Nintendo has revealed Endless Ocean Luminous in today’s Nintendo Partner Showcase.
While the trailer did not name the developer, we know that Arika is the studio behind the franchise. Endless Ocean is itself a spiritual successor of Everblue, a similar underwater exploration game on the PlayStation 2.
However, if Everblue is where it started, Endless Ocean is where the genre found its footing. Both Endless Ocean and Endless Ocean 2 on the Wii featured motion controls, a larger, more realized world, and online. However, on the Wii, online play was limited to two player online multiplayer, and of course, you had to share Friend codes.
The two games also came with two very different ideas of game design. The first Endless Ocean was more open ended, giving players not just an open world, but literally no sense of direction on what to do. Completing the game is also difficult because some events and items are tied to seasons.
Endless Ocean 2 is arguably the better realized game. You have several seas to travel to and explore, and a more rigid level structure with objectives to meet. But this is no longer an open world, and subsequently it’s considerably easier to complete.
Some fans may have debated the merits of either title and their game design, but in 2024, Endless Ocean Luminous is releasing in a world after Abzu and Subnautica popularized the underwater exploration genre. These two, and other games explored other ideas following Endless Ocean’s lead, but Endless Ocean Luminous has its own original game concept too.
Endless Ocean Luminous takes players to a new mysterious area called the Veiled Sea. In this title, you can hook up with 30 players online for simultaneous multiplayer, and this may be the most ambitious online title on the Switch yet.
Players can share greetings with each other, and guide each other to explore the Veiled Sea. There are 500 species to find in the Veiled Sea, including some extinct, and some even mythical.
Arika is certainly as eclectic as game studios go, working on games as varied as Fighting Layer EX, and Tetris 99, to Super Dragon Ball Z. They seem eager to apply what they have learned making Nintendo’s battle royale games to a decidedly pacifist exploration-based title.
Endless Ocean Luminous will be released on May 2, 2024, and it looks like it will be digital only. You can pre-order it now on the eShop here and watch the official announce trailer below.
