Treasures of the Deep follows Jack Runyan, an ex-member of the Navy Seals, who now is under contract to the Underwater Mercenary Agency (the UMA).
The game essentially focuses on underwater exploration while presenting the player with different objectives based around scenarios. Scenarios ranged from disasters, such as things gone wrong on oil rigs or plane crashes, to simple exploration type missions, like exploring the wreckage of an old sunken ship. For disaster type scenarios, the player would be tasked with stopping an oil leak on an oil rig, or with saving the lives of passengers on a fallen plane. For exploration scenarios, the player might have to find a specific item or number of items or quota of items amongst a ship's wreckage.
To do this a variety of different vehicles or methods of deep sea exploration are available, beginning with wetsuits and culminating in powered vehicles like SDVs (Swimmer Delivery Vehicles) or submarines. These can be upgraded by the using the treasure (which accumulates as a point value) the player has the chance of collecting throughout the game. The scenarios take place in a number of different locales, like the Great Barrier Reef and Antarctica. A number of weapons are also made available to the player to aid with the completion of objectives - homing torpedoes and remote controlled vehicles amongst others. The weapons can be used to battle other divers and submarines as well as hostile sharks. The game also features a minigame in which the player controls a vengeful shark, and has to devour humans and amphibious animals.
One of the most powerful aspects of the game is its atmosphere. Careful attention was payed in order to make the environments seem claustrophobic and dark. The game even contains elements of survival horror, with sharks posing the main danger as they wander the levels and attack unannounced.
Upon release the game was lauded for its graphics, which were considered amongst the best available at the time. The game's soundtrack was composed in part by Tommy Tallarico.
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