Endless Ocean Luminous Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by · Published · Updated

Endless Ocean Luminous Review, Dive in and survey a mysterious underwater world in Endless Ocean Luminous for Nintendo Switch. Discover aquatic life, buried treasure, and more as you explore the ocean at your own pace, solo or in online expeditions of up to 30 players. Scan sea creatures and learn about over 500 species of marine life – some of which are presumed extinct, or even…mythical.

Endless Ocean Luminous Review Pros:

  • Beautiful graphics.
  • 8GB download size.
  • Has its own achievements system complete with a pop-up when earned.
  • Camera settings – can Invert axis and sensitivity sliders including camera follow and setting the camera to auto follow.
  • Diving exploration gameplay.
  • Sera is your AI assistant who gives tips.
  • Opening tutorial section.
  • You scan fish and get information from them. Any unknown fish show as question marks until you scan them.
  • A full 3D world with 360-degree camera control.
  • Profile – here you can use unlocked stickers, emotes, and titles to show on your card. You can also view detailed stats and achievements.
  • Three game modes – Story, solo dives, and shared dives.
  • Supports up to 30 people online.
  • The log menu shows all discovered fish and salvage you find.
  • Customize your diver by adding stickers and changing the color of every part of your outfit from the mask to the oxygen tank.
  • Earn experience from researching fish to level up.
  • Online seasonal leaderboards for online play show your stats breakdown and the leaderboards show – total, teamwork, research, salvage, and exploration.
  • Special events happen for online dives and offer unique and different fish.
  • Online diving has join or start a dive.
  • Fast loading times.
  • The matchmaking is quite quick.
  • Handy tips on the loading screens.
  • Online will pop up with a mission (optional), and you can freely swim around and catalog findings, claim lost items, and interact with other players.
  • Salvage items come in rarity levels.
  • The map uncovers as you explore and you have a mini-map aswel as a huge map.
  • When you scan, you are actually scanning an area and you can quickly just scroll the list of scanned fish.
  • Fish records update when you find large or small fish, they also come in rarity levels such as rare and super rare.
  • Earn coins from diving and spend on customisation items.
  • Solo dives allow you to either – start a new dive or enter a dive site ID to explore a region.
  • BP is basically what they call exp and you earn it for anything from scanning fish to exploring the map, collecting salvageable items and you get some for filling in the region fish list.
  • As you find the same fish over and over you get a sort of bond that allows you to have the fish follow you around.
  • The mystery board is Collectibles but quite a deal harder to find.
  • Full photo mode supports both free form and taking shots of scanned fish.
  • At any time you can hide the hud as you play.
  • You can rank up and earn coins and BP from any mode.
  • It’s a very zen experience, you can just zone out and do whatever you want.
  • The story can have multiple-choice interactions.
  • Learn about fish and the ocean.
  • Dive site IDs are given from photos you take and let you start in that particular area.
  • You and other players can leave tag icons to help with finding salvage or anything else.
  • The mystery board you found has 99 squares and fills in as you find the mysteries of the sea.

Endless Ocean Luminous Review Cons:

  • Cannot remap the controls.
  • No touchscreen support.
  • Very repetitive in its gameplay loop.
  • The unlocks are basic and not that enticing.
  • All the achievements are basically just a tick sheet of activities as they offer no real value.
  • The story is whatever and you don’t really need to play it as a matter of fact.
  • It can take ages to get the map clear.
  • Map clearing is not always good as it can take a lot to get the block to disappear on the map.
  • No gyroscope controls.
  • Couldn’t find a way to group up before joining an online dive.
  • The story is very slow and is basically just a long series of tutorials and explanations.
  • Online dives are timed.
  • Share dive IDs are long and have to be entered manually.
  • Story missions will get locked behind tasks like scanning X amount of fish to unlock these missions.

Related Post: Teared Review (Steam)

Endless Ocean Luminous:

Official website.

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Store Links – 

Nintendo

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 8/10
    Accessibility - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Length - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Fun Factor - 8/10
7.8/10

Summary

Endless Ocean Luminous is a visually stunning game with beautiful graphics and a full 3D world with 360-degree camera control. The game has an 8GB download size and features diving exploration gameplay. The game’s AI assistant, Sera, provides helpful tips throughout the game. The game begins with an opening tutorial section and allows players to scan fish to gather information about them. Any unknown fish show as question marks until they are scanned.

The game offers three modes: Story, solo dives, and shared dives, and supports up to 30 people online. The player’s profile displays unlocked stickers, emotes, and titles on their card, along with detailed stats and achievements. The log menu shows all discovered fish and salvage you find. Players can customize their diver by adding stickers and changing the color of every part of their outfit, from the mask to the oxygen tank. Players earn experience from researching fish to level up.

Online seasonal leaderboards for online play show your stats breakdown and the leaderboards show – total, teamwork, research, salvage, and exploration. Special events happen for online dives and offer unique and different fish. Online diving has join or start a dive. The game features fast loading times and quick matchmaking. Handy tips are displayed on the loading screens.

The game has a unique feature where as you find the same fish over and over, you get a sort of bond that allows the fish to follow you around. The mystery board is Collectibles but quite a deal harder to find. Full photo mode supports both free form and taking shots of scanned fish. At any time, you can hide the HUD as you play. You can rank up and earn coins and BP from any mode. It’s a very zen experience, you can just zone out and do whatever you want. The story can have multiple-choice interactions. Learn about fish and the ocean. Dive site IDs are given from photos you take and let you start in that particular area. You and other players can leave tag icons to help with finding salvage or anything else. The mystery board you found has 99 squares and fills in as you find the mysteries of the sea.

However, the game does have some limitations. It does not allow for remapping of the controls and does not support touchscreen. The gameplay loop can be repetitive, and the unlocks are basic and not that enticing. All the achievements are basically just a tick sheet of activities as they offer no real value. The story is slow and is basically just a long series of tutorials and explanations. Online dives are timed. Share dive IDs are long and have to be entered manually. Story missions will get locked behind tasks like scanning X amount of fish to unlock these missions. It can take ages to get the map clear. Map clearing is not always good as it can take a lot to get the block to disappear on the map. There are no gyroscope controls and there is no way to group up before joining an online dive. Despite these limitations, Endless Ocean Luminous offers a unique and immersive experience for players interested in ocean exploration and marine life or who just want a game to turn on and not think about. Be warned you will learn about fish and marine life without realising it.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!