Endless Ocean Luminous is the third game in the Arika-developed series of deep-sea diving adventures. But having been absent since the days of the Nintendo Wii, you may not know that it’s something of a cult series in Nintendo’s repertoire. That said, it offers something wholly unique and compelling on Nintendo Switch and is very easy to recommend for those after a more laid-back experience that puts chill exploration and treasure hunting above all else.

There’s no action or violence to be had in Endless Ocean Luminous, and if you go into it with the right expectations, you’ll find a game that offers an incredible sense of adventure. Each new discovery of sea life or sunken treasures feels meaningful as you fill out your catalog. On top of that, there’s a wider mystery to solve that’ll keep you coming back dive after dive. 

Piercing the veil

Endless Ocean Luminous is a third-person deep sea exploration game set in the fictional Veiled Sea. It’s a somewhat supernatural location that procedurally shifts with each new dive you embark on. Plus, it’s filled with well over 500 sea creatures to catalog - from the most mundane fish to colossal mythical beings. Your goal - in addition to logging all these species - is to solve the mysteries of the Veiled Sea and return life to the World Coral (essentially the core of the ocean) which will in turn save the planet’s underwater ecosystem. Some rather high stakes for what is otherwise a very relaxing experience.

The main narrative beats will unravel over the course of Endless Ocean Luminous’ story mode, which also serves as a tutorial for the majority of the game’s mechanics. Here, you’ll learn how to scan fish to add them to your catalog, call fish to swim beside you (or on you in the case of crustaceans and mollusks) as well as take photos among other things. It’ll also introduce you to the Mystery Board, a set of 99 secrets to uncover as you explore the Veiled Sea.

The story mode is quite short at just a couple of hours, but its role as an onboarding tool is somewhat diminished by the way you need to go about unlocking each chapter. Essentially, chapters won’t unlock until you’ve scanned a certain number of sea creatures, which you’ll do in the Solo Dive and Shared Dive (that’s online play) modes. Exacerbating things is the fact that the final chapter is locked until you’ve completely finished the Mystery Board, which can take an excruciating amount of time.

Overall, though, the story mode isn’t lacking in charm. There’s some fun dialogue between your AI guide, Sera, and a plucky diver named Daniel who accompanies you throughout the journey. There’s also a nice pro-environmental message here, even if it’s only puddle-deep.

Take the plunge

The bulk of your playtime will be spent in the Solo and Shared Dive modes. Upon starting a new dive, Endless Ocean Luminous will create a seed that procedurally generates a map for you to explore. You can even share these seeds via code with other Endless Ocean Luminous players, which can be handy if you’ve come across a particularly great discovery and want to help others reach 100% completion.

There’s a really impressive variety of biomes in the Veiled Sea. Warm water shallows, intricate cave structures, abyssal crevices, ice caverns, ancient sunken cities and much more are waiting to be explored. Most creatures also tend to prefer certain biomes, so thorough exploration of each area is strongly encouraged if you want to see everything the game has to offer.

There are plenty of sea creatures to discover in Endless Ocean Luminous, though it is worth noting that, well, you may want to give the game a miss if you have thalassophobia. Your diver can’t be harmed in any way (nor can they run out of oxygen) but the game doesn’t shy away from presenting you with some frightening-looking creatures. I’ve been caught off guard more than once by a colossal shark or giant squid appearing right behind me. 

Mystery Machine

What I find to be the most fascinating aspect of Endless Ocean Luminous is the Mystery Board. It’s a stone tablet you’ll unlock very early on in story mode, and it presents you with 99 tasks to complete as you explore the Veiled Sea. These mysteries can range from scanning certain rare creatures (known as UMLs, or unidentified marine lifeforms) or finding particular treasures, to solving more complex riddles like guiding certain creatures to stone dais you can find dotted around the map.

While ticking off mysteries is fun, the process isn’t without its flaws. For one, you get absolutely no hints whatsoever about any of the mysteries; they’re displayed as “???” in the Mystery Board menu until you’ve completed them. I think some guidance in the form of even vague hints would be nice here, as it’s not always clear what you should be looking for.

Furthermore, unlocking the final story chapters requires the full completion of the Mystery Board, meaning you may need to grind the game out by exploring different seeds that generate new maps to explore. Thankfully, while these maps are procedurally generated, there does seem to be some intelligence to it; I found that newly generated maps always featured sea creatures, biomes, treasures, and mysteries that I hadn’t previously encountered.

