Between dives, Mirai returns to her submarine, where she communicates not only with her friends and colleagues on the surface ship to plan what to do next, but also her sister back home, who is kind and supportive, but also dealing with her own problems. As the story progresses, Mirai's interest in a particular pod of sperm whales - one of which is a newborn - becomes clear, as does her concern that local human activity might be having an adverse impact on the health of the whale family. Players can then swim to each location to investigate, stopping to check out any fish or sea floor activity that looks interesting along the way. Dives typically begin with Mirai using a line dangling from a high-tech buoy to identify and pinpoint sounds of interest. She employs scanners to document the behaviors of animals ranging from angelfish to orcas, deploys tracking devices to monitor them, and makes use of fish-like drones to conduct close-up examinations without being too invasive. In particular, it would have been much better if you could differentiate the sick whales and sharks visually via their behaviours and appearances, instead of having to use the scanner all the time, especially in such an otherwise biologically accurate game.BEYOND BLUE takes players deep into the ocean by putting them in the role of Mirai, a diver and researcher who uses the most advanced equipment available to better understand aquatic life.
This mode is perfect for completionists who want to tackle Beyond Blue’s Trophy list, or for those who fall in love with drifting peacefully in the sea and just want that relaxing experience to continue.įor such a rich world centred on scientific realism, it would have been nice to see some more variety in the 3D models of the individual marine life (especially the whales), which remain largely the same give or take a few exceptions.
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Additionally, after the final credits have rolled roughly 4-6 hours in, you’ll be able to access free diving mode, which opens up all eight biomes without story and dialogue unfolding during the dive. Compared to the main plot, Mirai’s family storyline is a little underdeveloped, but it’s still a welcome addition to proceedings.ĭuring conversations, dialogue choices allow you to shape exchanges and even pick dive locations, and this adds replay value. At the end of each dive, Mirai can access the helm of her submarine, open messages, and talk to her team and her younger, college-student-sister Ren. Of course, Mirai has her own backstory interwoven with the plot which reveals the reasons for her being so dedicated to protecting the whales she studies. Scanning also relays information back to a Science Log that Mirai can study in the safety of her submarine. Now you’ll be able to use UV lights to reveal a new side of each creature and orbit an underwater drone around larger animals such as orcas to identify sensor tags and record snippets of their songs.
Once the game’s conservationist narrative begins to unravel further, the scanning tool will be upgraded. Scanning marine life brings up information about each species, including their scientific name, the number of individuals you have encountered in the game so far and, vitally for the game’s story, the relative health of each creature you meet. Approach marine life and you’ll be encouraged to press L1 so you can focus a reticule over a given creature in order to scan it. Each marine biome is home to an ecosystem of aquatic life unique to that area and, because Beyond Blue skirts the line between an educational experience and exploration adventure, there’s the option to learn more about everything you encounter.