'Under the Waves' leverages Quantic Dream's tech to tell a story of deep-sea grief
It's due out in 2023 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC.
Under the Waves appears to be a heavy, emotional and poetic game about grief and isolation, which means it'll fit right in with the other titles under Quantic Dream's umbrella. Under the Waves is in development at independent French development house Parallel Studio, and it's being published by Quantic Dream, the company known for Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human. It's due to hit Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PS5 and PC in 2023.
As the name suggests, Under the Waves takes place far below the surface of the sea. The game stars Stan, a professional diver who finds himself dealing with grief, isolation and strange events in the crushing depths. Parallel Studio is using Quantic Dream's suite of motion-capture, animation and voice-recording tools to build Under the Waves.
Quantic Dream started ramping up its third-party publishing efforts in 2019, following an influx of cash from Chinese tech giant NetEase. In terms of first-party titles, Quantic Dream has been working on Star Wars: Eclipse for at least a year.
Starting in 2018, Quantic Dream was the subject of a media investigation regarding allegations of unchecked sexism, homophobia and hostility in the workplace, with reports stemming from multiple former employees. The studio faced a handful of lawsuits from these employees and it sued some of the involved publications; Quantic Dream lost some of those cases and won some.
