Maneater is an open world RPG with a twist. The twist is that you are controlling a shark who you are evolving and leveling up. Maneater is available on almost all major platforms. n

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Reviewed on Xcloudn

This has been a fun summer for me. I started out my summer by finally reading Peter Benchley’s Jaws. I followed that up with Steve Alten’s Meg. Going full in on summer fun with sharks I decided to check out Maneater. I was not expecting much, which definitely worked out to its advantage. I half expected to swim around for a little and never think about it again. I was wrong. n

There is actually a story to this shark RPG and I won’t spoil where it goes but I will spoil how it starts. Spoilers for the opening to Maneater follow. n

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The premise of the game is a reality show that is narrated perfectly by Chris Parnell, it follows a shark hunter named Pete. You are playing as an adult shark who gets caught by Pete. Pete kills the shark you are controlling who just so turns out to be pregnant. He rips out a baby shark and scars it so when he finds it as an adult he knows what shark it is. The baby shark bites off Pete’s arm and escapes into the water. That shark is now you, and the story is your quest for revenge. n

I thoroughly enjoyed the story which was definitely not something I was expecting. I just expected to cause some chaos. Speaking of causing chaos, that’s a blast to do. You swim around, bite, and eat everything in your path. Fish, boats, and even humans, nothing is safe from you. As you start to cause chaos you have a threat meter that goes up and local shark hunters will come after you. Keep that up and a named shark hunter will join the fight. Take out that hunter and you will earn different upgradeable abilities. It’s also important to take out these named hunters to increase your “infamy level” to progress the story. n

Taking out hunters was always fun and rarely a challenge. The same can not be said about fighting different marine life. Alligators, sharks, and whales to name a few, will be in the ocean with you and attack anytime they see you. The controls are a little clunky in battles like this and it was tough to get used to. Especially against the Apex Predator versions of these.

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The game was a little repetitive but it did not overstay its welcome. The campaign was over around the 8-hour marker but something is pulling me back in trying to get 100 percent in each area. n

The game progresses as you complete tasks in different areas. Complete enough tasks to trigger a story moment and advance the story. It was a basic way to progress but it seemed very fitting. n

DLC is on the way (maybe out by the time of post) and this is definitely a game I will be jumping back into for the DLC. n

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Verdictn

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Maneater is the perfect summer game. Swim around as a shark and attack everything in your path all while advancing a surprisingly interesting story. This one caught me by surprise and I feel it’s a game worth checking out.

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Final score 8/10

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