Depth Dwellers (1994) game banner

Depth Dwellers (1994)

$1.99
Release Date:
Developer:
TriSoft
Publisher:
TriSoft Legacy, TriSoft
Platforms:
Windows
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Game Tags

About This Game

This is a re-release of the 1994 game "Depth Dwellers," presented without any modifications or updates. TriSoft was originally founded by a family member, and our new entity, TriSoft Legacy, plans to recreate and further develop the game at a future date. The game includes an embedded order form that should not be used, as the information is no long valid. For controls, refer to the help guide in the game by pressing F10. Pressing Alt-F4 will not exit the game during play.

The Game

Depth Dwellers drops you into the heart of Ora’s labyrinthine tunnels, where you’ll battle to free the Depth Dwellers from the Ri’s iron grip. Armed with an arsenal of futuristic weapons and the combat skills you perfected alongside Princess Aurora, you’ll face off against Ri enforcers, automated drones, and the harsh realities of a world under siege. Explore the glowing, Zendle-lit caverns, uncover hidden secrets about the mineral’s power, and rally the Depth Dwellers in a desperate stand against their oppressors. This 1994 classic combines fast-paced, first-person action with a compelling narrative, immersing you in a universe where every battle matters.

With its atmospheric design, intense gameplay, and a story that blends personal stakes with galactic consequences, Depth Dwellers places you in the boots of a hero thrust into a cosmic struggle. The tunnels await, the Ri advance, and the fate of worlds hangs in the balance—your adventure begins now.

Key Features:

  • Pulse-Pounding Sci-Fi Action: Dive into an epic adventure that puts you in the middle of a desperate fight for survival.

  • Blazing Combat Gameplay: Wield cutting-edge weapons and test your skills in frenetic battles against ruthless enemies.

  • Labyrinthine Exploration: Discover the hidden depths of Ora’s glowing tunnels, packed with secrets and surprises.

  • Cosmic Conflict: Stand against the Ri's advancing forces to protect Ora and alter the fate of the solar system.

The Story

Welcome to Depth Dwellers, a 1994 sci-fi action game that immerses you in a richly detailed universe on the brink of annihilation. You play as the son of Earth’s ambassador, a young hero whose life has been shaped by the haunting beauty and deep sorrows of the planet Ora. Your first visit to this alien world remains vivid in your memory: the shimmering blue of the mineral Zendle, a substance so striking it seemed to leap from the planet’s surface into your ship, casting everything in its melancholic glow. This mineral defines Ora’s landscape and mirrors the plight of its inhabitants, the Depth Dwellers—a once-proud people driven underground by centuries of brutal conflict with the neighboring planet, Riase. Adapted to their subterranean existence, the Depth Dwellers bear the physical scars of their exile: oversized, luminous eyes that gleam with the quiet despair of a life spent beneath the surface, far from the sunlit skies they once knew.

Your father, a renowned diplomat famed for turning even the most ruthless enemies into allies, was dispatched by Earth to negotiate peace between the Depth Dwellers and the relentless Ri. The Council of the Depth Dwellers sought his expertise to end the war that had ravaged their world. But the Ri are a force of destruction, their home planet Riase a testament to their greed. Once a verdant paradise of sprawling gardens and fertile valleys, Riase now lies desolate—its resources plundered without thought for the future, its surface a cracked, windswept graveyard of dust and ruin. Driven by desperation and ambition, the Ri have set their sights on Ora, determined to seize its Zendle at any cost, even if it means exterminating every last Depth Dweller.

The Ri’s hunger for Zendle stems from its newly discovered potential: a key component in a revolutionary weapons system that could cement their dominance over not just Ora, but all nine planets in their solar system. To fuel this war machine, they’ve enslaved the Depth Dwellers, forcing them to toil in the dark tunnels, mining the very resource that could spell their doom. Amid this escalating crisis, your time on Ora is marked by your deep connection with Princess Aurora, the fiery and resolute daughter of the Depth Dwellers’ leadership. What began as childhood games during diplomatic events blossomed into a partnership forged in shared ideals and rigorous training. Together, you spent countless hours mastering an array of weapons—from energy blades to projectile launchers—and honing combat techniques, as Aurora fiercely advocated for her people to resist the Ri

The turning point comes on your final night together. In a moment of raw vulnerability, Aurora confides in you: she and a group of rebels have intercepted messages between the Ri’s mining operations and their leaders on Riase. The transmissions reveal a chilling escalation—the Ri no longer seek merely to subjugate Ora; they aim to conquer the entire solar system, wielding Zendle as their ultimate weapon. As her tear-filled eyes reflect the anguish of her people and the horrors awaiting countless others, you hold her close, the weight of the impending struggle settling over you both. Aurora and her allies are ready to act, and the fight for survival begins.

