Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss | PC Review

I love movies and games that take place underwater. The Abyss, Underwater (2020), Deep Blue Sea, and The Meg come to mind immediately as films that I love that take place deep in the ocean. I recently read a book called “The Deep” by Nick Cutter which was great (albeit, a bit haphazard in its narration). My number three game of 2024, as of this writing, is Still Wakes the Deep which isn’t underwater, but is certainly out in the middle of the ocean.

Water and me mix well.

Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss fell on my lap and I was thrilled to take up the task to play and review this game. I certainly wasn’t disappointed. A couple of game elements might not click for all players, but the story should keep you invested. Come along and see if I can talk you into trying it.

Sadness and Tragedy

The year is 1905. The prologue of the game begins onboard the Thalassa with your character prepping for a deep sea dive to retrieve clues to a ship that sank quite a few years before. Your diving partner (and presumed girlfriend) is going first. While she is down there, the crane on the ship fails. Deep in the ocean, the wreckage has pinned your girlfriend under debris. Despite your best efforts, she dies. 

You go home to recover. The owner of the ship and the rest of the crew move forward with their plans after learning of the sunken ship’s whereabouts. During their travels to the sunken ship’s location, the Thalassa sinks. You must return to the ocean to find out why. While you are trying to find out why the Thalassa sank, you uncover clues to several other mysteries. As vaguely as I can be, the unanswered questions include: Why was the captain so distraught? Why was the very young lead engineer doubted? Who was trying to court the Thalassa’s owner (a widow)? And quite a few more. The mysteries are intertwined. While you aren’t required to solve all of them, the game progresses in such a way that makes you want to solve them. It doesn’t take you out of your way, either.

The final concern of the game’s narrative is your own recovery. Is it safe to go back this soon? Can you recover in the realm of such sadness? I will leave it there to avoid any further info which could be considered a spoiler.

I was amazed at the depth of character that the developers were able to achieve for the twelve or so people in this 8 hour game. Each has their own motivations, mysteries, and personalities. You get to know each and every one of them as individuals, not just cogs of the game’s storyline.

Before Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss begins, you are given a trigger warning. While the events of the prologue are certainly tragic and the game acts as an allegory for the stages of grief, I never felt triggered. We’re all individuals with our own emotions, I wouldn’t judge someone who was triggered. The situation is so unique, though. The warning was unnecessary for me. 

Controls and Gameplay

Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss is billed as a drama/mystery which is true, but it plays more like a first-person point-and-click adventure. Using the keyboard controls to move around the ship and the mouse to look around and investigate found items which are used as clues to progress the story and solve the mysteries. Items are all over the ship including binders with financial information, photographs, diaries, and wax rolls which recorded a journalist’s interviews with members of the crew (and yes you can listen to them underwater). You investigate the items and add them to your collection. The mysteries are solved through deductive reasoning. How do we know that the captain was concerned about the young engineer’s abilities? We found the request for an engineering consultant. Each mystery can have one to many steps to it, as each step requires a few clues. The game does a great job of letting you know when a step is able to be solved. This is welcome because there are a LOT of clues. Solving some steps might even reveal a new mystery to solve! 

Traveling through the ship is slow. Not only are you underwater, but remember that it’s 1905. The equipment used for deep sea diving is both cumbersome and heavy. Very similar to the outfit that the Big Brothers wore in BioShock. As realistic as this is, the slow travel could annoy some players. I loved this game thoroughly, despite my own annoyed enthusiasm, as I reached the end of the game wanting to be able to move faster since I knew where the final clue was.

In the early stages of Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss, you might find that you have to backtrack to other sections of the ship since many of your paths are blocked. As the game progresses, you find tools which can help clear some of those paths or unlock doors which makes traversing the ship a lot easier and faster.

The ship design is spectacular in its detail. Each deck is designed like a real ship. Engineering near the bottom, the crew living quarters, then the main deck, the sundeck with the captain’s room and bridge, and obviously the rich widow’s apartment (and her teenage daughter’s room) on the top. Fish swim around and crabs can be seen here and there. The crew’s quarters are uniquely decorated and each room on the ship is skillfully thought out to help tell the story. The engineering deck is dark and dirty with tight spaces and ladders which make it difficult to get around, just like my tours of historical ships were like.

The game offers a perfectly drawn map of the Thalassa which comes in incredibly handy. It color codes areas of interest to progress the main story. It puts icons on locked doors and blocked areas so that you know what tool you will need to unlock it. But, most importantly, it contains a legend of each room and area of the ship to help point you in the right direction. This map was one of my favorite parts of the game.

I must also herald the voice acting by the diverse cast. The journalist is an American from the south, one character is Irish, another Scottish, another Jamaican, another British, and so on. It was amazing and added to the depth of each character.

Sound and Music

The music is quite minimalistic in Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss. There are some segments and “How it happened” moments where the music becomes slightly more prominent. It is fitting for the environment and dramatic tone. During the main gameplay while you are walking through the ship, the music rests very quietly in the background, if it’s present at all.

The sound effects, on the other hand, pop and bubble throughout your journey. The sound of your breathing, the sound of objects settling, thumps and groans keep you immersed in the underwater environment. There were several times where I thought the sounds were coming from my house or from my PC. I had to remove my headphones to check on reality. The sound design when above the water is equally impressive and created/programmed with the same care. 

Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss Final Verdict

Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss is currently 4th in line for my Game of the Year top 10. I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and its mysteries. I almost took a day off of work so that I could finish it. That may not mean much to our friendly readers, but for me, that’s a sign of a fantastic game. As simply as I can put it, I loved Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss.

One head scratcher of a detractor came during the reenactment cut scenes. The characters are yellow, their mouths don’t move when they speak, but the real bug is how the yellow characters blip and disappear from time to time. As awesome and careful as the rest of the game is, these scenes were an occasional source of confusion for me wondering why the same care wasn’t taken.

If the required slow movement of underwater walking and a bug that presents itself maybe once per hour are the worst things I can say about this otherwise magnificent entry in my game library, then I’d say the Sarepta Studio has a definite winner on their hand, worthy of your interest.

To hear me talk more about Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss, be sure to listen to our August 16th, 2024 podcast episode around the 1:39:45 time stamp.

This review is based on a PC copy of Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss provided by Team17 for coverage purposes.