Endless Ocean: Luminous Nintendo Switch Review - Is It Worth It?

In too deep

Endless Ocean: Luminous is available on Nintendo Switch on May 2nd 2024

Review copy provided by Nintendo

#EndlessOcean #NintendoSwitch #Luminous

[LvlGenesis]

It’s a shame they didn’t take more from the sequel. Having a more robust story mode and a customizable aquarium would’ve been perfect with the online setting. Just imagine being able to visit your friend’s aquarium and dive in it. Maybe even allow you to create tank decorations and caves for the fish to hide in. There is so much potential for this series and I hope Nintendo will give it another chance.

[mattheb]

So no more going on land? I always loved emerging from the water in EO2 and finding seals, penguins, etc. I'm also surprised they got rid of air tanks, and the gun to calm down aggressive animals. Upgrading all of the gear was a great aspect of EO2. If it's bad guess I'll just replay that again

[RachelXKnight]

Not gonna lie. This laid back, slow paced collectathon exploring sounds right up my alley

[bonesjackson]

$19.99 maybe. But Nintendo doesn't know what a sale is.

[Maxemillian_X]

Not all games need tension. Sometimes, just having a purely chill experience is just what someone needs. Endless Ocean was about that jam. I don’t remember picking up Endless Ocean 2 but I don’t remember that doing anything with more tension than just cataloging deep sea creatures.
The great thing about the first game is that it took advantage of the SD card slot on the Wii and allowed for custom music. Just load up some chill tunes, which today would be some bomb ass lo-fi, and just mellow out under the sea with the fishies.

[marconihimself]

I always saw endless ocean as a interactive experience to learn about sea life. There are no stakes because the focus of this piece of software is to be a immersive learning sim.

[heidenrxslein]

Honestly, I loved the first Endless Ocean game because it was relaxing. No oxygen, no sharks that can attack you. Just swimming, interacting, exploring, salvaging.
The second one gave me way too much anxiety with their “attention!! Something is going ti attack you!!” sound and symbol.

[maikomarx]

The thing is this game really doesn’t feel like an endless ocean game. I grew up with EO2 and played countless hours finding all the fish, treasures, and gaining enough pelagos to reopen the cavern of the gods. Just the whole vibe of having a team of divers go on an adventure across multiple different seas, meeting up at the island or aquarium, unlocking all the different diving gear. It’s just not here at all. The controls feel different too. Never would I find myself wishing a game had floatier controls, but here I am. And yea, I get that this is more laid back and doesn’t intend for the creatures to be dangerous (even though they added Thanatos and multiple large, dangerous marine reptiles), or have scary situations, but that’s also something EO2 excelled at. When I play subnautica, I’m afraid that a leviathan will kill me. When I play EO2, I’m afraid I’ll find something in the depths that I shouldn’t. This game had so much potential to expand on a bigger story, have more unique designated areas to explore (rather than one big randomized area), have a campy yet endearing cast of characters, and have more secrets to find. Seriously, I was shocked when I started to find many of the named mythical creatures from EO2 within the first hour, having done absolutely nothing. I remember having to do puzzles and waiting for full moons and following birds across the world to find certain creatures. I don’t know. This game is certainly its own experience, but it seems far from an endless ocean game…

[Cynim]

Probably not a game that'll appeal to everybody, but this game contributes to Nintendo's mantra: diverse genres in their games.

[tinkerframe]

Only thing I wanted out of this game was a relaxing ocean scanning game, sounds nice

[lordike]

I got a pre-order for this game and Paper mario, for someone that work alot of hours, having a chill game before sleep is always nice. So, i can't wait to try it.

Maybe i'll not like it, but at least i'm willing to try, i love underwater games.

[frostfire]

I loved endless oceans 2 on my Wii - I was so excited when I heard this was coming however there doesn’t seem to be much of a ‘story’ like endless oceans 2 had which was my favourite part of that game because you were always going into these areas with an objective as almost a dive archaeologist and some danger and ‘scary fish’ involved too
With it being more a group game without much of what I liked in endless oceans 2 I’ll likely give it a miss unfortunately unless it goes on a good discount

[Leadbullproductions]

So it sounds like the reviewer was more focused on what kinda games they wanted versus what the game is. They made a laid back explore game

[kasugaifox]

I'm still gonna give this game a go. I want to play a game where I'm not getting murdered under water. I'll play abzu or subnautica if I want that. 😊

[therach]

I was a massive fan of Blue World.... this strips SO much out and leaves only the bones. No more customizable reef, more aquarium to manage, no more dolphins to name and train, no more interesting characters with their own specialties, no more salvaging, no more picture challenges, no more calming sharks and caiman, no more walking on land for extra animals, no more island to customize, no more scuba business to manage, and worst of all no interesting story. The story of Endless Ocean is honestly slept on. It's a world spanning mystery with phenomenal characters and steller locations. I'll eventually play this, but I'll buy it on sale

[PhoenixMoore]

This feels cool, but the price should be a smooth 24.99.

[Bubba-]

If I want high tension fighting I’ll play Monster Hunter; if I want to relax I’ll play Endless Ocean or Animal Crossing

[Karuminu]

It's soulless. You don't interact with the creatures you meet, there's no hubworld like the ship in EO1 or Nineball Island in EO2. No Hayley Westenra to grace us with her songs as we explore, just a stupid AI chiseling away at our eardrums. No dolphins to befriend and partner up with to aid us in finding hidden, tiny lifeforms or treasures on the seafloor. The story is too slow to progress (e.g. scan a million fish to progress for two minutes of the next chapter) so it doesn't capture my interest. It would have been way better if the Endless Ocean prequels were ported over onto the Switch instead of this hollow, empty, insulting, soulless excuse that dares to call itself a sequel to one of best casual gaming series ever produced by Nintendo.

[Kristen]

Personally, I LOVE the fact that I don't have to worry about being attacked. I love the relaxed atmosphere of Endless Ocean, and I never finished Blue World due to the fact that you could get attacked and run out of air. The only thing I'm not really thrilled about this game is the fact that the map resets after an hour. I would prefer a world that doesn't change. That way they could put more effort into making the environment the best it could be.

[SwitchThePlayer]

I’m still trying to find all the fish in ACNH 😂😂😂