‘Sharks and Minnows’ – It’s Easy to See Why This Aquatic Nightmare Is Going Viral [Review]

Liminal horror may have taken over the internet, but a lot of media within this budding genre doesn’t really know what to do after placing characters in a familiar yet hostile environment. After all, the more inhabitants you add to the Backrooms, the less interesting they become. This is an especially prevalent issue in liminal gaming, as the lack of interactivity can sometimes turn new releases into glorified walking simulators that happen to boast a creepy aesthetic. Thankfully, not all developers are satisfied with simply making their games look eerie, and the recent viral sensation Sharks and Minnows is proof that liminal experiences don’t have to be limited to slow-paced snooze-fests.

Developed by Collin’s Game Company and released on Steam in mid-April, Sharks and Minnows has been steadily accruing fans through online word-of-mouth as both gamers and influencers get a taste of the best example of pool-related horror since the short film version of Night Swim. In the game, players take on the role of an unnamed swimmer at an indoor swimming center as they attempt to complete ten laps around a pool. The twist is that the pool contains a man-eating shark and the center itself is haunted by thalassophobia-inspired apparitions.

In terms of gameplay, this means that the title forces players to traverse strange waters in first person while also managing stamina and collecting diving toys (the game’s form of currency), with the swimming center becoming increasingly populated by dangerous sea creatures and other water-based hazards. Naturally, blown fuses and faulty plumbing will soon lead you to other areas of the ever-shifting building, with the game dabbling in survival-horror-inspired puzzles as you attempt to clear your laps and escape.

Curiously, there isn’t a lot of backstory to be found in this lonely game world, as Sharks and Minnows’ only attempt at explaining the nautical haunting is limited to a couple of newspaper headlines hinting at other swimmers who have gone missing. However, I don’t think that a traditional narrative was really the goal here, with the game’s Lynchian presentation clearly being meant to evoke a nightmare scenario based on irrational fears that almost everyone has had after coming into contact with large bodies of water. Hell, even the brief puzzle sequences seem to operate on dream logic, and not knowing what’s going on makes the experience that much scarier.

Speaking of scares, I appreciate how most of the game’s frights have more to do with slowly escalating challenges and an increasingly spooky atmosphere instead of over-the-top jump-scares with supernatural pursuers. In fact, knowing that there are never any monsters on land makes the desperate swim towards safety even more thrilling – especially when you’re low on air and know that there’s a hammerhead shark headed your way.

I’ll admit that the game’s frequent surprise death scenes can feel a bit unfair during your first run, but frequent checkpoints make sure that these moments usually feel more scary than frustrating. Unfortunately, there are a handful of bigger issues here, like how avoiding some of the sea creatures depends more on luck than any kind of skill as you bunny-hop over piranha-infested waters. The map design is also surprisingly convoluted for such a small indoor space, though the strange architecture might be an intentional element meant to remind you that this isn’t actually the waking world.

Unfortunately, I found the game to be poorly optimized for certain graphics cards despite not featuring cutting edge graphics. I actually really like how Sharks and Minnows uses lighting and atmosphere to elevate its relatively simple visuals, but it’s a shame that players on older rigs likely won’t be able to enjoy the full experience – especially since running it on anything less than “ultra” settings will make some parts of the game nearly unplayable. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of these performance issues are patched out in due time, and we can’t reasonably expect a small development team to anticipate every single setup that will try to run their game.

And while the game’s short length and lack of replay value will likely irk some players, I genuinely appreciate how the title manages to end on a thrilling high note before its straightforward mechanics can become stale. I would have loved to see an additional arcade-style game mode where you can continue to complete laps around the pool with escalating challenges that add more predators and maybe even underwater puzzles, but at this budget-friendly price point, I think it’s fair to say that this perfectly paced feature-length experience is still well worth the price.

At the end of the day, Sharks and Minnows is best enjoyed if you already have an innate fear of deep-sea creatures and vaguely familiar liminal spaces, but even beyond its creepy premise, there’s a solid base for a horror game here. It’s easy to see why the title is going viral, with its thalassophobic scares becoming especially popular among livestreamers, but I think the game works best as a promise of even greater things to come from Collin’s Game Company.

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