Fortune awaits Lilly and her faithful dog Chester in this treasure seeking adventure. They’ve spent their life living along the coast, and as such, are well-versed with all things nautical – right down to navigating the surrounding seas. This short story begins with a jaunt underwater to recover a relic that’ll supposedly lead to a pirate’s treasure, and it isn’t long until trouble starts brewing. Think along the lines of a typical TinTin adventure, only with less globetrotting. The brief runtime only allows for a handful of locations, although we do get to explore both above and below the sea.
Viewed from first-person, Deep Beyond is presented using a bold ‘pop art’ filter purposely limiting the number of colours shown at any time to just a handful, while favouring a muted palate and minimal detail, aside from objects such as family photos that help shape the backstory. This comic book-esque art style also strips back the facial features of NPCs, which consequently closer resemble mannequins. The voice acting is at least decent, carving a strong identity for the main cast, and in addition to Lilly being instantly likeable it’s also a far richer experience for having Chester as a loyal companion. They aren’t simply present to give Lilly somebody to converse with when alone.
In addition to always having a main quest on screen, the majority of interactable items are highlighted using bright colours. This helps greatly with reducing aimless wandering while keeping you on a relatively narrow path. It’s hard to imagine anyone becoming lost, even during the two slower paced but slightly more open deep sea diving sections.
When you’re not completing straightforward objectives and exploring the small environments, you’re solving puzzles. A handful of brain teasers feature in lieu of combat and are spread periodically. They’ll have you flicking switches, pushing boxes and spinning turnstiles to unlock or uncover the path ahead – with a couple of solutions edging towards being creative, taking a few minutes to successfully crack. Again, the clear-cut colour coding makes it difficult to overlook a vital puzzle component. Cut-scenes are often used to explain what’s required to progress, appearing at the start of each chapter. It’s also worth pointing out that although there is a sense of danger in one of the later chapters, combat doesn’t feature – so there’s no means of failure.
The game’s linear nature and brevity means it’s mostly carried by the storyline. Indeed, it’s evident that Deep Beyond was solely conceived to share a story with the world. It’s well paced for the most part, wasting no time establishing its cast and premise. Each of the six chapters takes place in a different location and sees a dramatic event unfold, successfully changing the tone. At one point it seems that a spot of stealth is on the cards, but it never fully commits to this idea, reverting to following a linear path and using cut-scenes to skip the story ahead.
The final chapter sees Lilly tasked with making a decision, with three choices given that impact the ending. Thanks to the chapter select screen, it’s possible to return and make a different decision, seeing all three endings one after another. Each rounds the story off well. And then, barely an hour after it began, Deep Beyond is over. It achieves its goal of drawing players in instantly and telling a compelling story, but if it wasn’t for the puzzles you’d likely feel like a passenger rather than a participant. Despite being even shorter than a typical movie, if the sea ever calls you, Deep Beyond’s gentle shores are worth dipping a toe into.
Purple Tree’s Deep Beyond is out 13th September on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. A PC version is also available.