Endless Ocean Luminous Out Now!
Posted 02 May 2024 at 12:14 by Joshua Phillips
Endless Ocean Luminous is out now on Nintendo Switch! Jump online with up to 30 players to explore the sea together, discover marine life and partake in expeditions!
Reviews have been mixed so far, and the game currently has a score of 63 on review aggregator Metacritic.
The slow nature and calming atmosphere of the game seems to have put off many, and been applauded by others, creating a disparity in review scores not seen in a first party Nintendo published title in quite some time.
Here’s some quotes from a variety of the biggest reviews. Tech Radar and The Verge were very fond of the title, meanwhile Game Spot were unimpressed.
There’s a really impressive variety of biomes in the Veiled Sea. Warm water shallows, intricate cave structures, abyssal crevices, ice caverns, ancient sunken cities and much more are waiting to be explored. Most creatures also tend to prefer certain biomes, so thorough exploration of each area is strongly encouraged if you want to see everything the game has to offer.
I’ve found myself playing Luminous in brief sessions. For maybe 30 minutes at a time, I dive in a new area, turn off the UI for extra immersion, and just head off and see what I can find. No goals, no rules, just me and a calm aquatic world. In a time of time-sucking live-service games and open worlds packed with checklists, it’s nice to sit back with something so peaceful and leisurely.
Endless Ocean: Luminous could have been a realistic SCUBA sim with all the treacherous hazards that real underwater divers need to consider, a relaxing chill-vibes game that's mostly about finding fish with your friends, or a story-driven game centered around discovering awesome and even extinct underwater beasts. It has pieces of all of those, but it doesn't commit to any of them. Instead, it takes the enormity and glory of earth's largest and most mysterious region and turns exploring it into a dull, repetitive chore.
Endless Ocean Luminous has an RRP of £39.99 but you can get it for as low as £34.85 according to price aggregator DekuDeals!
Check out some of our previous posts right here on N-Europe, as you can get a free set of wallpapers, decorate your NSO profile or partake in the next TETRIS 99 themed battle to get yourself in the mood for Endless Ocean Luminous!