Song of the Deep is an underwater Metroidvania-style adventure game, created by Insomniac Games and released on July 12, 2016 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One.
It stars Merryn, a young girl who lives with her widowed father in a small shack overlooking the sea. Every day, her father goes out fishing while she takes care of things at home and waits for him to return in the evenings. After he does not return, she has a nightmare of his boat being pulled under the water, so she builds a makeshift submarine and dives into the sea to locate him before it's too late. It also features a tie-in novel that tells the same story in a different manner but also elaborates on plot points left unclear in the game.
See The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human for another aquatic Metroidvania that was released earlier the same year.
This game contains examples of:
- All Just a Dream: The first time Merryn runs out of health and returns to the most recent save point, the game explains that that was a "potential outcome" vision from the tyne and didn't really happen.
- All Myths Are True: Merryn initially didn't believe that her father's stories of the sea and its legendary creatures were true, but enjoyed them for the fascination factor. She quickly learns that all of them are indeed true and uses those same stories as a guide as a result.
- Artistic License – Physics:
- Merryn and her father remain completely unaffected by the water pressure and cold temperatures of how deep they end up diving without any sort of protection.
- In the game, there's no explanation on how Merryn keeps her submarine filled with air. It's explained in the novel.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Swish becomes Merryn's best friend after she rescues him from the Watcher.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Rimarosa. It's not so much defeated as freed from its control.
- Demonic Spiders: In-Universe, Merryn considers the Fomori Sentinels as these. They're even more dangerous in the novel.
- Didn't Think This Through: In the novel, Merryn's quest nearly comes to an end before she even gets started due to not taking into account how she'd provide air for her sub and nearly suffocates. The shell she used to patch a hole ends up being able to filter oxygen from the water, but only if she keeps moving.
- Due to the Dead: After killing the Watcher, Merryn can receive an achievement for bringing a flower to its final resting place.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: While Merryn does encounter several friendly sea creatures, she also has to fight off swarms of jellyfish, angler fish, giant grabs, giant urchins, and nautilus constantly.
- Fake Ultimate Mook: The Leviathan. When it appears, it looks like it's going to be a terrifying boss. Instead it's completely harmless and will give you a power-up if you figure out what to feed it.
- Giant Enemy Crab: The Tremorclaws are enormous, hostile deep sea crabs.
- Guide Dang It!: The game provides exactly zero clues for how to get past puffer fish. You need to use freeze torpedoes to make them float higher or lava torpedoes to cause them to sink.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Merryn upon finding her father's journal and believing him to be dead.
- Also in the novelization when she blames herself for her mother's death.
- Light and Mirrors Puzzle: The game contains these puzzles in some sections where you need to adjust the mirrors or beam lamps.
- Meaningful Name: Red Reapers, red squids that deliver instant death if they catch you.
- Missing Mom: No mention of Merryn's mother is made in the game. The Novelization elaborates that she drowned while saving Merryn's life when she was little.
- Money for Nothing: You'll easily be able to afford every single upgrade in the game long before you find every hidden treasure.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: The Red Reapers. The game outright says the only thing to do when encountering one is to run like hell! The only thing capable of killing them is a barrage of concentrated laser fire from ancient machines on the sea floor.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Fomori Sentinels destroy the clockwork seahorse, Merryn is more than willing to start unleashing everything she has against them.
- Sequel Hook: Merryn has several unanswered questions left, so she gets started on another submarine in the final shot.
- Scenery Porn: Of the underwater variety with every area detailed uniquely and lovingly to showcase the wonders of the undersea world.
- Sensor Suspense: During the stealth based mission (see below), Merryn is navigating in complete darkness and must rely on sonar pulses to highlight Red Reapers before she gets too close to them.
- Shout-Out:
- One of the trophies is for Merryn to defeat a giant crab outside of the sub and with her coral knife. The trophy is titled "Merryn and Goliath."
- Invincible squid-monsters called Reapers.
- Stealth-Based Mission: Finding one of the parts to repair the clockwork seahorse requires diving into a deep, dark hole where you must rely on sonar to avoid detection from Red Reapers.