Dive in

Fortunately, uncovering the mysteries of Endless Ocean Luminous doesn’t need to be a solo endeavor. By hopping into the Shared Dive mode, you can share a map with up to 29 other players online, allowing for 30 in total. I managed to get some online time pre-launch thanks to a session with Nintendo, and it’s clear that this is where players could find themselves sinking most of their time in the game. That is, if you want to fill out the completion list more efficiently.

What makes the online suite in Endless Ocean Luminous so good is that it feels like a genuinely cooperative endeavor. Players can tag sea creatures and treasures with various unlockable emotes, highlighting them on the map for everyone to see. This alone makes filling your database and completing the Mystery Board a lot easier. I can imagine players also sharing their seed codes online with others post-launch, allowing them to scan sea life or pick up treasures that may have eluded them.

There is no voice chat support when playing Endless Ocean Luminous online, which is admittedly realistic but may be a letdown for some. However, the game does somewhat compensate for this with several emotes and stickers you can present to other players. There’s also a ‘diving buddy’ system that registers other players you pass during a dive. You even give them a little wave, which often made me smile.

There are definitely some performance drops when playing online, and I did notice the framerate (which usually targets 30fps) dip periodically in busier areas and when a number of other divers are around. Thankfully it’s not game-breaking at all, and connection quality throughout my session remained stable with no noticeable lag. Mileage may vary here post-launch, of course, especially if you’re playing with divers from across the globe.

Overall, I loved my time with Endless Ocean Luminous and it’s certainly one of the most unique Nintendo Switch exclusives out there. It’s a fantastic, no-stress experience that I often found to be just the tonic I needed after a day at the desk. If you have a love of sea life and a thirst for engaging exploration, Endless Ocean Luminous is extremely easy to recommend. 

Accessibility

Endless Ocean Luminous doesn’t have much in the way of accessibility settings. However, there are numerous options for adjusting how the camera operates in-game which can help. Players can invert both the X and Y axes, set rotation speed, and enable an auto-follow. That’s just about everything available, though. 

Should I play Endless Ocean Luminous?

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How we tested Endless Ocean Luminous

I played Endless Ocean Luminous for approximately 20 hours on my Nintendo Switch OLED. This was enough time to fill out the majority of the creature and treasure catalogs in addition to roughly two-thirds of the Mystery Board’s objectives. 

I played primarily in docked mode using the GameSir Nova Lite controller, with a handful of hours in handheld mode where I found performance to be comparable to docked play, albeit with a knock to resolution and overall image quality. I also found a heightened level of immersion when pairing the game with a pair of wireless earbuds. In this case, the Asus ROG Cetra Speednova buds were excellent at honing in on the swelling sounds of the deep.

Andaseat Kaiser 3 XL: Two-minute review

If you're looking for a great value, do-it-all chair, with all the bells and whistles of some of the bigger brand options (most notably Secretlab) then the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL is absolutely the chair for you.

At $500 / £500, the XL gets you an incredibly comfortable, plush, bucket-seat design, combining an impeccable feature set that includes 4D magnetic armrests, in-built adjustable dual-lumbar support, a magnetic pillow headrest, an impressive steel chassis, and some of the best castor wheels I’ve ever seen on a gaming chair. This thing is a monster of a gaming chair, that comes in seven different color combinations in the Premium PVC leather option alone. Swap to fabric mode and you get another two variants on top of that.

It’s still not the cheapest out there, and you are penalized going for the XL over the L (by $100 / £100 depending on your region), but it makes for a darn fine gaming chair, perhaps one of the best gaming chairs out there right now, regardless of your size.

The only downside is that some of the stitched-on logos look kind of pixelated, and its bucket-seat design is a bit antiquated these days as well. In fact, most chair manufacturers (such as the Razer Iskur line, and the Secretlab Titan series) have opted for a more mature look in recent years, one that fits in just as well in a professional office as it does in a gaming room.

Still, if you can look past all that, for the price, it’s hard to be too critical of the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL; should you pick one up, it’ll be all the gaming chair you need for many years to come.

AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL: Price and availability

Right now, you can pick up the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL from a number of major US retailers, including Amazon. It’s available in a variety of color schemes, including the black PVC leather option our review unit was finished in, along with mint green, maroon, and white as well (although the latter will typically cost you $50 extra). As standard it clocks in at just shy of $500.

You can also get a few more colorways when buying directly from AndaSeat, where there’s a wider variety of schemes to choose from. Additionally, if the XL isn’t for you, then you can opt for the slightly cheaper L variant instead, and save yourself $50 in the process (sorry tall people).

For the UK, Amazon and AndaSeat directly are still your best bet (with pricing starting from £500), and the same goes for Europe. In Australia, you can get it shipped from AndaSeat directly (priced in USD) and JB HiFi has the chair available at $750 AUD.

AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL: Specs

AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL: Design and features

The AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL follows a very similar design to some of its competition. You still get the five-pronged ergonomic base, some absolutely stunning roller casters (they’re super smooth to glide about on), a full-on bucket seat with comfortable bolsters that aren’t too aggressive, full reclining and locking backrest (pivoting from 90 to 165 degrees), magnetic, four-direction (4D) armrests, a magnetic headrest pillow, and of course the creme de la creme, built-in adjustable dual lumbar support.

The list is quite extensive. Combine that with a plush PVC leather fabric, and some seriously impressive cushioning, and the Kaiser 3 XL is easily one of the most comfortable gaming chairs you can get right now.

If you take a Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 XL and put it side-by-side with the Kaiser 3 XL, the feature set is darn near identical. They look alike aside from some slight tweaks to the sizing and the backrest is different, and AndaSeat does have a more aggressive, traditional bucket shape. But the bolster stitching, the logo placement, the armrests, and the little plate on each arm are all practically the same. 

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it feels like you’re paying for a slightly different bucket, castor wheels, base and materials, and a few dimension tweaks, rather than anything majorly different between the two brands. That different bucket and base does lead to some dimension differences. 

The seat base on the Kaiser 3 XL is slightly wider, the bolsters on the Kaiser around the waist area are slightly narrower and slightly broader in the shoulder department, and it’s a slightly lower chair as well (we’re literally talking half an inch in some cases). And it also doesn’t rise quite so high as the Titan Evo does, or the Noblechairs Hero, but that’s really it.

However, the Kaiser 3 XL has one big advantage and that’s the price. The 3 XL is nearly $100 / £100 cheaper than the Secretlab Titan Evo XL, which is a huge price drop by comparison, particularly as you‘re getting practically the exact same feature set.

AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL: Performance

But how does the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL perform? Well, let me preface with the fact I’m a 5-foot-8.5-inch human (174 cm), the Kaiser 3 XL is suggested for folk 5’11" and above, and I can wholeheartedly say, that is absolutely not true. That’s not to say it's too small for the larger person either; some of my 6-foot-plus colleagues had a blast using it too.

The only awkwardness about being such a short human, by comparison, is how heavy this thing is, and moving the packing box around. AndaSeat has gone above and beyond on the design of the Kaiser 3 XL and there are some seriously premium materials. Whether that’s the PVC leather, the seriously impressive internal bracing, or the awesome amount of steel in the overall construction it’s made this thing an absolute solid unit. Not once have I had any comfort issues at all, even over longer eight-hour days, sat at home working away or in long gaming sessions.

Construction is an absolute breeze, and AndaSeat includes a fairly impressive manual with it too. Everything is packed in the box well, and there are a few nice touches in the accessory box. Building it and working around the tilt arm is a little nerve-wracking, particularly as it comes with a security screw and a strap around the base unit, but otherwise, if you’ve built one gaming chair, you’ll know what you’re doing with the Kaiser 3 XL.

A lot of the branding and logos are a little disappointing as many of them are stitched rather than embossed making it look somewhat like you’re staring at a 360p screen in some places, and the magnetic covers that go over the screws securing the base to the backrest are somewhat weak.

The showpiece, the integrated lumbar support, however, is impeccable. There are two dials located on either side of the chair back, and you simply twist them to adjust the support to your liking. It’s very much a fire-and-forget thing. You set it up once, and then you’re good to go for the foreseeable future.

For those cross-legged sitters out there, the Kaiser 3 XL supports that too, and the base bolsters aren’t quite as aggressive as something like Corsair’s T3 Race. Admittedly it’s not quite as smooth and squishy as the Secretlab’s Titan Evo is, but it’s certainly a close second, especially given that it’s $100 / £100 cheaper.

