Swarm Below

Everything down here is hungry

You drop into the reef with one weapon and not much air. Your gear fires on its own, so your job is to keep moving, scoop up pearls and pick an upgrade every time you level. A few minutes in, there are more fish than water.

Then the stage boss shows up. Kill it and a whirlpool opens. You can dive through it to the next stage with your whole build, or hang around for the richer pearls until the Shades come looking for you.

Builds that get out of hand

Harpoons, depth mines, a rivet gun, jellyfish drones that sting for you, torpedoes that turn into a wolfpack. There are 28 weapons, and 19 of them evolve into something much nastier when you pair them with the right passive. Relics and charms stack on top of that. One good chest can turn a desperate run into a screen full of explosions.

Each of the 11 divers plays a little differently. Gale hits hard and goes down fast. Barnacle barely notices damage, but his health packs only heal half. Tide breathes by killing things. Bosun carries four weapons at once.

Who you'll meet

Nine bosses across the Shallows, the Twilight and the Abyss: The Lantern, The Moray, The Bloat, The Smasher and more, and at the bottom, Mother, who does not come alone. Between them, reef sharks, sea lions, spider crabs walking the sea floor, and the odd golden fish that is always worth chasing.

Why you'll keep diving

Every dive pays, even the ones that go badly. Pearls buy permanent upgrades, quests pay out as you play, and the codex fills in as you go. When it starts to feel easy, turn up the Pressure. There are five levels, and the last one is called Crush Depth.

Then there are the pets. Sixteen of them, and they are rare. One of them is a Moon Jelly. Somebody is going to get it. It probably won't be you.

Plays great on a controller and on Steam Deck.