Walking on water, who among us wouldn’t like that?
thanks to Thunderful who gave us a copy of the game for media coverage and testing. The publisher/developer therefore authorizes us to distribute and/or use excerpts from the game for our production needs and does not intervene in any way in the awarding of the final grade.
Another great find
Known for his rather hilarious tracks such as Stick it to the Man et Zombie Vikingsor even for the most recent Lost in Random et FEI study them Zoink Games is back in force with a charming adventure and exploration game called Wavetale. I dived there in order to surf there for a while to give you my opinion on this one… Splash!
When the sea adopts us, literally!
Earlier this year, I had been charmed by another little indie game, called Submerged: Hidden Depths. At the first glance of Wavetale, one could immediately trace several similarities with this one, which immediately caught my attention. In fact, Wavetale places us in the boots of the young heroine named Sigrid, who has been living on a tiny island with her grandmother since the war with the Dirty Paws is over. For some reason I won’t divulge here, the ocean almost completely covered the ball and only a few patches of land here and there became refuges for the survivors. On the other hand, one evil still reigns: dirty paws… Or could it be something else?
The island of Sigrid is equipped with a powerful lighthouse, pushing back the mist, protecting the inhabitants of the islands of the sector. One day, however, a huge dark wave comes out of nowhere and crashes down on everyone, leaving residues of a black and viscous substance called “Molasses“, this one now blocking the light emitted by the headlight! Carried away by the waves, Sigrid finds herself on a tiny promontory of land, separated from the island, without knowing what happened to Grandma.
When she is looking for a way to get back to it, a mysterious creature appears under the waves, the latter seeming to invite Sigrid to trust her and to rush out and walk on water. Hesitantly, she places one foot on the ocean, the creature supporting her feet and now helping her to simply ride the waves as if she were skating on the sea. exploration in order to understand what happened, who this creature is and help repel the mist and the threats it harbors…
For a game from a fairly small studio, the first thing that really surprised me was its high quality dialogues, which are all available in French! the voice-over of the actors is really very good and the texts overflow with a beautiful humor which makes the characters very sympathetic. On the other hand, I found that the facial expression of these gave the clear impression of leaving the game Miitopia, which I more or less liked. I would have preferred a slightly more refined type of facial animation, but that’s more a personal taste than a weak point of the game!
Visually, Wavetale is quite successful, despite its small addicts. I really liked his artistic direction cell-shading with clean lines, which gives a rather interesting. It’s a little heartbreaking that some small glitches spoil the sauce a bit, because if it hadn’t been for that, I would have easily added half a point to the final score of this one. In fact, sometimes the colors change dramatically in just a fraction of a second, as if when we pass an imaginary line on the screen, the entire sector changes from day to night and vice versa. But this problem is rather isolated and always seems to occur in the same place.
The other surprising visual problem is that of the screen tearing (screen tearing), which is practically present to him at all times and everywhere. And quite honestly, given the composition of the game’s overall graphics, I confess that I do not understand this little bug. In my opinion, this is probably an optimization issue that could hopefully be easily fixed via an update. It also sometimes happens that the collision detection fails and our character suddenly finds himself through a wall or another solid structure, which logically should not be the case. But other than that, everything is fine.
Wavetale is pleasant to play, especially because of its simple mechanics and its quick and easy to understand grip from the first minutes of play. Thus, surfing the waves is done by itself, without danger of drowning. Sigrid can dive into the sea for a few seconds, allowing her to be able to propel herself higher in the air when we press a button. She can also crouch for a few seconds and then propel herself into the air as well. These techniques are practical for successfully reaching certain high places that are difficult to access without these techniques.
Sigrid also relies on the help of an out-of-the-ordinary tool: her trusty fishing net. This one serves as a weapon against enemies, to slow down its descent by making it twirl above its head and also allows it to cling to special hooks as well as a kind of small vortex which propels it. even higher and further. These also serve as building blocks for various puzzles that are physical and/or environmental in nature.
It is possible to lose your life by falling into the water at the start of the game, when you have not yet encountered the mysterious sea creature. It is also possible to pass to death during fights against dirty paws, these slimy creatures that emerge from Molasses. But quite honestly, the game is so easy that it would be really surprising if you lost your life during a confrontation with them. This is perhaps one of the weakest points of the game, because the bestiary is very thin and no real strategy is to be adopted against our attackers. Here, hitting relentlessly will easily do the job of getting Sigrid out of trouble. In my opinion, it would have been nice to have a bit more trouble with slightly larger enemies, but that’s not really the case. The creatures resembling large aquatic spiders are the most fun to fight, although the technique to use to defeat them is always and still there…
Wavetale is a fun and relaxing game that offers just a little bit of action. With its sweet musical score, this one is part of semi-narrative exploration games, which are generally oriented towards gamers who prefer games that have no chance of bringing stress to life, whatever they are! With its adventures of about 5-6 hours with texts that make you smile, you will have a good time in the company of Sigrid and her grandmother, the latter not having her tongue in her pocket! Now, maybe the price of around $40 CAD will put some of you off, which is totally justified. If the game comes at a discount of around 25$-30$ CAN, I recommend that you get wet and buy it!
Verdict
To know the criteria of our rating system, visit this page.
Please note that the tested version is the one on PS5/PS4. The game is also available on Xbox Series/One and PC.
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