Review: Endless Ocean Luminous Is a Shallow Dive Into a Disappointing Sea

During my teenage years, the Endless Ocean franchise was my go-to when unwinding after long college days. The announcement the new installment Endless Ocean Luminous, for the Nintendo Switch, filled me with nostalgia and anticipation. Unfortunately, this new chapter falls short when it comes to several aspects, leaving me yearning for the charm of its predecessors.

The original Endless Ocean and its sequel Endless Ocean: Blue World weren’t just games involving diving into the sea and looking for creatures. I mean, they were, but they had such charm and a cute storyline to each of them. You could feed said creatures and interact with them, and sometimes they’d interact with you too. Immediately within my first 15 minutes of playing Endless Ocean Luminous, it was clear that it lacked the personality and depth that were so entrenched in the previous titles.

In Endless Ocean Luminous, you’re a faceless diver tasked with exploring the Veiled Sea, a vast ocean with over 500 species to discover. As you encounter marine life, you scan it and discover information about it. Some creatures are so tiny that you wouldn’t even know they were there without scanning. Finding new life is the best part of the game, and almost every inch of the Veiled Sea has some sort of creature living in it, so you’re rarely swimming along with nothing to see. Yet sometimes, I could go a long time without finding anything new.

Like in the real ocean, the deeper you go in Endless Ocean Luminous, the creepier the discoveries you may come across. Swim close to the surface, and you’ll encounter dolphins. Dive deeper to the point where the only light source is your flashlight, and you’ll find the stuff of nightmares. On my first dive into the depths, I was actually scared because I had no idea what awaited me there. Would there be sharks? A giant octopus who would wrap me up in one of its huge tentacles and crush me? The latter didn’t happen, but there were sharks and other disturbing creatures, such as anglerfish and coelacanth.

The fact that something like that didn’t happen is just it, though. Not that I’m expecting to be swallowed whole by a whale, as this isn’t that type of game, but there’s very little interaction between the player and the marine life. It’s unsatisfying! The gameplay loop consists of diving, scanning, and picking up salvage from the seafloor, which is nothing new to the franchise, but it does little to make the process enjoyable. It lacks the soul that was so evident throughout the Nintendo Wii titles. The ocean does nothing to acknowledge your presence.

I hoped that would change in Endless Ocean Luminous’ story mode, but it didn’t. Many of the missions, which revolved around going on research expeditions to save the World Coral, were shallow and ended after a couple of minutes. It felt jarring because I’d get into the experience, then dive would end and lock me out of jumping into the next mission because I hadn’t scanned a certain number of creatures yet. I understand capping players from being able to complete the story in one go by encouraging them to go on more dives and explore, but when almost every story mission locked me out, it felt frustrating.

Marketing materials heavily emphasized the Endless Ocean Luminous dives for up to 30 players, so I was excited to see if multiplayer was a more enriching experience than solo play. I was given an hour time slot to experience a multiplayer dive, and I spent it doing exactly the same thing I’d spent hours doing alone. There were group missions, during which we had to work together to scan certain marine life, which was fun at first. However, the same mission looped twice in a row, instantly tarnishing the experience. I looked forward to running into (or swimming into) another player so we could emote and wave to each other more than anything else, which isn’t an experience I’d pay $49.99 to have.

Overall, Endless Ocean Luminous lacks heart. It’s a shallow take on a franchise with a lot of potential to be special, especially on a handheld console like the Nintendo Switch. If you’re looking for a chill way to pass the time or if you have a child who is interested in learning about marine life, I’d recommend trying it out. But you may be disappointed if you’re looking for anything more than that.

Endless Ocean Luminous will be released on May 2, 2024, on the Nintendo Switch.