Item - Demons of the Deep

This is the first FF book I ever read. It was offered at school in one of these programs to promote reading where you took a 4 page handout home to decide what you might want to order. I imagine it was the awesome cover art that sold me on it. My brother and I played this one over and over again so there could be some nostalgia bias here.

Having re-read this again, it's much as I remember. It's an immersive environment in an underwater Atlantean setting and there are multiple paths to victory. Mapping doesn't make much sense here as it is a multi-leveled 3D structure where you can rise and dive. Memory will have to serve. The underwater Atlantean themed world is very well done in its characters and descriptions. Black pearls are a key item you will need for the best ending, but you can win without them if you recruit the help of the Sea Dragon. Similar to Scorpion Swamp, you will find there's a cost to working with certain characters.

The book is not particularly hard. I got a good ending after 3-4 playthroughs although with more black pearls you can get the easiest final battle/ending. There aren't any brutal sudden deaths I know of other than one early on if you make a really dumb decision to resurface. Even if you fail, odds are you will just surface and live another day having not exacted revenge on the pirates. There are many places left to explore and many ways to win as black pearls are located in numerous places. Even though the book is not that hard to beat, there are still a few things you need to do along the way; it's just that it's not all that hard to find these things. You need to meet someone who can explain to you how to use the black pearls. You need to know the location of the pirates. You need to make a friend who can take you to that location when directed to. The way in which you learn the location is actually pretty trippy and cool. When the time came to say where I needed to go, I easily remembered the clue although I had no idea it was a clue at the time.

The book pretty much allows you to explore all the options given, but there are different paths that can spit you out in unexpected areas and one time I played I somehow pushed through it too quickly before I had got the chance to properly explore many of the areas. Overall the design is great with many endings and somewhat open ended structure that allows massive exploration. If you find the setting interesting, the replay value is high on this one. In my recent plays I never ran into the Bone Demon from the cover nor have I ever encountered the Deep Ones that the Mermen are at war with, but it's all in here if you explore enough.

More reviews by JDMorgan

A cool concept kinda wasted here as the entire book takes place with you magically swimming underwater. Despite this, everything pretty much works as it would on the surface, except the villains are mostly fish types.

There are one or two memorable scenes, like being forced by a ghost to collect his bones and a fencing lesson from a fish named Cyrano (which increases your skill after one lesson. What a teacher!).

Nothing new here, despite appearances.

More reviews by Kveto