Get your wetsuit on and dive into the cozy, diver simulation Endless Ocean Luminous! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Endless Ocean Luminous Review Overview
What is Endless Ocean Luminous?
Endless Ocean Luminous is an underwater simulation game developed by Nintendo. It has a heavy focus on exploring the Veiled Sea, seeing the wonders, creatures, and discoveries that you can find on an ever-changing map. Also, the game is catered to diving with other players to cooperate in mapping the procedurally-generated map that everyone gets dropped in and marking items and creatures of interest for other divers to scan and collect.
Endless Ocean Luminous features:
⚫︎ Big procedurally-generated maps for players to explore
⚫︎ Up to 30 players in one session
⚫︎ Unlockable customization items to personalize your avatar
⚫︎ Over 500 different sea creatures, including mythical and presumably extinct marine life
⚫︎ Includes a story mode
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Endless Ocean Luminous's gameplay and story.
 Endless Ocean Luminous |
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 Nintendo |
Endless Ocean Luminous Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Cozy and Chill Tons of Things to Discover Great Collaborative Effort |
Extremely Weak Story Mode Lack of Progression Focus on Multiplayer 99 Unseen Achievements |
Endless Ocean Luminous Overall - 46/100
Endless Ocean Luminous follows up the long-awaited series with some decent ideas but a rather boring and lackluster package. With the focus on multiplayer, the single-player experience suffers from a weak story mode and a subpar solo experience. It’s not as robust as games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons that’s trying to achieve that goal of having that cozy feel, but it has something to build towards because the items to unlock and customization aren’t exciting enough.
Endless Ocean Luminous Story - 2/10
The story is gated by the number of creatures you’ve scanned through solo and multiplayer sessions after the first chapter. Even then, it’s a VERY lackluster story mode that is mostly made up of cutscenes (sometimes, not even having gameplay in some portions) and tutorials that don’t really reward the player for playing the extended sessions and also don’t make you look forward to the next chapter either.
Endless Ocean Luminous Gameplay - 6/10
The solo player experience is a “take your time and just relax” while scanning to learn about sea creatures and picking up random scrap. The gameplay doesn’t change in solo and multiplayer, with the exceptions being that you have others to help you, a time limit per session, and a better use of the tagging system. It’s pretty much drop in, scan, tag, and find anomalous creatures for 90% of the game. This may be relaxing, but it’s not exactly a compelling gameplay loop to repeat as the rewards are also lackluster.
Endless Ocean Luminous Visuals - 6/10
Visually speaking, the game looks decent, but there are problems with visibility in some cases. There’s enough details to distinguish a creature after scanning them, but there are issues that I have with the colors that they chose to go with the unscanned creatures. Another problem is that most of your progress will go into player customization, but the items themselves are mostly recolors and lack of flair when it comes to the different designs for the different wetsuits.
Endless Ocean Luminous Audio - 6/10
The game has a pretty forgettable soundtrack paired with very little voice acting. To make it worse, the little voice acting that it has is an AI companion that really butchers the delivery.
Endless Ocean Luminous Value for Money- 3/10
With the lack of anything compelling, the game is simply not worth picking up for the price of $49.99. It does offer a free 7-day trial of Nintendo Online, but once that’s done, it’ll gut the only good experience that the game has. Moreso, it may just be better to look for either similar games or just play the previous games to have a better experience.
Endless Ocean Luminous Review: Endless Boredom in the Deep Blue
It’s hard enough to cope with a sequel for our personal favorite series that hasn’t received attention for years, but it’s even worse if the sequel ends up being a disappointment. That’s the case with Endless Ocean Luminous, as most of the new mechanics from the previous game, Endless Ocean 2, were omitted. It seemed like the game’s identity had changed from an exploration RPG into something like Animal Crossing.
It’s not a bad thing to emulate Animal Crossing’s gameplay loop, but with the lack of progression and actual rewards, it’ll be hard to keep players interested. The game simply banks on multiplayer, with the social aspect being the saving grace of a very lackluster game. It may have worked if it was marketed or presented like an MMO, but alas, the game fails to capture that magic.
The core loop of the game involves you going into diving sessions on procedurally generated maps to discover more creatures to log to your collection and find scrap that you find lying on the ocean floor. There’s not much else to it other than the periodic anomalous animals to scan and other items to find. Helping other players and being able to communicate with them is the better aspect of the gameplay, but if you’re gating that with an online paywall, then the game will really end up being uninteresting in the end.
