Review: Power Sink (Nintendo Switch)

It’s time to take a stroll around Davy Jones’s locker room (his actual locker is way deeper than you want to go). The title here tells you the basics; you sink and then restore power. Simple, really, but far from easy…and that’s where the fun begins.

As usual, I’ll start with the whole “sights and sounds” stuff. On this front, the audio in Power Sink is a bit subdued, but this is quite appropriate for a game set underwater. The audio you get for actions sound right, and the background music helps keep you present in the moment without distracting you from solving the puzzle before you (and below you, and above you—more on this later).

The visuals are even better. Yes, the color pallet is limited; everything is underwater, so be ready for lots of blue and green. The game does have some nice yellow highlights when you turn on the lights. After all, you are there to restore power to areas which have gone dark. The visuals lean a little to the cartoonish with the characters, with a healthy dose of technical realism for the rest. Overall, it is a very interesting look.

Now for the gameplay. As hinted at above, Power Sink may look a bit like a platformer, but it is a, dare I say, immersive 3D puzzler. The controls are limited and straightforward. The only things you need to remember to get around are: right joystick is the camera, left joystick moves you, A button jumps, X button works levers, and Y button picks things up/puts things down. Easy, right?

When you get started, the game provides a good tutorial with a nice NPC tutor. The instructions and tips are all text, but the game will wait for you to hit the A button before going to the next chunk of text. As you wander around each level, there are big “step on me” buttons. When you step on them, they will turn green—these are save points, so use them well. If you fall off a platform accidentally, you drop into the abyss. Don’t worry, the game will reset to the last save point on which you stepped.

When you enter a level, there will be multiple platforms. Some of them will be on the same level, but some will be much higher or much lower than where you start. Every so often, you may want to step back and look around to keep your bearings (you may need to pass through an area more than once to complete your mission, so it helps to know where you are).

After you complete the tutorial, you may be tempted to think, “This is too easy.” Hold your seahorses; once you start the real game, things quickly get more complicated. The steps you need to take to complete your task may not all be obvious or intuitive, so be ready to use some lateral thinking. The ultimate goal on each level is to solve the environmental puzzles—flip the right lever, the move the orbs to their proper location, etc.—in order to restore power.

Once you’ve done so, the game will show you your ride all lit up. This means you’re good to go back to your submarine shuttle and head off to the next level to get them powered up.

When I first got this game for the review, I was intrigued by the premise. Once I started playing, I really liked the looks, the game mechanics and the puzzles. There is a lot to like about Power Sink, and I really wanted to give it a glowing review. However, I encountered some things which gave me serious pause.

First, you can’t skip or fast forward through the intro sequence. Granted, it’s cool to see hammerhead sharks, but I don’t like being forced into it. Second, the background music seems to disappear for no reason. You can get it back by going to the menu (+ button) which seems to force the music to play, then return to the game with your music in tow.

The third issue is really discouraging. During the text messages from our friendly neighborhood NPC tip giver, the game froze when starting a particular level. The only solution was to use the home button and to close the game completely. After restarting twice, I was finally allowed to play through.

Lastly, if I want to exit the game, there is no button I can find which takes me to an exit screen. Now, I’m back to using the Home button on the Switch and shutting the game down the hard way. I have seen the intro segment too many times, and I’m starting to resent the hammerhead sharks.

I searched online for other tales of woe with this game, and didn’t find much. Perhaps that’s because this is still relatively new on the Switch, or perhaps my issues were isolated. If the former, the glitches need to be addressed. At the time this review was written, that hadn’t been done.

Power Sink is a very good looking game with nice mechanics and challenging puzzles. I was drawn in very quickly and really enjoyed my time playing it when things were working right. In this case, I would gladly rate this game an 8/10. With the issues I faced—a couple of which were significant—I have to drop that a couple points. We’ll really need some help from the developers on this one.