The Turtle Strikes Back! - Shelldiver

One Friday evening, nestled near the end of the cool, serene December, I decided I wanted to play a game, but not something that required a massive time investment. Just something to play over the weekend, something to spark some sense of whimsy and joy. I mechanically trawled through Steam like I usually do, when at the bottom of my screen, poking out from the beyond the scroll bar's reach, a little turtle in a spacesuit!

The bright colourful store page quickly took me in, and at 4.99, I thought to myself, sure why not. Maybe I would refund it, if I didn't enjoy it.

Okay, yeah, maybe I enjoyed it.

Shelldiver is a wonderfully colourful, detailed pixel art game. In the game, you dive into the water to clean up thrash, capture other sea creatures, and upgrade your abilities, in an almost incremental idle way, but with a significant amount of actual gameplay!

You start the game on an island, and the game nudges you to jump in your submarine and head into the depths. As you go into depths, you will have to use your gun to destroy thrash and collect the items that are thrown out when you do. All while, dodging various jellyfishes, and jellyfish like enemies that doesn't want you to succeed.

Gameplay Loop

The primary gameplay loop is that when you dive, after selecting the area, and the depth, you destroy the thrash, collect the items that falls out, and capture the various lifeforms that are there.

Once your containers are filled up (which each item stacking to 99 once you get the upgrades), you hop back into your submarine, and you head back to surface. In the surface, on the island, you can either sell your lifeforms to the shop in exchange for shells. These shells can then be used to purchase upgrades, or be converted into science items, that can be used for more advanced upgrades.

You also have an air meter, and if it falls to zero, you die, and you lose the items you were collecting. So can become quite hectic when trying to collect items, and ensuring you have enough air to get back up to the submarine.

You have two forms of your gun. The bubble gun, which traps the lifeforms, which you collect or which eventually gravitates towards you, or the laser gun which destroys the thrash.

Note: I keep using thrash, but that's in the starting stages, by the time you get to the deeper levels, they become crystals. Basically, it is just another resource for your upgrades.

That is basically it, but the game does such a good job with it, that it doesn't really feel that shallow.

Levels

The game is divided up into four areas, each with three stages. Each stage is a different depth. Each stage has a different assortment of creatures, and thrash/resource that you can collect, and you will be revisiting them to get all the resources needed to do all the upgrades.

The levels were visual distinct, and quite enjoyable to traverse. Although it can get a bit much once you do a full upgrade of your weapons.

In all honesty, I didn't have too much issues with the levels, as I thought it was a fun experience, without any really problems.

While sometimes you might have issues when you first start a level, just to remember how to get back to your submarine, especially when running out of air. The levels can get quite large, especially the deeper you go, adding to the tension of exploring.

Upgrades

If you have played Idle/Incremental games before, the upgrade pathways for this game will actual be quite familiar. It very much builds its upgrades around becoming as overpowered as possible. It is also in shape of a star! A simple detail, but one which thematically ties everything together.

There are at least 50 or so upgrades, each with multiple levels within each upgrade. Each of these upgrades require different kinds of resources, which means you will have to spend time grinding out different stages for different types of resources. Some upgrades require multiple resources, or are in a path that requires other resources.

I did find actually unlocking each individual upgrade, and then fully maxing it out, was quite an enjoyable experience.

Sound & FX

I am bundling sound and FX in this section, because all the little flourishes bind the game in a such a way, that everything feel satisfying to see, do, and just listen to.

The soundscape was lovely, and I found myself enjoying it quite a bit. All the visual and sound FX sound the game's world with such joy and wonder, I couldn't put it down at all.

Conclusion

I hope at this point, you can tell that I enjoyed my time a great deal with Shelldiver. I only spent 4.99 on the game, but honestly it was such a wonderful time, I completed the game over a weekend, totally around five hours. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but once you start playing, the game's addictive nature really takes center stage, and those hours will absolutely fly by. Go buy it on Steam!