#Beyond blue pools tv#

Together with fellow scientists André and Irina, you are part of a three-person team launching an online Ocean Sense Network to study, record, and even livestream underwater ecosystems. Mirai Soto, the lone diver aboard a submersible in the Western Pacific. The game puts players in the flippers of Dr. Still, with its superb production values, a slight but ongoing narrative with surprising emotional weight, and a number of educational extras to boot, it’s well worth taking the plunge for anyone with an interest in aquatic life. There are no puzzles and only the most rudimentary of objectives to complete throughout its short three-hour playtime, so it’s more of a simulation than an adventure game proper, which makes for a rather single-minded experience.

Which is good, because here’s the rub: Beyond Blue isn’t really much of a game.

As much as I enjoyed 2016’s ABZÛ, and as similar as the two titles are in many respects, that game was a more artistic take on marine exploration, whereas this one is more focused on realism and even education. Real divers might take exception to that description, of course, but without the benefit of firsthand comparison, I can safely say that Beyond Blue is the nearest I’ve ever felt to exploring the ocean’s depths. Or at least, I did until games like E-Line Media’s Beyond Blue came along and made me feel like I was actually there.

#Beyond blue pools tv#

To venture any deeper than that, I need to live vicariously through brilliant underwater TV features like the BBC’s Blue Planet series. I mean, really, what’s a Wookiee or a Klingon got on a bottom-dwelling anglerfish, giant squid, devil ray or a Benjamin Button-like de-aging jellyfish for weirdness? Alas, being more than a little claustrophobic (elevators: fine, submarines at a thousand meters down: out!), the closest I’ll ever come is a whale watching boat tour or a coral reef snorkel.

As a lifelong fan of oceans, I’d love nothing more than to do a deep-sea dive to explore a world-within-our-world that’s far more fascinating and imaginative than any sci-fi planet ever conceived.