If you’ve been following the development of Submerged, Uppercut Studios’ (of Epoch and Epoch 2 fame) upcoming game, you probably remember its fantastic visuals which prove that Unreal Engine 4 can really kick visuals up a notch. Well, sadly, the developers have just announced that while they plan to bring the game to mobile, they’ve had to delay it, but it looks like the delay is for all the right reasons. If you don’t know anything about the game, in Submerged you play as a young woman trapped in an ancient, half-submerged city. Lacking any supplies, she has to explore the flooded streets in her fishing boat, all the while scaling ruined buildings. Many have commented on the game’s Uncharted vibe, and if you visit the game’s blog, you’ll likely agree with them too.
Now, when it comes to the delay, the developers have stated that they want to get the game out on every platform supported by the Unreal Engine 4, which was one of the reasons they picked this development platform to begin with. However, they emphasize their belief that a game should be optimized both in terms of performance and control schemes on every platform it releases. While Uppercut will develop Submerged for PC and Console in parity, the mobile version is a different beast and needs more development time in order to reach the standard the developers aim for. Therefore, they’ve decided to delay the game so as to design a 3rd person control scheme that feels right for touch screens and to get the most out of mobile devices in terms of visuals. So, good news, in a way, as the developers don’t seem to see the port simply as a quick money grab but, rather, want to develop a game worth playing on mobile. I don’t mind waiting for this one, especially if it ends up being as spectacular as it promises.
