Video Game / Undertow (Chair Entertainment)

Undertow is an aquatic side-scrolling adventure game developed and published by Chair Entertainment, on Xbox Arcade in 2007, featuring 15 levels over three campagins.

In an alternate world, after a disaster causes the ice caps to melt, a great flood consumes the world's landmasses, and the surface survivors who adapted to live in the ocean discover they are not alone under the sea. The infamous Captain Nemo has resided there for centuries; his own faction, the Nemonians, has made a pact with the leaders of America and Great Britain to respect his sovereignty, which he increasingly believes is being infringed upon by the arrival of the "surface-men".

With tensions beneath the waves bubbling up, the Iron Marines are formed to defend their people from the Nemonians and renegade pirates, both factions unaware that other, more ancient peoples, long dormant beneath the waves, are slowly reawakening to continue their war.

Trailer

Making Of

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The game contains examples of the following tropes:

• After the End: Vast areas of the world are now submerged beneath the waves.
• Archnemesis Dad: Unable to reason with Nemo, his son is forced to confront and defeat him, taking over leadership of the Nemonians.
• Atlantis: One of the factions is none other than the mythical civilization itself, whose population has reawakened thanks to the thawing ice caps, and aim to retake the world for themselves again. After they deal with the Elect, that is.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Jules laments that his father's instability, caused by his artificially prolonged life, has rendered him no different from the unjust tyrants Nemo had originally sought refuge from in the depths.
• The Beastmaster: Rather than use vehicles, Atlantis uses sea animals. From dialogue between some of the ancient conquerors, there's some divide over their use since the magic power at their command is greater than any beast of burden, but its overuse is also what undid their empire and sealed them in ice.
• Capture the Flag: The core gameplay revolves around capturing points on the map to progress, coupled with some Tower Defense.
• The Cavalry: As Atlantis is besieged by the Elect, the Iron Marines and Nemonians arrive to help (their own cities having been attacked), recognizing that they must all work together to stop the invaders.
• Cool Boat:
  • Admiral Lancaster's sleek, advanced submarine◊.
  • The Nautilus◊ with its Steampunk aesthetic.
• Enemy Mine: With the Elect's appearance, the three conflicting factions put aside their animosity to combat the threat the "Demons" pose.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Pun aside (due to the aquatic features on their feet and hands), the Atlanteans spent centuries under the ice before the Elect inadvertently unfroze them, and they are eager to reclaim their dominion over mankind.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: None of the factions are completly innocent. For example; the Iron Marines player character, Rake, is a former pirate, the Nemonians, Jules, is the son of a misanthrope Mad Scientist, and Helena, like all the Atlanteans, possesses aspirations of world domination.
• Large Ham:
  • Nemo isn't one to do or say anything quietly.
    Nemo: It is time... that we finish what the angry seas of this planet began! THE ERADICATION OF THE SURFACE MEN!
  • Nor are any of the Atlanteans.
    Helena: Now, my warriors, we will rule this world once more! Let us remind our scattered flock who their masters are!
• Madness Mantra: The most oft-repeated line from Nemo is "These are my waters!"
• Mirrored Confrontation Shot: One of the promo images shows the Iron Marines and Nemonians facing off against the Atlanteans.
• Monumental Damage: A completely submerged Big Ben appears in the background during the first mission.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Jules is understandably distressed about having to defeat his father, and the general inability for anyone to resolve matters without violence.
  Jules: (As the Nautilus sinks into a trench) "Why? Why must death be the only answer to these troubled waters? What have I done?"
• Offing the Offspring: When Jules can no longer stand by and watch as his father, Nemo, tries to commit genocide and directly confronts him, the deranged Nemo calls upon the Nautilus in an attempt to end his child's life.
  Nemo: I lost a son, centuries ago, to the waves of this angry sea. Now it appears I must lose another to save it! Nautilus! To me!!
  Jules: It doesn't have to be this way.
  Nemo: Oh, but it does. The sea is my only family now, I could never entrust her to someone so weak!
• One-Word Title:
• Our Demons Are Different: Turns out the Elect, (the fourth faction), who have been terrorising the oceans and are the culprits responsible for the water levels rising, are aliens. It seems that the Atlantean word for "Demons" and "Aliens" is one and the same (beings from another world), and rest of the world forgot while they where taking their icy nap.
• Recruiting the Criminal: Jason Rake begins the game as a pirate, but after he's captured Admiral Lancaster presses him into fending off raiders in exchange for his life. Jason makes sure to get a fee from then on, as an official member of the Iron Marines.
  Jules: Admiral, sir, that first job was for my life. Now I'm on the clock.
• Sanity Slippage: Time has not been kind to Captain Nemo, and over a century of living has eroded his mind and put his temper on a hair-trigger. Not even his son is able to detour his wrath.
• Schizo Tech: There's a lot of disparity between each faction's technological levels. The Iron Marines have relatively modern scuba gear and submarines, the Nemonians use fittingly Steampunk submarines and diving suits, and the Atlantean technology is, well, Greek helmets and magic spears.
• The Stinger: The final scene is of the body of Nemo, besides the now wrecked Nautilus, springing to life again declaring "These are my waters!".
• Treacherous Quest Giver: Admiral Lancaster quickly turns on Rake after deceiving him into raiding the Nemonians for supplies, intending to hide his betrayal of the pact with Nemo by personally killing Rake and using the ex-pirate's reputation to absolve the Iron Marines of any blame. Rake has this to say after taking out the Admiral's sub.
  Rake: One less monster in the depths.
• Underwater City: With most landmasses gone due to mass flooding, humanity now survives by living in enclosed facilities◊ along the ocean floor, as do the Nemonians, but the latter presumably did so long before the calamity.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: The Atlanteans, being of the sea, have no need of protection from it.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: After taking out Lancaster, Captain Rake is referred to as Admiral. Presumably he is saddled with the rank of Duke-Admiral when the Iron Marines choose to follow him.

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