam in terms of puzzles. Many things to do, with great variety as well - mental engagement through the roof! The other aspects of the game are well executed as well, graphics are slick and professional and characters are well-defined. Plus, a fun reveal at the very end!
Thank you very much. Glad you liked it. (ek)
Really solid game overall. Good puzzles, chill music, nice hand drawn art, and I got a feel for everyone's personality. Felt like a Sealab 2020 puzzle adventure game :)
Thanks for your nice review. (ek)
Great work! All the visuals look good, I really like the narrow view in the corridor. The puzzles are engaging and the solutions are clever, especially the password one. Sadly I couldn't finish it because I didn't have the pencil in the right place: since it came from Dr. Kaminsky's briefcase, it stayed in Scotty's inventory (it was not on the table as it says in the swimthrough), and I couldn't figure out how to give it to Marla. I tried using it directly on the coffee machine with Scotty but it didn't work either. I was able to pass the other items from Marla to Scotty though, so I probably missed a chance to do the pencil part correctly; I'll try again later. Still, I really liked everything up to that point!
Bummer. The pencil ends up on the table once you solve the substitution. If you skip it and enter the password by a walkthrough solution (or figuring out the substitution table manually for the letters you need), then Scotty will never put it down on the table again. We did not build in a contingency for this (yet).
Thanks for the help! I tried playing it twice and did the *exact* things you mention: the first time I played around with the diary until I understood how it worked, substituted the letters I needed and wrote them down on a notepad, and the second time I just typed the password in since I already knew it.
I'll play it again later to see the ending, third time's the charm! :D
Great game. I like the music and sound effects. The puzzles were also quite fun, but I felt that the password puzzle was a bit confusing. What I like the most is the setting. For some reason, I really like underwater settings. The atmosphere was great and there was an amusing plot twist at the end. Good job!
Thank you for your review.
Regarding the password puzzle: it looks perfectly logic to me. In the end, it's about the difference between encryption and decryption. If you got any questions, feel free to ask. (ek)
Another amazing game by The Argonauts, you guys really come up with the most wonderful ideas every time. For this reason I wanted to do something different myself, but maybe strayed a little to far. Your sound design and art are as always great, I just wish you used some of the fantastic voice talent available because it would add another layer to your games. The flashlight was of particular interest as I saw you had shared it on the discord. I'm thinking of how i can incorporate it in my next game as I liked it so much. For me this is a true point and click adventure game, and it's the gold standard that we should all be aiming to. Well done to you all.
Aww, thank you for your kind words. And yes, we would loved to have voice acting, and I agree, it would have added a lot to the game - but we bareley managed to finish the game as it is...
This is incredible!
Great puzzles, a setting that gives me the willies, and a neat revelation at the end.
Fantastic work!
Thank you for your nice comment. Glad you liked it so much. (ek)
I really like this. Challenging but great visuals and atmosphere! Well done!
Thank you very much. (ek)
I really liked this one. The puzzles were reasonable and felt grounded in the setting. The characterization was great as well, the art was great (love the flashlight effect), and the ending was strong.
I think I may have gotten softlocked during my first playthrough, by taking the cup as Scotty before he went away? At least, I *assumed* I was softlocked, after wandering around without making any progress for a while, so I started a new game and didn't take the cup this time. But then I saw that Scotty comes back eventually, so maybe I wasn't softlocked during the first game (I'm not sure what triggers Scotty coming back, so maybe I technically didn't need the cup yet at the time?). In any case, aside from that I was able to finish the game without issues.
Overall, this was very solid, polished, and fun entry!
Thank you very much for your nice comment.
Scotty may take the cup. It will find its way back to Marla when she needs it, so no game-breaking dead end here. (ek)
Great game, but I eventually got stuck on the password puzzle. I tried translating with the code both ways, neither worked. But besides that not much to say just a great game! Cool art, nice visuals, all the works
I watched your video and have to say that you were very close - you just missed one charachter when typing in that password. There are some playthrough videos on Youtube and you can download a walkthrough PDF on our game page, if you want to know what you missed.
Thank you anyway for playing and commenting. (ek)
Ah ok, I still had fun!
What and end! Totally unexpected.
Pretty good aesthetics, atmosphere, and characterization. When I figured out the recipe puzzle, I thought it wouldn’t work because Scotty took the mug, but then he shows up just to give it back. That sequence was simple, but it felt amazing and kind of relieving (for a few seconds I thought about starting the game all over again).
