Sub-Verge is the debut title from the excellently named Interactive Tragedy, and it is a succinct and tense interactive story with a clever puzzle mechanic running throughout. I found myself enthralled from start to end due to the world and its characters, leaving me wanting more from this dystopian future hellscape.
In Sub-Verge you play as a silent protagonist from either of two factions: The Below or The Surfacers. Whilst it changes your mission and end goal, the majority of the gameplay and story of Sub-Verge isn’t really about you. Instead, it is about the eight characters you’ll encounter when your leaky submersible is discovered in dangerous waters. A Cthlhu-like being called The Mind is floating around the ocean waters, taking over people’s brains with its tongue (lovely), and your presence is going to set it off. As these people don’t know who you are, which side of the faction war you are on, or if you are a trap, opinions are divided over what to do with you.
Do they pull you to the surface, or down below instead?
Sub-Verge operates in story phases where a new character emerges to discover the submersible and the other characters arguing over what to do. They all have baggage, secrets, alliances and loyalty to different people in the group. The only way you’ll know this on normal and hard mode is by reading the dialogue and working out who wants to work with, or against whom. In order to progress the story, all the characters have to agree to push or pull you up or down together, and that means triggering handles for them to grab onto in a specific order. The characters all follow certain rules based on the social situation. One may never want to go last. Another will always follow a certain character’s decision. These change from phase to phase and build up over time, becoming a conversational logic loop to untangle. Get it right and you’ll move the story on. Get it wrong and you won’t go anywhere, but often you’ll unlock more hidden lore about the world, the lore, and the characters. A chart lets you know your previous attempts and which characters were triggered in the right spot to make it easier if you play in story mode. The hints on the conversation rules are less prominent as you increase the difficulty.
I enjoyed the story, and in particular, a richly detailed world that had been set up. The developer is making a few games set in this world, and I’m looking forward to finding out more. The characters themselves get varying levels of depth, but the more one-dimensional character personalities play into their puzzle rules, so it’s a difficult critique to give. A lot is going on between this octet, and some characters get the limelight more than others. I love the washed-out green art style, and the ominous underwater bubbles and distant creepy giant insect groans of the sound design. The UI is easy to understand, too. My only technical critique is that sometimes there is a time delay when a piece of text is delivered before you can move on. Sometimes I pressed the next button too early, pressed it again, and then skipped some dialogue by accident. Thankfully, this game is designed for a minimum of two playthroughs (you must choose a faction at the very start to represent), so I’ll catch it next time!
Sub-Verge is uniquely stylised, engrossing, and taut with its impactful storytelling and clever conversational puzzle mechanics. Those who enjoy Lovecraftian tales will be in their element here. You can be in and out of a playthrough in under two hours, but you’ll want to submerge yourself in the story multiple times to see all the game has to offer. Sub-Verge is a great narrative experience. Just keep that alien tongue away from my brain!
Review code provided by the developer. Sub-Verge is out now on PC.
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