Aquanox Deep Descent

great game, loved the series

Works on Steam Deck finally!

Online Coop-Multiplayer DOES NOT WORK!
A google-search shows that the issue is known, but never was adressed by the developers.
DO NOT BUY if you want to play with friends.
Singleplayer is decent.

I hate games where some enemies are artificially invulnerable to advance the plot (right at the beginning) and spawn all the time where you just killed them (when you enter the IPF territory / Neversleep), again for the plot.
For both they could have just let the enemies come out of the stations which would have had the same effect but is much less annoying than an enemy appearing out if thin air 30m ahead of you or not being able to destroy the exact same ships you could easily kill a minute before.

In addition for the spawning ships: once you rushed by the Neversleep station and arrived at the gate, there are barely any ships left and you can collect some ressources easily... it's still the same level and the enemy is still supposed to be on high alert... doesn't make any sense at all.

There are some other parts that give the impression that this game simply isn't fully finished. There are a lot of NPCs which have no faces and voices, just text. And of course some inconsistencies as some others already described.


Addendum after finishing the game:
The spawning of the enemies really gets a pain in the a** in the later game, there are several missions where you kill a few pirates or bionts and then progress further only to have them spawn again directly next to you, making some normally easy & straightforward missions extremely difficult as you are suddenly surrounded.

The later part of the game also seems to be unfinished as you have a lot of jumps in it with cut scenes and near the and you suddenly get all missing upgrades available at once, as if there are a bunch of missions missing in between... For example you never come to try out the rail gun turret PM2 as it gets available together with the PM3.

AQUANOX DEEP DESCENT

It's with a pretty heavy heart that I don't recommend this game. Archimedian Dynasty was one of my favourite games as a teenager, I loved the plot and the ship combat, the terror of the bionts. Aquanox made it faster paced and less of a ship simulator, more action, which was also good, and again the story followed on from A.D. The reveal being that once again the Bionts are a threat bigger than literal lovecraftian monsters from the deep.

Aquanox: Revelations was a side story that feels like the two never got the third game linking them both together. I had hoped this was it. This was not.

Combat is slower than Aquanox but not as tactical as A.D. The plot is thin and you never really care about any of the characters, they just don't matter. The Bionts have gone from sleek, odd black ships without cockpits to... well sort of poor mans underwater borg possessed by nanites.

It's not radiation on the surface now, it's 'nano-plankton' that eats your ships.

Entrox, Entropol, all the established history is just dumped in favour of "aliens".

It's fine as a standalone game, but fans of the world setting are going to be thoroughly disappointed.

Good: graphic, nice plot.
Mixed feelings: environment, both wondrous but cramped.
Bad: no choices of sort - you play once and that's all; too simple customization of ship; no real interaction.

To me, this game feels like a mix of Descent and Freelancer with an underwater theme, but more linear. The maps have "portals" to go from sector to sector, but the sectors are smaller than the sectors in Freelancer. The gameplay sometimes feels like one of the Descent games when you're inside some caves or buildings with narrow hallways. I liked the story. It's not as good as the Freelancer story, but it's okay for me. I've played the other Aquanox games and you can "connect the story" at times, but this game feels more like a retelling of the original story than a prequel or sequel. The only thing it lacks for me is replay value. You can host your own Multiplayer Team Deathmatch game with bots, but since you can't customize vehicles in this mode, you'll get bored quickly. I think most people will play the "main game mode" and follow the story, since that's the only way to customize your vehicles.

The combat gameplay is okay for me. I really liked some of the weapons and utilities, like the missile barrage and the EMP. The combat feels a lot like Descent because of the 6DOF (Six Degrees of Freedom) movement. The graphics are also very good, only the flashlight looks a little weird to me (but maybe it's my monitor's brightness setting).

The main thing I miss from the other older Aquanox games is the Instant Action mode. Sometimes I just want to jump straight into the action in a scenario. I think fans of the older games may or may not like this game, as it sometimes feels a little different from the older games (not in a bad way to me, just different). There are side quests and other small activities available, but they feel more linear than the other games. You can loot the scenario and sell the loot, but it's a very simple and limited mechanic, and it doesn't have nearly the depth of buying and selling goods that is available in Freelancer.

Overall, I enjoyed the game and plan on playing it through the story when I have time. I like some side quests, so this might take a while.

The game has good and bad moments, the plot is sometimes slow and sometimes rushes. At a small cost, you could have done more missions, especially the characters, conversations with them, and extended the campaign, which is a pity. Overall, a very basic game was created, a prototype was quickly completed (just to close) and abandoned.

Meh...