Screenshots

User Reviews

Overwhelmingly Positive
6 user reviews
100%
Positive
1 hrs at review
Recommended

[h1]Yep, it's Depth Dwellers![/h1] [b]Update:[/b] A recent patch has added version 1.6, which features some enhancements over the original 1.4 release! Odds are good if you're on this store page, you know exactly what this is and just how infamous it is. For those that stumbled upon this page on accident, Depth Dwellers can best be described as a DOS era Wolf 3D clone with unique gimmicks and ideas, but flawed execution. For every cool thing the game offers, such as stereoscopic 3D, jumping & crouching, and shootable enemy projectiles, it's held back by poor design decisions such as labyrinthine levels and lacking enemy variety. Despite that, the moment to moment gameplay of rescuing captives while playing cat and mouse with enemies that can melt your health bar in three seconds manages to be just engaging enough to elevate it beyond titles like Dr. Radiaki and Nerves of Steel. Also there's a super cool flamethrower that the developers were clearly proud of, and once you use it you'l...

10 helpful
49 min at review
Recommended

Y'know, I think this is even worse than I expected it to be. I spent nearly an hour wandering around the first level with no real idea of what I was supposed to be doing. Even reading the in-game help file didn't really explain things, though I did learn that I could save the captives instead of just shooting them. Whoops. The music sounds depressed to be associated with the game. Every god damn room looks the same. Occasionally they'll put a chair or something in there but otherwise, identical. I've seen people complain about Wolf 3D's similar looking hallways but that's downright handholding compared to Depth Dwellers! The one cool thing in it is the red/cyan 3D glasses mode. It doesn't make it good but it's a fun gimmick. Taking the glasses out of my Wimmen's Comix collection to play Depth Dwellers seems like a low-point in my life though. Wimmen's Comix is much much better lmao. Game sucks a lot. Highly recommended.

6 helpful 3 funny
9 hrs at review
Recommended

Should you buy this game? Probably not. Only if you are curious about old/obscure games. Im not trying to tell you the game completely sucks, because it doesn't. It just gets really really boring and repetitive the longer you play it. All you do is go trough maze like levels searching for keys while killing the same enemies over and over again. The game feels fun at the beginning but for me it started to feel a bit tedious in the middle of the second chapter. I was about to play trough this whole game, but then my save files got corrupted for some reason. Maybe that was for good. The controls are really crappy, but youll learn to move flawlessly if youre patient enough. Theres alot of different weapons that look ugly, but are cool and fun to use. You can also shoot the bullets etc. fired by your enemies to make them disappear which is pretty cool. The story is fine, it involves you liberating human slaves from their alien overlords or something. Oh, and theres literally only 1 so...

4 helpful
29 min at review
Recommended

If you know Depth Dwellers by its reputation, well it's not entirely without merit. It's especially true when you compare it to its contemporaries. But, we're no longer in the 1990s. We can look back at this game for what it is rather than what else was out. It becomes something a bit more in that context. First, I'd like to address the technical part. This is emulated with DOSBox Staging, an improved continuation of the original DOSBox. You're getting full screen by default but it's no longer a 320x240 sized box taking over your monitor like with most of the old DOSBox configured games. It's more like a borderless window experience and you can capture and release your mouse cursor with just a middle mouse wheel click; handy for multimonitor bouncing. And going to windowed mode with Alt+Enter also leaves you with a decent sized window rather than the aforementioned small box. It also has the benefit of Staging's CRT filter that auto adjusts to the screen size. If you like CRT filters,...

2 helpful
1 hrs at review
Recommended

It's Depth Dwellers, alright. Dosbox as usual with these kinds of releases. Controls are very stiff, but it's totally playable on the keyboard. It's a great nostalgia trip to play this again, though I can only take a little bit at a time. Unique mechanics for the time like jumping/ducking, with a focus on saving NPC civilians. Absolutely worth it if you want to play a keyboard-only 3D shooter from 1994 that feels like it's from 1990.

2 helpful

System Requirements

Minimum

Minimum:
  • OS *: Windows 8
  • Processor: Snail Trail Pro
  • Memory: 48 MB RAM
  • Graphics: Blurry Vision 9000
  • Storage: 48 MB available space
  • Sound Card: Tin Can Acoustics

FAQ

How much does Depth Dwellers (1994) cost?

Depth Dwellers (1994) costs $1.99.

What are the system requirements for Depth Dwellers (1994)?

Minimum: Minimum: OS *: Windows 8 Processor: Snail Trail Pro Memory: 48 MB RAM Graphics: Blurry Vision 9000 Storage: 48 MB available space Sound Card: Tin Can Acoustics

What platforms is Depth Dwellers (1994) available on?

Depth Dwellers (1994) is available on Windows PC.

Is Depth Dwellers (1994) worth buying?

Depth Dwellers (1994) has 100% positive reviews from 6 players.

When was Depth Dwellers (1994) released?

Depth Dwellers (1994) was released on Apr 15, 2025.

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