There’s nothing else that stands out for the game, as the visuals, audio, and story are all lacking. Especially with the story, since the game literally stops you from playing through the story that’s mostly just filled with cutscenes with bad voice acting. It may have been better to skip the story entirely and have a way more robust progression with a base to develop or more rewards to entice the player to keep playing.
All in all, the game is sad shell of its former self. Even worse is that, it may take even longer for them to consider another game for the Endless Ocean with how bad it’s currently doing.
Pros of Endless Ocean Luminous
| Things Endless Ocean Luminous Got Right |
|---|
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Cozy and Chill Tons of Things to Discover Great Collaborative Effort |
Cozy and Chill
There’s a lot of problems that the game has, but credit where credit is due. It succeeds in giving you that cozy and chill atmosphere as you explore the deep blue. Solo sessions really are just a time for you to chill out and explore to your heart’s content.
Tons of Things to Discover
There are more than 500 sea creatures available to be discovered in the game and 99 achievements to finish to unlock the story’s buildup towards the treasure of the sea. It’ll take a lot of diving sessions to achieve all of these, and even more to find all the sea creatures.
Great Collaborative Effort
The tagging system and the multiplayer aspect make the gameplay shine. Collaborating with different players makes the exploration enjoyable, and being able to interact with people makes the game a bearable experience.
Cons of Endless Ocean Luminous
| Things That Endless Ocean Luminous Can Improve |
|---|
|
Extremely Weak Story Mode Lack of Progression Focus on Multiplayer 99 Unseen Achievements |
Extremely Weak Story Mode
First off, the story is gated by the number of unique scans of sea creatures. Second, the story is not that great either. Lastly, the voice acting for the AI companion in the game doesn’t help due to the lifeless delivery of several lines. If it were possible to trade the story mode for an actual hub base to build and develop, then it would make the game way better.
Lack of Progression
The rewards in the game are simply lackluster. Having customization is nice, but if the ocean isn’t shallow enough, then the gameplay loop will not hold up. The game wanted to try and emulate Animal Crossing’s loop, but failed with nothing else to build towards.
Focus on Multiplayer
After the 7-day trial of online play, I’m worried if anyone will still be interested in playing the game. The focus of the game seems to revolve around playing with a massive session and having a community to play with, but solo players will simply have to explore the deep blue alone without really taking advantage of the mechanics that the game has to offer.
99 Unseen Achievements
The game’s story will have you find an ancient stone tablet that shines after completing an achievement. The main problem is that you don’t see the achievement requirements. Now, it’s not exactly a bad thing to keep it a secret, but even little hints might make it easier to convey the different achievements to accomplish. Players will have to aimlessly keep playing the game in hopes of achieving something, but won’t really have a clue until the tablet shines.
Is Endless Ocean Luminous Worth It?
Play Something Else Or Get the Older Games
There’s a significant amount of content that isn’t present in this game as opposed to the preceding game. The game lost its identity of being an exploration RPG introduced in Blue Ocean and became more of an Animal Crossing-type game to maybe catch that lightning bolt again. However, with the lack of compelling rewards and a compelling story, the game is simply not entertaining enough to make the player continue playing. It might be better to look for other diving simulators like Beyond Blue, Abzu, and maybe even the older games in the franchise.
| Digital Storefronts | |
|---|---|
| Nintendo |
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| Price | $49.99 |
Endless Ocean Luminous FAQ
How do I avail of the 7-Day Free Trial of Nintendo Online Endless Ocean Luminous?
When you select the Shared Dive option, you'll be asked to connect to the Nintendo Online after. Simply accept and avail of the 7-day free trial in the options provided. Also, don't forget to untick the box regarding the payment to immediately unsubscribe to Nintendo Online after the trial and not renew the subscription plan.
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Endless Ocean Luminous Product Information
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| Title | ENDLESS OCEAN LUMINOUS |
|---|---|
| Release Date | May 2, 2024 |
| Developer | Nintendo |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Supported Platforms | Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Simulation, Multiplayer, Adventure |
| Number of Players | 1-30 (Online) |
| ESRB Rating | E |
| Official Website | Endless Ocean Luminous Website |
