Developer: YCJY
Publisher: YCJY
Rrp: £6.99 (Steam). £7.79 (Gog.com), £7.99 (Humblebundle) and $4.99 (itch.io)
Released: 19th January 2016
Available on: Steam, Gog.com, Humblebundle and Itch.io
Played Using: An Xbox 360, Control Pad
Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it’s better
Down where it’s wetter
Take it from me
Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we devotin’
Full time to floatin’
Under the sea
Somehow I don’t think they thought about the possibility of all the humans being extinct due to the rising oceans when they wrote that jaunty little tune.
You play as a submarine being piloted by the last human… or as the last human piloting a submarine, either way, you’re never given a name of this particular human. To be honest you’re not even given an explicit reason for why you’re doing any of this, not that you need one.
Its a 2D, side-scrolling, boss rushing, metroidvania that has some quite stunning pixel art, its so nice to play a colourful game (even when its dark).
Since this game is a metroidvania it should come as no surprise that there are upgrades to be collected… lots and lots of them. Most of these upgrades are passive, increasing things like hull health, regeneration speed of firing speed but there are some that you absolutely need in order to progress, these ones are usually found after killing a boss.
The story of AALH (I’m not writing that entire game name out every time) is told through two means, the first is the holotapes that you can find all over the world which will give you a small amount of text to read. The other way it tells the story is through environmental storytelling, the background, things scrolling on TV screens among other things give you a real idea of what happened.
The controls are simple enough to understand, [left analog stick] controls movement, the right controls the direction of the harpoon (once you actually get it). [Right Trigger] fires the aforementioned harpoon gun and the distance it fires depends on the amount of time the trigger is held.
This game reminds me very much of Titan Souls, not just because of the boss rushing element but also the feeling of mystery about the world you’re in. Also like Titan Souls this game is tough, at first you’ll likely think there’s nothing to it, but you’ll be proven wrong quite quickly especially once the second or third bosses come into play. On the subject of the bosses, there are several boss that I actually felt very bad for killing, they seemed less like aggressors and more like protectors against an invading force.
Each area has a real feeling of atmosphere and depth, this is aided most definitely by the music. The tracks change depending on which area your in and can really add to the sense of tension and paranoia. What impresses me so much about it is that it’s a level of attention to detail that I wasn’t really expecting.
On the whole I enjoyed the game quite a bit, sure some of the bosses in the late game are, to put it bluntly, kind of bullshit (for lack of a better term) but I still really loved playing it.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Titan Souls
Axiom Verge
Ori and the Blind Forest
