I went deep. I went down. I went deep and down with Deep Down. This game had big hype behind it, but I had only known the name—nothing more.
Deep Down is an action-RPG for PS4 that features, well, going deep into a dungeon area. I didn’t catch the story of it all, but by the end, I didn’t really care about whatever the story was anyway, because the gameplay was good. As a demo, of course the play was kept very basic. I had a weak attack and strong attack with my spear, as well as a goofy Deion Sanders spin move, (which I of course used at every opportunity).
At times—crazy as this is gonna sound—the dungeonplay felt a little bit like the urban or sewer maze parts of The Last of Us. I was sneaking around, waiting in the shadows behind unsuspecting monsters, arcing my throw, then lobbing a projectile at their backs. It felt great.
Graphics and presentation were as impressive as you’d expect. This is next-gen hardware we’re talking about. The scary thing is that games already look this good, and they’re going to look even better as time goes on. The armor looked amazing, spell effects were dang good, and each stone of the dungeon’s walls and floors were detailed in a level that clearly demonstrates the power of the next generation.
Deep Down also succeeds in atmosphere, which is something graphics alone can’t give you. Roaming those dimly lit catacombs felt just as creepy and mysterious as such an activity should, and there was a genuine feeling of accomplishment when getting to a new area or dropping a big monster.
Combat in this demo version didn’t pack a lot of frills or variety, however. This isn’t unexpected, but hey, my job here is to tell you what I played and how it went, so that’s out there. Presumably, there will be much more variety to the face-to-face fighting in the final version of the game, but as far as the TGS demo, it was a little rote.
I was dropped into a catacomb, dressed in armor and equipped with a few projectiles and a spear. After a few seconds of learning the controls, I set off exploring. I may have been invincible in this demo (somewhat common in demos), because I couldn’t spot any sort of health meter or indicator of life. I got facepunched pretty hard a few times by the first ogre I encountered, but I saw no signs of being any closer to d00m for all of it.
