The launch trailer for retailer GameStop’s first published game, Song of the Deep, shows the underwater adventure awaiting players on July 12.
To see what other PC games are coming up in 2016, check our release date list.
Ratchet & Clank and Resistance developers Insomniac Games have finished the tale of a 12-year-old girl searching the depths for her lost father, who must be pretty good at holding his breath.
Through GameStop’s GameTrust division, Song of the Deep will also have a physical release in the retailer’s stores, but you can also just pre-order it on Steam.
The game itself is a bit of a metroidvania explorer, puzzle-solver, shoot ’em up with boss fights and obstacle negotiation sections that wouldn’t be out of place in any underwater level from a 90’s Mario or Sonic game.
Help Merryn try and find her very Irish fisherman dad by getting upgrades to her sub or diving gear, you know, the usual summer holiday activities for a 12-year-old.
Chief operating officer at Insomniac Brian Hastings said the game was an exploration of Irish mythology with a twist on the usual female protagonist tropes of other games by basing Merryn’s characteristics on his own daughter.
“Merryn represents the qualities that I want my daughter to admire about herself – intelligence, creativity, kindness and resilience,” Hastings told Gamasutra. “I saw it as an opportunity to get away from some of the norms we see with female heroes in media.”