Endless Ocean: Luminous review: chill underwater adventure runs out of air

digitaltrends.com:

Endless Ocean: Luminous MSRP $50.00 Score Details Pros

• Chill exploration
• Tons of fish to scan
• Collaborative multiplayer

• Repetitive gameplay loop
• Poor story missions
• Inconsistent sound and visuals

In Endless Ocean: Luminous, the sea is an ever-changing natural wonder filled with aquatic mysteries. Actually uncovering those secrets, though, isn’t quite as awe-inspiring.

• Everything announced at February’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase

Nintendo is getting creative to fill out what’s likely to be the Switch’s last full-year lineup, and its latest exclusive is a surprise revival of developer Arika’s ocean exploration series from the Wii era. The series contains a laid-back conceit that seems more well suited to a modern generation of gamers who embrace “cozy games.” It’s simply a relaxing diving experience about cataloging thousands of fish and hunting for salvage. It’s an elegant concept, but one that isn’t friendly to a gaming world that measures value by the amount of “content” included in a game. To modernize an old series, Arika would need to keep players coming back — and that’s where this particular dive runs out of air.

Endless Ocean: Luminous’ calming ocean exploration and lovely multiplayer components wear thin due to slow progression hooks that turn every aspect of it into a long chore. With tons of features from previous installments missing, anyone who wants to see its miniscule story to its end will need to tread a lot of water to find the pearls.

The luminous world

Endless Ocean: Luminous is an ocean exploration adventure with the energy of an educational game. It shares some DNA with 1990s school computer staples like Odell Down Under. And while there are some gamey hooks and modern approaches to progression, it’s more about teaching players facts about nearly 600 fish (including a few extinct and invented critters). If you’re not feeling the call to the sea based on that, stay on dry land.

Those who do click with that, though,