Towards the end of our time at Play NYC, my colleague Jason managed to snag an interview with the three man team behind Swimsanity! while I sat down with some teens to experience how the game actually played. Let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised.

While there is a co-op mode that acts as a campaign of sorts, my experience was with the PvP aspect of the game. With up to four players in local or online play, you fight each other to the death in an underwater arena. You can do every man for himself or play in teams, battling it out. Controlling characters decked out in diving gear, you can pick different classes (like piranha or shark) that impact your special finishing move.

My first impression of the game was that it was quite polished. Everything played smoothly and without any major issues. The controls were intuitive and responsive, but the underwater element makes it so that the game is a little trickier than your typical battle royale fare. As is standard, you move around with the left stick, aim with the right and press the trigger to shoot your opponents. Being underwater, however, you sink slowly when not moving, so you have to take that into account when trying to shoot your opponents. There’s a selection of power-ups that appear around the arena, encased in glass spheres that you can smash. Some power-ups increase your speed for a short period of time, while others give you laser trip mines that can help you kill your opponents. It’s fast paced and fun. There’s never a dull moment as you zoom around, trying to take out your opponents and it adds an interesting new dynamic to the frenzied free-for-all with the underwater setting.

Swimsanity! is definitely going to be a fun party game given its fairly easy learning curve. There are no crazy combos or secret move sets to learn, so people who have never played before will be able to pick it up pretty simply. Diving into the action will be quick and easy for everyone.

Swimsanity! is slated to launch on Steam in early 2019, so if you’re into games you can enjoy with a group of friends, or even just looking for a fresh new take on the battle royale genre, you might want to grab a copy.