When you hear Quantic Dream, what do you think of? Most gamers will think of the popular games Beyond: Two Souls, Detroit Become Human, or Heavy Rain. Some gamers will think of Sea of Solitude: The Director’s Cut on the Nintendo Switch. Prior to Summer Game Fest, when Quantic Dream asked us to meet, we were expecting a dramatic narrative with a variety of paths. Instead, we got two different indie titles that we were not expecting but still had interesting aspects of gameplay. At Summer Game Fest 2023, we had the opportunity to preview Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior and Under the Waves.

Going into Summer Game Fest, I had not heard of Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior and Under the Waves, but after seeing their trailers, our curiosity peaked. How would Sand Door Studio tackle time travel in Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior as a core gameplay mechanic while differentiating itself from Prince of Persia? How would Parallel Studios’ Under the Waves handle sea exploration in a different way than Subnautica?

As gamers, we tend to associate and compare games with one another to find other games that we will enjoy. When a review does it to compare the game they are reviewing with another game, they are sometimes criticized especially when it’s excessive; however, to help some of you who have not heard of them, we will use some comparisons to help entice those.

Under the Waves

When exploring Under the Waves, the sealab within the game reminds us of Sealab 2021.  For time’s sake, we did not get to explore much of the living quarters only freshened up and spoke to management. After being tasked to find a shipping container that has become lost at sea, we set out to explore the great blue yonder.

Upon entering our submarine, we quickly realized that the oxygen for the compound had a blockage that needed to be solved. After examining the main unit we quickly realized that the surrounding pumps were down. In order to turn back on the oxygen, we had to swim over to each unit and repressurize the pumps. With the pumps repressurized through a small mini-game, we were able to restore oxygen to the complex through the center pump.

Once the oxygen was restored to the complex, we could then go search for the crate. After a quick search, we were easily able to find the crate thanks to the sonar system. While trying to confirm that the crate that we found was the missing one, the crate slipped into a chasm. Upon diving deeper into the chasm, we found something that we did not expect, a WW2 submarine.

From our time with the game, it seems like everything or almost everything is interactable. For players looking to explore the ocean depths and collect everything, there will be hours of gameplay. According to the developers, even the base story will have a good amount of playtime.

Lysfanga

When I first saw Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior, I thought it was a game inspired by Prince of Persia. Since we have been waiting so long for a new Prince of Persia it would only make sense; however, after playing the game, I realized that it was so much more. The game uses its time rift features to not only solve puzzles but to help aid in combat that would otherwise be a pain to deal with. Within each life, the main character has a set amount of time within each loop to move through the map and attack enemies.

Upon death or once the timer runs out, Lysfanga will travel back in time and is able to take a different path. Once all enemies are destroyed the zone is considered clear. If you are unable to slay all enemies within an area within the appropriate amount of loops you will be defeated. As you progress through the game, the challenges within each zone become more difficult; thankfully, before starting a run, the player can scout out the zone to see what they will need to deal with. In the demo, we dealt with monsters that were linked together and had to be slain at the same exact time. In a future challenge, we dealt with switches that would open or block the path once pressed. The final mechanic we had to overcome was the shield creatures; in order to slay these beasts, we need our past or future self to distract the creature and slash at it once its back was turned.

Once we encountered these different aspects of the game, the game decided to put the three together to make our life more difficult. After completing the demo, we realized that there was so much more to Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior than expected; it will be interesting to see what direction the game takes when it releases.

Steam Description

Your Kingdom’s fate relies on you… you… and you. Rewind time to create clones of your past-selves, and fight with an army of your own. Become legion and triumph over hordes of monsters to rescue Antala in this Hack’N’Slash game with a tactical twist.