- Zane: Whichever way I look, there’s nothing but you, me, and the deep blue sea! Well... Deep blue ocean, anyway!
Dominic: The deep blue ocean... And all the thousands of creatures that live in it!
Zane: Please don't remind me of them.
In 1719, a trading ship known as the Insurmountable set sail for England; its cargo hold packed with priceless treasures from India. But disaster struck midway through the journey, and the Insurmountable capsized and sank into the ocean, never to be found, while the majority of its crew were eaten by sharks.
Centuries later, a pair of treasure-hunting brothers, Zane and Dominic Ryker, board a small boat and travel out to a lonely stretch of the ocean, several miles off the coast of South Africa, where they believe the Insurmountable sank. While Dominic stays behind on the boat, Zane goes underwater in search of the lost treasure of the Insurmountable.
Zane steps into the shark cage, which Dominic slowly lowers into the ocean. All seems well at first, until the cords attaching the cage suddenly break, causing it to plunge into the depths. When Zane wakes back up, he's hundreds of feet underwater, with man-eating sharks swarming around the cage. With only a few tools at his disposal to protect himself with, what started as a treasure-hunting expedition soon becomes a matter of life and death...
Solitude Underwater was made by Big MA16 studios, and can be downloaded for free on Steam
, Itch.io and Gamejolt.
This game contains examples of:
- Achievement Mockery: This game has achievements for the player drowning 25 times and getting eaten by sharks 25 times.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Dominic will beg for his life if Zane successfully yanks the shotgun out of his hands. Players are advised to disregard his pleas.
- Ascended Fanboy: Zane was inspired to become an adventurer after years of watching adventure movies and playing adventure video games. Dominic is less enthusiastic about this, but he goes along with it because it's often paid well.
- Bittersweet Ending: Zane survives, and it's implied that he'll find the treasure, but he kills his brother Dominic in self-defense and is left traumatized by the experience.
- Blinded by the Light: All of the sharks are scared off by the flashlight on Zane's phone... With the exception of the blind one.
- Butt-Monkey: The longer Dominic kept going on adventures with Zane, the more his health suffered.Dominic: In Bolivia, my face got bitten by a rattlesnake, in Greece, I tumbled down a mountain and got my skull fractured...
- Cain and Abel: Dominic is Cain while Zane is Abel.
- Chekhov's Gun: The shotgun. One of this game's achievements is also a direct nod to this trope: "Anton Chekhov Tips His Hat At You".
- Childish Older Sibling: Zane, the elder Ryker brother, is the type of guy who loves drinking root beer from a goblet that once belonged to Hungarian royalty and leaves ancient gold coins out where they might fall into the ocean just because he likes how they sparkle in the sunlight.
- Cryptic Background Reference: If you lose the struggle for the gun, Dominic will cheerfully quip "When you get to Hell, say hi to Mom for me!" after he shoots you. This is not elaborated on.
- The Faceless: Both brothers. Dominic's face is completely hidden by a large-brimmed hat, while Zane is mostly a Featureless Protagonist throughout the game. Near the very end of the game, there is an old photograph that Zane can find inside the boat's cockpit, which shows the Ryker brothers together years ago. Dominic's huge hat still hides his face, while Zane's face has been hatefully scratched out with a red pen.
- Foreshadowing: Early on, Zane mentions that it's useful to have firearms at the ready in the event that a rival hunter is trying to steal your treasure. Unfortunately for him, it turns out that his rival ends up being his brother, who wants him dead. Zane also questions if the coordinates are right. They're not.
- Laser Cutter: Zane brings one underwater with him to cut through the walls of the Insurmountable. He instead uses it to cut his way out of the shark cage.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Dominic sets up the expedition in a way that he has plausible deniability if anything went wrong, which makes sense considering that he wants Zane to die.
- Minimalist Cast: Unless you count the ocean creatures and the Insurmountable sailors who are shown getting eaten by sharks during the intro, only two characters exist in this game: Zane and Dominic Ryker.
- Motive Rant: Dominic explains that he wanted his brother to die on this expedition after getting the short end of the stick.
- Next Sunday A.D.: This video game was released on August 28, 2022. Its story takes place on June 17, 2023.
- Sibling Team: Zane Ryker has always romanticized the idea of brotherly duo teams, which is why he talked his brother into teaming up with him in the first place. At this point in his career, Dominic doesn't share this same outlook. AT ALL.
- The Radio Dies First: The trouble really starts when the radio suddenly experiences a malfunction after Zane goes underwater and the connection between the Ryker brothers floods with static. Except it didn't.
- The Reveal: After Zane escapes from the shark-infested waters and makes his way back to the boat, the truth unveils itself: Dominic tried leaving him to die in an attempt to get revenge after years of injuries and ailments that he suffered on his brother's adventures, including getting cancer.
- Threatening Shark: Not long after Zane first goes underwater, he is hounded relentlessly by a group of bloodthirsty sharks.
- Title Drop: Provided by Dominic.Dominic: Whatever pieces are left of you after the sharks have ripped you apart will spend the rest of eternity in solitude underwater!
