Billed as a “SharkPG” by Tripwire Interactive, “Maneater” follows the exploits of a severely wronged bull shark.

Cut from her mother’s belly at birth by famed hunter, Scaly Pete, and disfigured in her escape, our heroic Carcharhinus cuts her teeth patrolling the shoals and coasts of South Florida in search of revenge, growing from a Level 1 pup barely able to take down a trout, to a Level 30 Megalodon gleefully chewing through entire armadas of coast guard ships.

The goal of this game is to eat everything in sight and then wash that meal down with anything dumb enough to think it could hide from you the first time through. The main gameplay mechanic in “Maneater” involves you cruising through the water, monching on anything you can fit down your ever-growing gullet and avoiding larger predators until you’re big enough to bite them down to size. Your developmental progress is measured by how many nutrients in total you’ve consumed of protein, fats, minerals and mutagen.

The various catfish, salmon, seals, mahi mahi, alligators, parrot fish, mako sharks, marlins, orcas and sea turtles (to name a few) that you can consume each offer a specific nutrient that you’ll need to progress and upgrade your abilities, those of which can be earned through collecting items, finding hidden areas or defeating the game’s 10 sub-boss shark hunters and their minions. You won’t be able to go up against every enemy or conquer every challenge from the start, which encourages players to return to previously explored areas to unlock additional secrets once they’ve grown into their teeth a bit more. Eventually you’ll be able to grip and thrash prey, stun adversaries with tail whips, unleash powerful special attacks and even belly flop across broad expanses of South Coast golf courses in search of bipedal snacks.

Now, this is not a particularly difficult game. There really aren’t any mind-bending puzzles to solve beyond what to eat first. The solution is simple, direct and constant: go eat everything smaller than you until you level up enough to take on the big boys.

You can snag it for US$40 from the Playstation and Microsoft stores. It’s expected to be released on Switch later this year.(SD-Agencies)