Andaseat Kaiser 3 XL: Should you buy it?

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How we tested the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL

I spent more than a week with the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL putting it through its paces. I’m 5’8.5”, and weigh in at around 156lbs (75kgs) or so. I built and assembled the chair at home, before testing it in all manner of sitting positions. I used it in video calls and spent countless hours gaming, and writing in it as well. I tried different lumbar positions, with and without headrests, and also different heights and armrest orientations too, to really get to grips with how it felt. I documented that entire process, taking notes throughout my time using the chair.

I also got a number of my close colleagues and friends, all of whom are different shapes and sizes, to sit in it, and provide me with their feedback on how they felt the chair was, before collating that information and using it in my review.

Stellar Blade is an immensely impressive game that presents slick, sublimely animated combat, jaw-dropping environmental design, and one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in years. Despite some irksome omissions, occasionally abstract quest design and wonky platforming sections, it’ll undoubtedly be a game-of-the-year contender for many. If you have a PlayStation 5, then Stellar Blade is an essential play.

This PS5-exclusive action game comes courtesy of Shift Up, a relatively new Korean developer. The team was previously responsible for the hugely popular mobile game Goddess of Victory: Nikke and consists of staff that worked on MMO Blade & Soul. There’s some serious talent at the studio, then, and that really shows with its first AAA console endeavor. 

Parasite EVE

In Stellar Blade, you play as EVE, an ‘angel’ (read: elite combat specialist) fighting for an entity named Mother Sphere to reclaim a post-apocalyptic Earth from a hellish force known as the Naytiba. After a particularly strong ‘Alpha’ Naytiba kills EVE’s closest comrade, she’s rescued by Adam (yes, the religious overtones are quite apparent in Stellar Blade), a freedom fighter who guides her to the city of Xion.

The restoration of Xion - the last bastion of humanity - and the eradication of the monstrous Naytibas form the backbone of Stellar Blade’s narrative. There’s a good amount of lore and backstory throughout, but none of it really amounts to much until the final third of the game. Until then, EVE, alongside Adam and cheery engineer Lily, is largely tasked with gathering important resources for Xion in exchange for information on where they can find the especially threatening Alpha Naytiba variants.

It’s not quite accurate to say that nothing happens in the game’s earlier hours - some segments do hint at grim truths as to the nature of Stellar Blade’s near-hopeless world - but even after rolling credits, I felt I still had several questions unanswered when it came to the story.

While EVE is the star of the show, there are plenty of side characters that resonate with their own stories and sidequests. Kaya, for example, runs a junk shop in the hopes that it’ll help her track down her missing sister. There’s also an android-like singer that lacks a body whom EVE will help to rebuild over the course of a few sidequests.

To address the elephant in the room, much has been made of EVE and her provocative design. For those curious, she’s rarely - if ever - outright objectified by cutscenes, narrative beats, or camera angles. The game is more than comfortable in giving the character room to breathe, and typically avoids outright flaunting her. Yes, there’s a handful of revealing costumes you can unlock for her, but plenty are more conservative, ultimately offering a good variety of cosmetics.

She’s also incredibly cool both in and out of combat; always maintaining a level head and remaining deeply empathetic to those she’s charged to protect. I found that the game’s pre-launch marketing did something of a disservice to the kind of character EVE actually is, and you may be surprised by how well-rounded she becomes throughout the course of the narrative.

Style and substance

Stellar Blade is an action game first and foremost, so it’s unsurprising that EVE is kitted out with a wealth of attacks and abilities to make her fight against the Naytiba as effective - not to mention as stylish - as possible. For starters, light and strong attacks are bound to Square and Triangle respectively. 

One look at EVE’s moveset menu shows that she has access to a broad list of combos that employ a mix of both. And while it’s tempting to pick a couple of favorite combos, true mastery of Stellar Blade’s combat comes in learning which combos are best for any given situation. For example, light attack combos are good for dispatching smaller grunts, while more advanced strings are better for destroying shields or handling crowds effectively.

EVE also has access to Beta skills - and later Burst skills - which both have their own gauges. These are especially powerful attacks, but you’ll only gain access to them by routinely charging up each gauge, which is done by attacking as well as successfully parrying or Perfect Dodging enemy skills. 

