Lurking in the deepest depths since its successful Kickstarter campaign wrapped up in 2018, extraterrestrial xeno-biologist In Other Waters will finally surface on Steam later this Spring. Captained by developer Gareth Damian Martin and a crew of collaborators, In Other Waters doesn’t let you go on a Subnautica-style ocean romp yourself. You’re an AI pilot on that diver’s back, guiding them through alien seas, plotting their trajectory, and making sure they don’t drown through a delightfully stylish interface.
Think Duskers, if every unknown alien menace was like, A goldfish. Spooky.
Matt dove into In Other Waters’… well, waters, back when it was seeking crowdfunding in 2018. He was enamoured by how natural exploring this alien ocean felt – solving navigational puzzles by dissecting the local ecosystem, keeping a keen eye on how alien flora and fauna interact with each other.
“I like how its Metroid-likeness doesn’t come from finding coloured keys or whatnot, but from studying the world and its ecosystems. In the demo you have to find something to protect you from a fungal-toxin, and that involves figuring out why the nearby fauna seems to be unaffected.”
The trailer slowly builds to a narrative edge, with the usual tropes of asking whether your fleshy companion can trust you. Your pal, Ellery, will occasionally pontificate to you, and you can reply with only a yes or no. It’s an AI for swimming, it doesn’t need to be talkative. All that’s to be expected, fair enough, but I’m more drawn to this cartographic narrative. I can’t wait to see what weird and wonderful images Martin can draw out of my head with a radar and some dials.
In Other Waters will set sail on the good ship Steam sometime this Spring.
