After talking to you just a few weeks ago about the beta (or demo, if you prefer) of Aquanox Deep Descent, we have finally put our hand to the final version of the latest effort of Digital Arrow. The initial impression was definitely confirmed, but this positivity turned out to be not entirely without shadows, with a decidedly fluctuating quality over the course of the campaign. Aqua and its fascinating setting undoubtedly tease science fiction fans, but the production suffers from some defects, small and large, which affect the final result. But let's go in order.
In the (not) very distant future
In case you don't know the setting (which shouldn't surprise you, given that the last chapter came out in 2003), the saga of Aquanox is set in a future in which humanity has been relegated to the depths of the ocean, the only barely liveable oasis on an Earth now devastated by a nuclear winter. The survivors then perched in mining and scientific research stations at the bottom of the sea, quickly dividing into factions to control the scarce resources available and ending up with the same conflicts that forced them to abandon the surface. Piracy, totalitarian regimes, arms races: everything that has caused the collapse of society continues to undermine the chances of survival of our warlike species. And as humans continue to fight each other, other threats grow in the shadows: the Bionts, possessed cyborgs united in a collective consciousness, and the plague of nanoplankton, ready to devour everything. Not exactly the world we would like to wake up to after a cryostasis of hundreds of years, with no memory and without the right equipment, right? Unfortunately (or fortunately, who doesn't love the post-apocalyptic outsiders?) We will take on the role of an elite group of "cryo", frozen in the last terrestrial days of humanity and with a secret mission, of which they have no more memory, to be accomplished. The story of Aquanox Deep Descent will revolve around this mysterious assignment, leading us to travel the oceans in search of answers and allies of convenience. The story also reserves some twists (and some reference to the old episodes) which, despite being quite called, fits perfectly into the setting and in the course of events, creating an increasingly pressing rhythm in the last stages.
First we shoot and then we talk
Not having our own side, we will therefore have the opportunity to hang out among the various factions in a sequence of missions that, while not giving us any choice, will give us the opportunity both to explore Aqua and to get to know its characters. Pirates, scientists, military commanders: our company will lead us to work with and for the most varied personalities on the planet, obtaining resources, money and various kinds of upgrades. Unfortunately, although the setting lends itself more than well to this kind of dynamics, it is not possible to influence the relations with the factions, nor influence the course of events. Depending on where we find ourselves, and where we get to with the main storyline, we will fight for one group or another. No role-playing drift therefore, but a linear setting typical of classic shooters, with a sequence of missions which are occasionally combined with small secondary assignments. Taken together, the missions have a variety and a very fluctuating quality, ranging from trivial and repeated "go there, kill X and come back" to more complex or varied objectives, such as rescuing missing submarines in a network of caves or a race. around a booming station. Despite Digital Arrow has shown that he has the right ideas to adequately vary the game action, Aquanox Deep Descent easily tends to be repetitive, without really pushing the player off the rails of their mission indicator. Quality exceptions are present, but not always sufficient throughout the campaign.
Arm yourself fully
To fight techno-madmen, militarists, pirates and mutant whales we will have to equip our submarines (or, as they are called in the game, DSF) to the full, also exploiting the resources of the enemy. During our underwater adventure, we will be able to choose between six DSFs that we will unlock as we progress through the story, each with different characteristics that will reward different approaches to combat, then completed with the right set of weapons. Do you want to fight enemies at short range? A fast shuttle, armed with Shrapnel and with EMP modules, will certainly be for you. Do you prefer to fight from a distance with the maximum possible damage? An intermediate ship, armed with secondary weaponry, will end the fight even before it begins. The almost random order in which the upgrades are unlocked, on the other hand, favors the use of certain ships at the expense of others, ending up with almost always using the intermediate ones. In certain moments, in practice, you will end up having an intermediate ship that is faster than the light one, as well as more resistant and offensively more capable. But it is not only the power ups that have an "enigmatic" distribution since even the resources (such as money and materials for crafting) do not follow a precise trend. By simply collecting what we find along the way, we will hardly be left without a resource, often going so far as to saturate the inventory. If we combine this overabundance of resources with the scarcity of items on which to spend them and the need to progress with the story to unlock the upgrades, here is that accepting another job as a bounty hunter seems superfluous in the course of the game.
The shooter you don't expect
At this point, we can easily imagine what you are thinking. How does Aquanox Deep Descent to be a good game despite all these flaws? The answer is decidedly trivial, but not obvious: they concern secondary aspects of the game. The core of the title is in fact the fight, to which Digital Arrow has definitely devoted most of the attention. We will have enemies to face at will, ready to sink as soon as we let our guard down. The most prudent aquanauts will in fact get away with it easily, playing in advance from a distance and always being careful to have the best possible equipment. But defeat is a torpedo away and a wrong setup can quickly have fatal outcomes. Just get distracted to be surrounded, or sprint in the wrong direction to crash into the rocks. Not to mention some skills, such as the Charge module, worthy of a kamikaze. In fact, we have many weapons to fight with, between secondary and primary, in addition to modules that allow us to add special abilities to our vehicle, such as extra shields, electromagnetic explosions, or missile salvoes. The combat proves to be decidedly varied and well structured, especially at an adequate level of difficulty, capable of giving various satisfactions in the most demanding fights. Controls in hand, the submarine really gives the feeling of being underwater, with a realistic inertia in movements that should never be neglected either by exploring or fighting, under penalty of enormous damage to our vehicle (and a steep bill from the body shop).
