- Engaging, smooth incremental gameplay loop.
- Perfectly paced, relaxing player experience.
- Charming art style, cozy aesthetics.
- Exceptional value for money, highly recommended.
- Explosive late-game satisfaction.
- Short playtime; easy 100% completion.
Emotions
Players felt satisfied by the game's excellent value for money, including its fair price and appropriate length that avoids tedious grinding. The smooth, rewarding progression, satisfying gameplay loop, and engaging visual/audio feedback contributed to a complete and enjoyable experience, often leading to 100% achievement completion.
Joy stemmed from the fun, simple, and addictive gameplay, often described as providing 'dopamine hits.' Players enjoyed the cute aesthetics, relaxing atmosphere, and the feeling of becoming overpowered or seeing numbers grow. The overall positive and entertaining experience, especially the ingenious ending, contributed significantly to this emotion.
Excitement was driven by the game's addictive nature, constant sense of progression, and satisfying combat. Players were thrilled by the escalating power, engaging active gameplay, and the anticipation of more content. The game's high quality and
Enjoyment came from the game's fun, simple, and addictive gameplay loop, enhanced by cute graphics and an engaging upgrade system. Players found it a relaxing and brainless fun experience where time flew by. The overall positive experience, combined with a never-boring progression, made for a highly enjoyable playtime.
Players experienced disappointment primarily due to the game's short length and perceived lack of content or replayability. Some felt the game ended just as it became most enjoyable, while others noted generic late-game upgrades, minor bugs, or unsatisfactory endings. Technical issues like game crashes also contributed to frustration.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 98% ยท Negative 2%. Score: 2 / 100
Positives:
- Players found the core incremental gameplay loop to be highly engaging, satisfying, and refreshingly smooth. The progression is well-balanced, avoiding tedious grinding while offering continuous, rewarding advancement and original mechanics like jellyfish hunting.
- The game's concise length (around 3-6 hours) was consistently highlighted as a major positive, preventing it from overstaying its welcome or becoming boring. Players appreciated being able to finish it in one or a few sittings, offering a stress-free and relaxing experience.
- Reviewers overwhelmingly praised the game's low price point, noting that the amount of content, fun, and satisfaction offered far exceeded its cost. Many stated it was an 'absolute steal' or 'worth more than AAA games'.
- The game's beautiful pixel art, cute character design (turtles and jellyfish), and overall aesthetic were frequently praised. Players found the visuals pleasant, charming, and contributing to a cozy, relaxing vibe.
- The late game provides an exhilarating climax, with upgrades leading to screen-clearing chain explosions and a feeling of immense power. This 'chaos' and rapid scaling are described as incredibly satisfying and a major highlight.
Negatives:
- Players reported a breakdown in game balance and design during the late game. Upgrades felt generic or meaningless, progression became monotonous due to repetitive farming, and extreme power scaling led to visual clutter, performance issues, and an overwhelming or 'frantic' feeling.
- Players reported instances of game crashes, sometimes leading to significant loss of progress, and other strange bugs. A specific issue mentioned was the inability to continue the game after achieving 100% completion.
- Players expressed a wish for more character customization options, such as skins or decorative features for the protagonist. Some also suggested a desire for a more focused skill tree with fewer, but more meaningful, choices.
- Feedback indicated that the 'hack and slash' combat felt unrealistic, messy, and lacked a sense of impact. This suggests a need for improvement in visual and audio feedback, as well as the overall feel of the core combat mechanics.
- Players were disappointed by the discrepancy between the cute, young turtle depicted in promotional materials and the actual in-game protagonist, who is described as an older, wrinkled turtle. This created a feeling of misrepresentation regarding the main character's appearance.
Gameplay:
- Players consistently report completing the entire game, including all achievements and platinum trophies, within 3-5 hours, often in a single sitting. This indicates a very concise and straightforward experience with a clear end.
- The central gameplay involves diving underwater in a submarine, managing oxygen, collecting resources like jellyfish and minerals, and selling them. These resources are then used to fund upgrades, enabling players to collect more efficiently and progress.
- The game features multiple distinct zones or areas, typically described as 4 main zones with subzones or 12 stages. Progression often involves growing stronger through upgrades to venture safely into these new, more challenging regions.
- Several players note strong similarities in gameplay mechanics and overall vibe to games like 'Dave the Diver', 'Forager', and 'Wall World', particularly regarding the diving, collecting, selling, and upgrading loop.
- The game is described as easy to learn and is suitable for controller play. Some feedback vaguely mentions 'acceptable gameplay skills (4 fingers)', which could imply specific control schemes or a minor learning curve for optimal play.
Performance:
- Players reported a remarkably stable and polished experience, encountering no bugs or technical issues during gameplay. This indicates a high level of quality assurance and a smooth launch.
- The game's framerate is capped at 60 frames per second. While stable, this limitation is noted as an undesirable constraint for players using modern high-refresh-rate monitors, potentially impacting their visual experience.
- The game offers complete and seamless compatibility with the Steam Deck. Players reported a perfect experience on the handheld device, which is a significant positive for portable gaming enthusiasts.
- The game demonstrates excellent optimization, allowing it to run effectively even on less powerful systems. This broad compatibility makes the game accessible to a wider audience, including those with older hardware.
Recommendations:
- Players universally recommend the game, praising its exceptional value for money and enjoyable gameplay. It is considered a must-play, particularly for fans of incremental and grinding genres, frequently receiving perfect or near-perfect scores from reviewers.
- The game is lauded for providing a short, relaxing experience, making it perfect for winding down or filling a few hours. Its concise length is seen as a benefit, preventing it from becoming tedious and offering a fun way to pass the time quickly.
- The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy completing games and earning all achievements. Its design makes it appealing and achievable to 'platinum' in a single playthrough, providing a satisfying challenge for completionists.
Miscellaneous:
- Players consistently complete the game and all achievements within 2.5 to 6 hours, often in one sitting. This leads to a strong desire for significant content expansion, including DLC, New Game+, endless modes, more levels, maps, bosses, skins, and new replayability mechanics like prestige or synergy loops.
- Players frequently commend the developer for their work, expressing appreciation and enthusiasm for future games or potential sequels like Shelldiver 2. There's a strong positive sentiment towards the team and an eagerness to see their next projects.
- Feedback includes specific requests to improve clarity for skill benefits and text issues. Players also suggested that equipment choices should enable diverse playstyles rather than just increasing stats, and noted flashing lights that could affect players with epilepsy.
- This cluster captures less critical feedback such as lighthearted remarks about a turtle's hammock or buying the game simply due to an affection for turtles. It also includes anecdotes like learning about turtle diets, highlighting personal connections rather than gameplay mechanics.
