Underplayed Gems

It Comes In Waves (2023)

It Comes In Waves cover
Developer
Antonio Freyre
Publisher
Merlino Games
Platforms
Windows
Genres
Action, Adventure
Rating
4.7 of 5, 384 player ratings
Typical playtime
about 42 minutes
Where to get it
Steam

More by Antonio Freyre

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A lonely, desolate trek across a barren desert planet where every scrap of resource feels hard-won and the silence is broken only by sparse, tense encounters.

lonelydesolateminimalistharshcontemplativesurvivalbleakatmospheric

What players say

Players are split: many praise the atmosphere and meditation on grief, calling it a short but meaningful experience. Others find it an empty walking simulator with repetitive water collection and frustrating permadeath that forces restarting nearly the whole game.

Screenshots

It Comes In Waves screenshot 1It Comes In Waves screenshot 2It Comes In Waves screenshot 3It Comes In Waves screenshot 4It Comes In Waves screenshot 5It Comes In Waves screenshot 6

More games like this

More by Antonio Freyre

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.