Endless Ocean: Luminous
MSRP
$50.00
“As far as franchise revivals go, Endless Ocean: Luminous doesn’t put its best fin forward.”
Pros
- Chill exploration
- Tons of fish to scan
- Collaborative multiplayer
Cons
- 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.
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
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