A Tale of Silent Depths

by Aethyna Feb 11, 2025 | 1 Votes | 1 Played | 0 Reviews

7 rate

Genres:

Strategy

Graphics:

Labels:

Turn Based , Exploration , Underwater

Platforms:

Publishers:

Tavern Tale Studio Embark into the dark, watery unknown to scavenge and mine for crucial resources to craft and survive, map out the underwater world, interact with various other sea dwellers, and ultimately, grow strong enough to take on the vicious pirates, the Merritts, to wipe them out once and for all in this tactical RPG, A Tale of Silent Depths! Play Now Similar Games

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/ Sound Conclusion Disclaimer: A Tale of Silent Depths is currently in Alpha, its earliest stages of development, and due to this, the contents of this review may not be relevant as the game development progresses. We’ll update this review once the game goes into early access, and once again when it is fully released.

Summary

Drawing inspiration from the classic tale of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, A Tale of Silent Depths puts you into the shoes of a submarine’s captain, Captain Wett, who managed to save his sub, the Vallius, and crew after a vicious fight against the powerful pirates, the Merritts, albeit with heavy damage and a wiped database. Embark into the dark, watery unknown to scavenge and mine for crucial resources to craft and survive, map out the underwater world, interact with various other sea dwellers, and ultimately, grow strong enough to take on the pirates once again… but this time, you’ll wipe them out for good!

Plotline

The story in the game is pretty barebones at the moment. The game starts off with a dialogue between the captain, Captain Wett, and presumably his Chief Engineer. It seems like they have just emerged victorious from a vicious fight with a pirate faction known as the Merritts, but not without suffering heavy damage. They have lost almost all of their drones, which not only help them carry cargo but also aid in the defense of the submarine. They have also lost their map of the sea bed and will have to “re-explore” to re-collect all the cartographic info.

However, the ocean depths are dangerous, and it’s vital to stay low. At the same time, you help them amass enough resources not just to craft consumables but also to trade for better items with the other sea dwellers you may encounter. With time and persistence, the crew might just be able to take on the pirates and wipe them out once and for all!

Gameplay

The copy of A Tale of Silent Depths we were offered is a playtest copy, so the gameplay can be rather rudimentary. The main gameplay loop seemingly involves exploring the seabed and scanning nearby areas for useful resources like minerals and recycleable waste. If you’re lucky, you may even find a resource-laden cargo crate. You can then use the resources to craft useful items like torpedoes and repair kits. Sometimes, you may also encounter sea creatures or other sea dwellers, some of whom may be hostile and will drag you into combat if you go too near.

Fights are all resolved in a turn-based manner. You’ll get to deploy drones prior to any fight, though you’ll have to “equip” them via the hangar before you engage in combat. These drones don’t have to be combat-based, so essentially, you can deploy a cargo drone if you want, but naturally, military drones are definitely more useful in a fight since they will typically have weapons to help you out. Your sub and the drones will have action points that you can use for both movement and attack, but since most attacks cost two action points, you will unlikely get to move your drones after using them to attack an enemy.

The kinds of enemies you’ll encounter in this game can vary as well, ranging from various sea creatures to pirates (in their respective submarines). Most sea creatures are melee-based enemies, though some may have the ability to hurl stuff your way, while submarines are typically ranged enemies since they will use the guns on their subs.

There’s an underwater city as well here called Rimtown, where you can interact with its keeper and the captain of the Ark, Peter Killey, and trade with the local merchant. From time to time, you may encounter wandering merchants on your travels, allowing you to offload any items you may not want to haul around for some cash. Note that your submarine only has so much storage space and there are many different types of resources to collect in this game, not even including the stuff you can craft.

A Tale of Silent Depths is a game that’s definitely promising and seems to be on the right path. It just needs to be more fleshed out in all aspects, be it the storytelling, the tutorial, or even the exploration-heavy gameplay. It would definitely be nice to have interesting story-linked points of interest scattered throughout the seabed – maybe the mythical city of Atlantis or an encounter with the elusive race of Merpeople? There could even be a Marianna’s Trench-style trench on the map that allows the player to descend into a new, deeper level of the ocean… though it is possible this is something the devs may want to reserve for a DLC.

Crafting can also be more fleshed out and it would be nice to be able to obtain upgrades for your submarine as you progress. Having coordinates on the map would be helpful as well, and if POIs won’t be marked on the map, maybe let the players place customizable markers? There are just so many ways the devs could really fill the game up with and tweak to make the game a surprise indie hit – hopefully, they are planning to open the game up to the public whether it is via a public playtest, a demo, or early access, so they can really tap into the creativity and help from the community to improve the game.

Graphics/ Sound

As with most indie titles, A Tale of Silent Depths features some amazing pixel art. Most of the visuals here are framed by the much darker environment typical of the ocean depths, but there are these interesting tree-like corals that function much like lamp posts in the sense that they will light up when you pass by. In terms of sound, the game is backed by ominous music which fits well with the theme and the setting. The music changes to something more upbeat once you enter into combat, however.

Conclusion

It’s really early to draw a definitive conclusion on how we’ve found A Tale of Silent Depths to be, but from what early content we’ve experienced, there is definitely something promising here. The game just needs more time in the oven to be properly fleshed out and tweaked, before it is ready for launch. However, and we really hope this is something that the devs plan on doing later, the game could use some input from the community (at one point) and it would be wise to at least have a public playtest or a demo, or even early access (if they think they are ready for the floodgates to be open).

New Game Added: A Tale of Silent Depths

by Aethyna Feb 11, 2025

Embark into the dark, watery unknown to scavenge and mine for crucial resources to craft and survive, map out the underwater world, interact with various other sea dwellers, and ultimately, grow strong enough to take on the vicious pirates, the Merritts, to wipe them out once and for all in this tactical RPG, A Tale of Silent Depths!