That’s much easier said than done on the standard normal difficulty. The window of time you have to parry or dodge perfectly is fairly slim. Some stronger attacks also require perfect timing to counter, so you’re strongly encouraged to learn enemy move sets to in turn gain access to EVE’s best skills on the regular.

This comes to a head in the game’s many boss fights. While I’ve not found them as soul-crushingly difficult as those in Lies of P, Stellar Blade’s bosses - for the most part - are far from a cakewalk. Smart skill usage and expertly-timed evasive maneuvers are always required in these fights. Thankfully, dying in Stellar Blade is a minor inconvenience; you won’t lose any form of currency and, at worst, you’ll just have to deal with some respawned enemies to get back to where you left off.

Where Stellar Blade differs is in a handful of areas that break from a typical soulslike structure. There are a couple of open-exploration zones where EVE can tick off side quests and collect powerful upgrade materials (not to mention collectible cans that gradually allow her to carry more items). There’s also a handful of areas where EVE’s combat abilities are largely disabled, and she needs to rely on the projectiles offered by her companion drone.

There’s much variety in combat, level design, and exploration, then. And you’ll be able to add even more to EVE’s repertoire through skill points, which can unlock entirely new combat moves, dodging abilities, and Beta and Burst skills to make her even more formidable.

On top of all that, you're also getting a New Game Plus mode upon completion. In addition to one unlockable outfit, your entire progress (including skills, items, cosmetics and more) carries over into your second playthrough. That’s awesome news, as you'll get to keep EVE’s powerful arsenal for the earlier game, which in turn makes obtaining Stellar Blade’s multiple endings all the easier. 

May your memories live on… forever

An area where Stellar Blade rarely puts a foot wrong is in its presentation. It’s an utterly gorgeous game filled with brilliantly realized environments. Nier Automata’s inspiration rings very clearly here, especially with levels set in ruined, overgrown cities and sprawling deserts.

The game runs excellently across all three graphics modes too. The highest fidelity option, Resolution, locks the game to 30fps while offering supreme-quality visuals at 4K resolution. Performance, meanwhile, offers 60fps at 1440p resolution. The Balanced graphics option, then, targets 4K 60fps, but makes use of dynamic resolution to keep gameplay smooth and stable.

One of Stellar Blade’s more surprising aspects has to be its show-stopper of a soundtrack. Simply one of the best of this console generation, it’s an eclectic mix that leans heavily on vocal performances. Once again, the Nier vibes are strong, but Stellar Blade’s soundtrack manages to carve its own memorable identity. Boss fights are a particular highlight here, too, opting for fast-paced electronic scores or full-on heavy metal. Meanwhile, levels and larger zones dial things back and bring the vocals to the forefront, giving you an entrancing audio companion with which to explore Stellar Blade’s world.

Overall, Stellar Blade is essential if you're looking for a highly polished character action game with some light soulslike elements sprinkled throughout. Its gorgeous visuals, soundtrack, and unique atmosphere elevate the game to being perhaps the most unique PS5 exclusive since Returnal. 

Accessibility

Stellar Blade’s accessibility options, as we’ve come to expect of PlayStation-exclusive titles, are plentiful. If you’re not overly familiar with action games and feel you’ll struggle with the pace of combat, the Story difficulty offers an assist that slows time, allowing you to more easily react to incoming attacks with parries or dodges.

Beyond difficulty settings, you’re able to resize HUD elements, access three colorblind settings (protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia), and reduce motion blur and camera shake. Lastly, you can apply different levels of auto-aim to EVE’s ranged abilities and set it so that QTEs (quick time events) complete without the need for inputs.

Should I play Stellar Blade?

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How we tested Stellar Blade

I played Stellar Blade for just over 30 hours on PlayStation 5 for this review, using a DualSense Edge controller. This playtime included completing the main story and ticking off the vast majority of side quests and collectibles. 

I tested each of Stellar Blade’s graphical options (Resolution, Balanced, and Performance) during this time, eventually settling on the Balanced setting which provided a stable halfway house between visual fidelity and rock-solid performance. In fact, rarely did I notice any significant frame drops even during more hectic encounters while playing on my LG CX 4K OLED TV. Throughout my playtime, I paired Stellar Blade with the excellent JBL Quantum 910P gaming headset, which allowed the game’s exceptional soundtrack and audio design to really stand out.