Underwater action game Glaciered stars an aquatic bird descendant

Just yesterday, developer Studio Snowblind unveiled its first game, which comes in the form of an underwater action game called Glaciered. This unique adventure sees players taking control of a Tuai, an underwater species descended from birds, as they explore a submerged Earth 65 million years after mankind went extinct. Such a premise would feel right at home in a contemplative, explorative game like Abzu, but Glaciered does not offer that kind of experience despite what the first half of the reveal trailer may lead one to believe. Instead, Glaciered centers around high-octane 3D combat not too dissimilar to the likes of Zone of the Enders.

According to the Steam page, Earth has succumbed to the “Everwinter,” which has created an enormous sheet of ice that covers the planet’s entire surface. In this post-apocalyptic future, life thrives in the waters underneath the ice. In particular, the Tuai have developed a “superior intellect and unique metabolism” that are remarkably well-suited to this environment. Unfortunately for them, certain creatures threaten the long-term stability of the Everwinter. The Tuai must fight back to preserve their way of life.

Master the undersea arts

As for combat, it provides players with a host of melee and ranged options as well as special abilities. Skills include “high-speed swimming that creates tunnels of supercritical water, temporal crystal blades, and more.” Of course, since the game takes place underwater, players have full omnidirectional movement at their disposal, which should allow for quite a few ways to approach fights.

Based on the trailer, Glaciered looks like a surprisingly solid action game in its own right. The underwater visuals obviously look beautiful, but the most striking part of the trailer was seeing the player character dodge these video-gamey attack animations from mostly normal-looking sea creatures. As a fan of these kinds of action games, this seems right up my alley.