Divers

I FUCKING love this game.

All that stuff about Nemuru and Smolski and the politics of the office, throw that out the window for this one. We have no idea who made this game. There are no credits. I can guess, though. You can find mooncat and Barbuta in here, and the game’s energy and vibe are…. deafening. And it’s one of the weirdest most creative fucking things I’ve played. I love this god damn game.

Divers

Divers is a game that makes no sense the second you open it up. You are IMMEDIATELY thrust in it, with three options, none labeled. Nothing about this game will be explained, so don’t bother. You’ve got a shop, and equip screen, and a button that I will just call “dive”. So you get your items, some sticks and lids, and equip your Bois. You’ve got three Bois: Dylan, Orlok, and Thyme. These three lizard men are a polycule, and they are your bois for the remainder of this game. Cherish them. Every day they dive into the murky depths in search of treasure, knowledge, and whatever the fuck it is they’re hunting for.

Divers

The best way I can describe this game is that it’s Dragon Quest 2 meets the TMNT Dam Level. I call it that and all the other sickos like me who love this go “oh yeah, that is kinda what this is”. You explore a big open map, diving deeper, trying to find anything in the murky darkness. You have a small radius around you that you can see, and you need to find treasure chests and other goodies in the deep, while either avoiding enemies that float around and try to chase you, or fight them.

Divers

When you do fight them, you’ll find the combat is very early NES RPG, very Dragon Quest 2. The items you equipped to your bois can be used a limited number of times, and you select them as you fight, either to hit the enemy, or to defend one of your boyfriends. The combat is pretty rough at first, this game is a big grind game. You are weak as fuck at first, and after almost every fight, you need to step back and flee to the safety of the light above, where your bois will eat and rest and return rejuvinated for the following day. Every time a boi falls, it says in full caps that they DIED, but like, it’s fine. Food and sleep cures all.

Divers

Divers is large, and will take you over ten hours, most likely. You’ve got a large cavern system to explore and find secrets in. But by the end, I wanted more. I want a game that’s literally this but 3x as long, and I am not joking. The vibes of this game are immaculate. This game has one of my favorite OSTs in the entire pack, and 70% of the game is LITERALLY PLAYED IN SILENCE. Just the feeling and energy of the unsettling deep fills me with an emotion I cannot describe. I love this game. It is perfect in every way, and I absolutely cannot recommend it enough, but it is… a little difficult to get into. It’s a large undertaking, but if you like NES RPGs, you’ll probably adore this.

It’s also worth noting that somewhere in the depths is The Green Room, a giant room which is one of two rooms in the entire game where music plays, and there’s literally nothing in it. …Nothing that we’ve found. There might be a hidden boss, or meta progression, or it was a dummied out thing that was left in, we don’t know. But that music haunts me. I take naps to it :)

10/10