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Under The Waves
Stan, a professional diver in the North Sea, is struggling to overcome a life-changing loss during an extended mission underwater. Stuck in his self-imposed solitude, he starts to experience strange events and will have to make the most significant choice of his life...
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-13.
What reviewers agree on
45 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“Visually, atmospherically, and musically, this is beautiful. Is it a game? Yes, to some extents, but it's very much an interactive story rather than a challenge. It's a wonderful exploration of grief, and very moving if…”
“Would absolutely recommend. On sale or full price, your sense of value may differ. I 100% this game in 11 hours just for reference. What a peaceful and curious vibe this game carries for you. I really enjoyed my…”
36 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“Visually, atmospherically, and musically, this is beautiful. Is it a game? Yes, to some extents, but it's very much an interactive story rather than a challenge. It's a wonderful exploration of grief, and very moving if…”
34 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“I finished Under the Waves and I had a good experience with it. The game recommends playing with a controller, but I used keyboard and mouse. Movement felt mostly fine for me. It can feel a little clunky from time to…”
“Under The Waves is for the gamer that enjoys small, open world games with collecting and fetch quests. Outside of that, I found the story to be very bleak. I really did not expect this game to go as dark as it did with…”
“Visually, atmospherically, and musically, this is beautiful. Is it a game? Yes, to some extents, but it's very much an interactive story rather than a challenge. It's a wonderful exploration of grief, and very moving if…”
13 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“Visually, atmospherically, and musically, this is beautiful. Is it a game? Yes, to some extents, but it's very much an interactive story rather than a challenge. It's a wonderful exploration of grief, and very moving if…”
“UNDER THE WAVES Third Person diving game. Stan works as a diver in the North Sea. He lives alone on a small station under water. Tim above sea level gives him daily missions / objectives to do under water. Stan has a…”
“[b]Isolation, Depth & a Mind Going Under – Under The Waves’ Quiet Mechanical Drift[/b] [i]A narrative-driven underwater adventure where exploration, survival systems, and emotional storytelling blend into a slow-burn…”
7 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“Would absolutely recommend. On sale or full price, your sense of value may differ. I 100% this game in 11 hours just for reference. What a peaceful and curious vibe this game carries for you. I really enjoyed my…”
“I played this game on Steam Deck without any issues, so I think it should be marked as "Verified". Graphics are nice, audio as well - looked nice on Deck, although given Unreal Engine 4 it ate battery fairly quickly :)…”
“Beautiful story, lovely graphics and world building. Plenty of things to do outside the main story - collectables, mini-games, you can even make your character pull funny faces in the mirror! There were a few…”
22 of the 102 reviews raise this · 11 of them still recommend the game.
“Under The Waves is for the gamer that enjoys small, open world games with collecting and fetch quests. Outside of that, I found the story to be very bleak. I really did not expect this game to go as dark as it did with…”
“I'm gonna be real, I didn't mesh with the story at all. It felt contrived and melodramatic. The exploration peaks in the first hour and after that you'll realize you've seen mostly everything this game has to offer.…”
19 of the 102 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“I'm gonna be real, I didn't mesh with the story at all. It felt contrived and melodramatic. The exploration peaks in the first hour and after that you'll realize you've seen mostly everything this game has to offer.…”
“super boring unless you like aquatic life even then i would just go to an aquarium or go real scuber diving. Another thing is that this game has game breaking bug that i wish i can return an get a refund for, after 6…”
18 of the 102 reviews raise this · 12 of them still recommend the game.
“WARNING::: Controls for PC are convoluted and make it impossible to play. They put a warning at the start of the game to say its meant to play with controller, which is a polite way of saying "We were too effing lazy to…”
“Under The Waves is for the gamer that enjoys small, open world games with collecting and fetch quests. Outside of that, I found the story to be very bleak. I really did not expect this game to go as dark as it did with…”
“Would absolutely recommend. On sale or full price, your sense of value may differ. I 100% this game in 11 hours just for reference. What a peaceful and curious vibe this game carries for you. I really enjoyed my…”
16 of the 102 reviews raise this · 11 of them still recommend the game.
“Would absolutely recommend. On sale or full price, your sense of value may differ. I 100% this game in 11 hours just for reference. What a peaceful and curious vibe this game carries for you. I really enjoyed my…”
“super boring unless you like aquatic life even then i would just go to an aquarium or go real scuber diving. Another thing is that this game has game breaking bug that i wish i can return an get a refund for, after 6…”
“Beautiful story, lovely graphics and world building. Plenty of things to do outside the main story - collectables, mini-games, you can even make your character pull funny faces in the mirror! There were a few…”
10 of the 102 reviews raise this · 9 of them still recommend the game.
“I finished Under the Waves and I had a good experience with it. The game recommends playing with a controller, but I used keyboard and mouse. Movement felt mostly fine for me. It can feel a little clunky from time to…”
“I'm gonna be real, I didn't mesh with the story at all. It felt contrived and melodramatic. The exploration peaks in the first hour and after that you'll realize you've seen mostly everything this game has to offer.…”
Counted across 102 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 77.5% positive rating · as of 2026-05-13
“I ran into this game quite by accident and decided to take the plunge (literally). It turned out to be a delightful underwater adventure with a sweet story and a lovely environment to explore. The story opens with Stan – a man in the midst of a personal crisis who has chosen to…”
— a player, Steam review · 31 hrs played“Higly recommended for people who loves deep story games. Good story and good under water world to explore. Being allrounder gamer sometimes playing different kind of game feels good. No killing no violence just pure deep story. Also i saw some negative reviews saying it has bad…”
— a player, Steam review · 14 hrs played“Can't really comment on the story, but these are some of the worst swimming controls ever made. Let alone one where the game takes place under water. I'm playing on controller and I could swim forward for 5 minutes and not go anywhere. They should've just made the swimming…”
— a player, Steam review · 1 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Nominate us for the Labor of Love Steam Award!
Hello divers, Under The Waves celebrated its first anniversary this year and we cannot thank you enough for your support! If you enjoyed your time exploring the depth of the North Sea with Stan, you c
The Under the Waves DEMO is available now!
To all divers! Under the Waves is celebrating its one-year anniversary, and with it, you can have a free taste of this gorgeous underwater world with the exclusive demo, available now! We hope you wil
Under The Waves Patch note 01.09
Fixed crashes occurring when ending some specific dreams. Fixed crashes occurring during level transitions. Fixed random Niagara crashes occurring when wandering in the open world. Fixed some loot zon
Get Under the Waves for 50% off this week!
This week get ready to immerse yourself in Under the Waves and enjoy a 50% off discount. Under The Waves invites you to dive into a gorgeous underwater world, brought to life in a poetic blend of cine
Patch 01.07
Greeting divers! A new patch is available for Under the Waves ! Patch changes : Some crashes have been fixed during transitions. Fixed Stan playing air guitar. Updated credits.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-13.
| Genres | Adventure, Indie |
| Player tags | Adventure · Underwater · Exploration · Story Rich · Indie · Atmospheric · Singleplayer · Third Person · Sci-fi · Submarine · 3D · Narration (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Full controller support · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , French * , Italian, German * , Spanish - Spain, Arabic, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Portugal, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese * , Spanish - Latin Am… |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 38 |
| Official site | https://www.UnderTheWavesGame.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i5 4th Gen/ AMD Ryzen 3 4100 4 cores 3.8 GHz Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB/ AMD R9 290 HD 4GB DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 10 GB available space