But unlike many games that offer interesting insight into their characters through expositional collectibles, Sea of Solitude’s messages are short quips that feel inconsequential to both the area found and the story as a whole. The first is messages in bottles that are scattered around the game’s environments. But death luckily results in little more than a quick respawn nearby, eliminating at least some of the frustration that can arise from any accidents.īeyond these encounters, you’ll find a few collectibles to round up. These “combat” encounters (if you can call them that) are never challenging, and they’re repeated until they’re groan-inducing to endure. You’ll walk, run, swim, and drive a small boat around as you move from point to point, occasionally reaching areas that require you to evade enemies or lead them into light sources to destroy them. Sea of Solitude gives you a stunningly gorgeous environment to explore, but said exploration is never fleshed out in any meaningful ways. Interaction with the game’s world is relatively simple, and the extent of your enjoyment will depend entirely on whether you enjoy games that value narrative over gameplay depth. Jo-Mei Games uses this depression, anxiety, and fear to create a backdrop for both aesthetics and its gameplay.' ' Sea of Solitude casts players as Kay, a young girl who has seemingly isolated herself from others with her self-centered behavior, leading her to eventually realize she’s now forced to face her demons all alone. It’s all equally wondrous and well-designed, and the focus on metaphors and allegories helps Sea of Solitude justify its existence as an interactive experience even when the actual gameplay doesn’t hold up.

Meanwhile, the game’s cast of characters are primarily huge, jet black monsters that take the form of animals, each of which Kay is actively attempting to return to their human forms so she can help them and redeem herself. A vast and lonely city partially devoured by the sea acts as an on-the-nose allegory for solitude. Jo-Mei Games uses this depression, anxiety, and fear to create a backdrop for both aesthetics and its gameplay. Sea of Solitude casts players as Kay, a young girl who has seemingly isolated herself from others with her self-centered behavior, leading her to eventually realize she’s now forced to face her demons all alone. To say they succeed admirably is a stretch, but Sea of Solitude is nevertheless a compelling narrative-driven adventure worth seeing, even if it’s primarily for its vivid aesthetic and larger-than-life moments. German development team, Jo-Mei Games, takes aim to tackle this delicate subject in their new game, Sea of Solitude, in a way that equally highlights desolation and joy emotional failure and redemption. It’s a harrowing feeling to experience, yet it also must exist in order for companionship and love to mean so much to us. Loneliness is an emotion most humans can relate to at some point in their lives, and its effects vary in intensity and volume from person to person in a way that makes it unique to the individual.

Sea of solitude play time