The first puzzle felt weird because you don’t expect to have to click on the flashlight to change its light direction (for me, it was kind of lucky to figure it out), but it made sense anyway (and it’s an interesting mechanic).
The deciphering puzzle was my favorite (because I love deciphering puzzles). And moving the picture, along with sorting the pills, allowed me to better appreciate Tim’s personality. Speaking of characters, Karen… was so irritating. You guys did a really great job with characterization (it’s a shame I can’t put more stars in that category), and as @Powerhoof wrote, using puzzles to build the characters is a clever way to present them. I felt sad for Sam, even though I did not get to meet him; even though he was a robot.
I had a great time playing your game!
Thank you for your kind words. It's music to our ears.
Very cool game. Loved the unique setting and the music. Switching characters is a cool feature. Amazing accomplishment in two weeks!
Thank you very much. (ek)
The art, audio, atmosphere, and story are all top notch here. The UI, menus, and functionality of everything is great and feels really professional. I really liked the ending graphic and it did feel like a fully fleshed out story.
I must admit I personally found these puzzles very counterintuitive. It felt harsh starting out in the dark, arguing for the flashlight. I immediately became stuck at the power supply, from not realizing the flashlight could be moved over to access the wires. It felt weird that whenever control switched to Scotty automatically, we always had to switch to Marla to accomplish anything. It felt weird to give the collection of assorted pills to the guy who went crazy. Most of these dots would have never connected for me on my own. I don't mean to be insulting or negative, just felt I should relay my experience with the game. I don't play a ton of point and clicks anymore though, so take my criticisms with a grain of salt.
That being said I did really enjoy the decryption puzzle and it felt good figuring that one out, along with the password. The gradual reveal of the story beats hit a good rhythm, and we got a good feel for who each character is through their dialog and place in the narrative. Despite all my complaints, this is an impressive piece of work for a two week jam and you all definitely have some serious skills!
Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated.
You got some valid points there. The start of the game was something we discussed but couldn't fit in the flashlight scene at a later point of the story. And you are right about the character switches. The first switch is to illustrate that you can switch at all, so we felt it was necessary. Later in the game we had to change some puzzle chains to avoid dead ends and that rendered the second switch a bit pointless - but it still feels right to learn about the next goal as Scotty. Regarding the pills - we hadn't much time to fine tune the puzzles and to add more signposting, but if you show the pills to Karen she will tell you that Tim is the one who uses them.
... and we thought that Tim had some kind of OCD symptoms, so it seemed plausible that he was the right man to bring order to the pill chaos.
Great visuals, loved the ending, and it was a well polished game! I am really glad there was a walkthrough, there's been at least a couple games on here I haven't been able to finish because I couldn't figure out what to do next. I also liked how there was a progressing story with the player finding more out about the dead guy as you progressed through the puzzles. I could see this being a top 10 game in this jam.
Thank you for these kind words! We are glad you liked it. ^^
well written, great puzzles no too tricky like last submission.
Really great job as usual!
Thank you very much. (ek)
I like the story and all the characters you brought to it. The puzzles were great, not too easy and not to hard: I was stuck at some point, and when I checked the walkthrough... it was all my fault :D
The music fits very well to the atmosphere of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed very much playing your game, one of my best point-and-click adventure games of the jam so far!
Thank you for your nice detailed review. (ek)
really good game, i love the main menu it's so simple and clean, the art style of the game is also really cool, I just wish the area of the flashlight should have been a little wider so we can see more of the room, other than that awesome game.
Thank you for your nice comment. Regarding the flashlight: it used to be even narrower when I first created it, so it seems to have been a good idea that I scaled it up a bit. ;-) (ek)
Great game! I really liked the music, setting, puzzles like the password and the power panel, and switching characters to pass things around. Very well done.
Thank you for playing our game. Glad you liked it. (ek)
I really like playing under the sea. Drama and humour in the right quantity and compelling characters. Love the ending. Good job, Argonauts.
Thank you for your kind review. (ek)
Very impressive entry! Beautiful art and animation, cool setting and story, multiple playable characters, and challenging but fair puzzles. The only thing that could improve it is voice acting IMO. Excellent game overall!
Thank you very much for this kind review. If you have read the other comments, you know that voice acting just didn't make it into the game due to time constraints. We also would have loved to hear the crew talk. (ek)