PC REVIEW | Scale the Depths

I’m becoming quite a fan of cosy games these days, especially when they have something a little unusual to bring to the table; sometimes it can be a little bit of cosmic horror, other times you could be getting fossils for your neighbours’ collections, and very rarely you might be running a Sweeney Todd-style operation. Scale the Depths has fishing, but instead of catching them for your store, you must catch fish for a very particular clientele of consumers.

You’ll be catching, scaling, deworming and chopping fish for various marine life, seabirds and legendary creatures. You have to pay attention to what each customer desires and feed them the correct fish in order to get paid and buy better rods, blades and bait. All this, and you just so happen to be an adorable wee robot that, yes, you can customise with bought and found loot you discover under the waves of each body of water you fish in.

Now you might be thinking, isn’t this similar to the likes of Dave the Diver? Or other fishing minigames on other cosy titles? Not as such, no, as Dave the Diver is about diving, and other games don’t have the Loch Ness monster asking for a feast from your tiny boat.

So after a few hours of playing Scale the Depths, do I think it’s going to be worth a look for you hardened cosy game players out there? Well, let’s take a look at my likes and dislikes.

Things I liked!

• Gameplay | The gameplay of Scale the Depths isn’t what you would call complicated; you stand at the edge of your boat, drop the hook and then control the hook through the depths and try to catch as many fish as your basket and the line length allow. You can, of course, give your hook, line and catch containers upgrades which allow you to sink deeper, fish longer and catch more fish. You also get special bait which helps you to catch more elusive prey in the deeper parts of the waters while also enabling you to get some pretty cool wee secrets here and there. Now you might expect this part of it to become a little repetitive, but in the time I played it, I was still having fun discovering new parts of each map and hunting for even rarer fish to feed to my customers.
  
  Another aspect of the gameplay is the cleaning and preparation of the fish. Now it’s not too difficult, as remember, this is meant to be cosy. You descale the fish, remove parasites and barnacles and then chop, chop, chop. The bigger the fish, however, the more difficult this part can become, but again, you can upgrade your blades to bigger and better options, making it a little more easy-going the higher the level of equipment you have. I especially liked the claymore, which, let’s be honest, is a ridiculous weapon to use for fish preparation.
  
  In essence the game is talk to customer, fish, prepare, sell, buy, repeat, but it doesn’t get boring. So as far as gameplay goes, it’s chill and fun in equal measure.

• Graphics | Graphically, Scale the Depths is a simple beast; everything feels like it would have been at home in the 16-bit era. The main character is cute, the boat is dinky, the customers all have a style of their own, and when you plunge your hook into the water, there are tonnes of varied fish to see and catch. Talking of the waters, there are multiple biomes to visit, each with their own fish variants, puzzles and obstacles to discover, and each looks just as good as the last one. My personal favourite is Loch Ness for obvious reasons, though (hint: I’m Scottish). Getting back to the fish, though, when it comes to the point where you are preparing the fish, the level of detail is amazing. Now, we are not talking photorealism here, as it stays within the boundaries of the 16-bit style, but they still look pretty damn good. I think, to be honest, the level of detail is just enough to keep the game charming as is, and any upgrades would have removed that charm, in my opinion.
  
  
• Sound Design | The music of Scale the Depths is pretty calm and chill for the most part, with each level having its own leitmotif when you start fishing, which gives it a nice little sense of the place you are in. The sound effects are very simple but very effective; scraping off scales has a satisfying scraping noise, slicing the fish comes with a lovely thunk of the blade hitting the table, and even the creatures you interact with all have their own specific sound effects too. All in all, keeping it simple just stays with the whole aesthetic of the game and works well for it.

Mixed & disliked!

• Instructions | While the game does give you instruction when you are playing, sometimes it can take a little trial and error to get some of the controls down properly. For example, when removing parasites on some of the fish, I didn’t realise you had to swipe over them while holding the button, and I spent time clicking on them, wondering why they weren’t being removed. Another example is when fishing: you hold the button and direct the hook rather than just letting it fall to catch fish. But once you know what you are doing, it becomes pretty intuitive. Also, for anyone who hasn’t tried the game yet, please keep an eye on your notebooks because even though you might not want to read through a load of text, it will help in the long run.

• Length | Scale the Depths is not a long game; you can complete it fully in around 5 hours, or if you want to collect everything, it might take a little bit longer. However, you can go back to continue fishing and collecting money, but is there any reason to do so? Personally, I just go back to it every so often because I enjoy the atmosphere of the game, but for more seasoned cosy game players it might not be one that will satisfy that itch for a relaxing game that you might have. I sincerely hope that the developers will bring out some DLC at some point, as it has the potential to be a very cool wee chill game.

Score: 81/100

Overall, I think Scale the Depths is an enjoyable way to spend a few hours; the fishing element is fun, tending to your customers is quite interesting and the preparation of the fish is just strangely relaxing. If you are looking for a fishing game with no expectations, then Scale the Depths might be for you. My only real issue is the length, as it is something I think would benefit from a larger story or more areas to play around in. But as it stands, it’s a nice wee distraction that is worth checking out.