The Mark of the Deep developers, Mad Mimic, reached out to me on Lurkit requesting me to cover their game. It’s a souls-like, metroidvania game with a top-down, locked camera perspective. Affiliate link here. Note the videos may have spoilers and I am missing the first part of the playthrough due to Twitch issues.

You play as a character named Rookie who’s tasked with rescuing his crew from a weird world after a shipwreck. The story is predictable but not in a bad way. It gives you enough to accurately guess while leaving some surprises.

Normally, I’m not interested in souls-like games not made by the traditional Dark Souls developers. However, I figured I’d give this one a shot. It wasn’t too bad at first but I clearly got salty at the first boss. However, I quickly learned about godmode, which is a huge accessibility feature for games like Mark of the Deep. I enabled it and had a blast the rest of the game!

I can’t comment much on the combat gameplay since I played in godmode. It doesn’t play like the normal Dark Souls games so it’s quite out of my comfort zone. I’m glad the godmode option gave me a chance to enjoy it.

The puzzles were fun and engaging. I got stuck on a few but eventually figured them out. Exploration was entertaining but frustrating at times with lots of backtracking and confusion. There is fast travel, but it only works for some of the shrines.

A big frustration was finding treasure or objectives, but being unable to reach it. So, you progress through the game until you find a tool or ability to help you reach it. Then, you can’t remember where to find it when going back. I suppose that’s the nature of metroidvania games, but I didn’t find it enjoyable.

Mark of the Deep has voice acting, some of which cracks me up. The NPC designs are pretty neat and the story was engaging. I ended up beating the game, going back and playing to complete more side quests, and then beating the ending again for a different result. Only trouble was some decisions are finals, which prevent the 100% completion for achievements. If this scares you, there is a Steam guide to help you avoid these pitfalls.

At the end of the day, godmode allowed me to enjoy the game which gave me a new appreciation for the story and characters. I would definitely try another game from Mad Mimic, the developer, and recommend it for those who enjoy souls-like games. If you have never played a souls-like, this is a nice, easy introduction to learning combat mechanics and recognizing patterns. I’m glad for the opportunity to try something new!