Endless Ocean Luminous Review: "Pretty And Serene, But Lacking Depth"

Summary Beautiful underwater world with over 500 species to explore.

Casual, slow-paced gameplay with no risk of harm to players.

Confusion between educational and fictional content may lessen its value.

The aquatic exploration game, Endless Ocean Luminous, provides an immersive experience on the Nintendo Switch for players to dive deep in the ocean to swim with all manner of fish, whales, sharks, and more. Developed by Arika and published by Nintendo, the game is a simulation adventure that tasks virtual divers with documenting over 500 species of aquatic life and salvaging relics from past civilizations. Whether playing alone on a solo dive, or experiencing the beauty of the ocean with up to 30 other players, the game is a beautiful, if slow, experience.

Endless Ocean Luminous is actually the third installment in its series, with its previous entry being Endless Ocean 2: Adventures of the Deep for the Nintendo Wii in 2009. Endless Ocean Luminous is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, which is a bit disappointing as the beautiful underwater environments of the game would be exquisite to see in higher quality than the Switch can provide. Still, the game is beautiful, particularly when using the OLED screen of the newer model consoles, and it provides a deeply immersive experience.

Endless Ocean Luminous 6 / 10 Pros Beautiful underwater world

Casual, slow-paced cozy experience Cons Slow loading times

Confusing in what is educational and what is fictional

Gameplay Of Endless Ocean Luminous Is Peaceful

No Risk Of Danger, Even In Scary Moments

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While diving in the fictional Veiled Sea, players are tasked with the job of documenting marine life while gathering a special luminous energy from them. Conveniently, gathering this "luminous energy" is also a visual indicator for players to then know which creatures have been scanned already, as they will no longer have a glowing quality to them and will then have a more traditional look.

The bulk of the game is spent in dives, although there are some story moments interspersed. During a dive, players explore a randomized section of this unexplored, fictional, region of ocean, swimming anywhere they want within the massive section for the dive. Throughout the simple mechanics of scanning sea life, finding treasures buried in the ground, and even exploring shipwrecks and temples, it is a peaceful and stunningly gorgeous adventure.

Even in seemingly scary moments such as encountering a menacingly scarred shark swimming at the diver or when swimming into tight caves with flowing underwater lava, players are always perfectly safe.

Dives in Endless Ocean Luminous can last for several in-game days, apparently never having to come up for a trip to the bathroom or food and having an endless supply of oxygen. Additionally, to add to the peaceful nature of the game, there is no risk of harm coming to the diver at any moment. Even in seemingly scary moments such as encountering a menacingly scarred shark swimming at the diver or when swimming into tight caves with flowing underwater lava, players are always perfectly safe.

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Stunning Visual Experience Provides Immersive Education Of Aquatic Life

Confusion As To What Is Real Makes It Less Viable

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The fish, and other sea life, are the stars of Endless Ocean Luminous, and every creature scanned provides a close-up look at a virtual rendition of the animal as well as facts about the real-life versions. There are an incredible number of over 500 species included in the game to find. If players choose, they can click to learn more information on each fish and have the game show them a couple of paragraphs detailing facts about it, with a narrated reading of the text provided.

Unfortunately, mixed in with the over 500 species that players can learn about, are also some creatures that are extinct, or even mythical, with very little to easily clarify to any young diver which is a real-world animal and which might not exist. For students looking to expand their knowledge of sea creatures, the uncertainty that this leads to could undermine the educational value that would be provided from the actual facts.

Additionally, despite providing interesting facts about the aquatic life scanned, the placement of these creatures is far from realistic. The randomized maps for dives presumably must also use randomized spawn locations for creatures.

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Character Customization And Multiplayer Are Fun Touches

Colors, Emotes, And Stickers Unlockable

A large focus of the game is on the idea of diving with friends, with up to 30 people able to join together online in a dive at a time. Being in a Scuba suit underwater does make Nintendo's lack of voice chat easier to overlook, and there are several fun and silly emotes that players can spend virtual coins on to unlock for their character to have their diver look like they are running, dancing, waving, or even make a heart.

Other things that can be unlocked include different colors and stickers to decorate the Scuba suit that players wear. Stickers can be placed nearly anywhere on the suit, with some measures in place to keep things appropriate for young audiences. There are lots of color options for the suits as well, and players can either go with a preset pattern of colors or color the helmet, flippers, tank, and more separately if they choose to get creative.

Review Score & Final Thoughts

3/5 Stars

Overall, Endless Ocean Luminous is an incredibly beautiful and immersive aquatic game. Slow loading screens and some monotonous tasks can take away from the immersion some, but for a cozy simulation of underwater exploration, it is a tranquil and fun experience.

The story of the game is simple, and only unlocked in small pieces after scanning hundreds and thousands of creatures in the open dives, showing that the story really isn't the focus. Experiencing an unknown world taking place underwater, even if not entirely realistic, is what makes Endless Ocean Luminous a charming simulation game.

Screen Rant was provided with a Nintendo Switch download code for the purposes of this review.