![]() ![]() Not only do the two games have the same themes and tone, but they even share platforming mechanics and bottle collectibles, and they both have starring roles for troubled girls in yellow raincoats. It's heartfelt and reminiscent of another spooky game starring a lonely kid trapped in a hellish, surreal world: Little Nightmares. Though this game is fun enough when it tasks you with hopping around and boating, SoS doesn't take full advantage of the medium it inhabits.Ĭriticisms aside, there's definitely a lot to love in Sea of Solitude. It doesn't do much that an artsy, animated indie film couldn't its most important moments are relegated to noninteractive cutscenes, and the runtime of the core story is short enough to be a feature film. That the game's mechanics themselves don't single-handedly sell the experience reveals yet another issue with Sea of Solitude: It doesn't need to be a game at all. ![]() This means players have virtually no incentive to pick up the game again after they blaze through the adventure in one or two sessions. There's no additional content beyond the game's story, which lasted me just over 4 hours, including the time it took to gather the vast majority of collectibles. But, though functional, the boating and platforming are not this game's primary selling points. This wouldn't be a huge issue if there were any other replay value or if the gameplay itself were engaging enough to warrant multiple playthroughs. The problem with the game's collectibles is that there's no way to track which ones you've missed, and there's not a ton of incentive to go back and explore the game all over again just for those overlooked items. Thanks to the game's omission of invisible walls between structures, experimenting with the limits of SoS's platforming mechanics to find these hidden items is supremely satisfying and rewards risk taking. These include cute seagulls who give players a tactically advantageous bird's-eye view of upcoming terrain as well as bottles with messages that reveal an interesting story within a story. The only real motive to replay Sea of Solitude is to find its collectibles. But while these all make for an enjoyable experience, there's little reason to go through them twice. When these are firing on all cylinders, it's easy to enjoy the simplistic gameplay and become enthralled by the game's smaller-than-it-seems main city and detour locales. Nevertheless, Sea of Solitude has gorgeous graphics, reminiscent of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and A-grade sound design. This fault is amplified by Kay's voice actor, Miriam Jud (who is also the game's lead animator), and her good, but not great performance. That's why it's a slight shame that Kay constantly talks to herself, sometimes detracting from the atmosphere and generally spooky ambiance the game is trying to create. The world of Sea of Solitude, from its monsters to its raging waters, sounds genuinely scary, and there's often a hypnotic rhythm to the nightmarish noises, which helps compel the player forward, even in the most frightening circumstances. Said tension is in large part due to the game's excellent sound design and masterful foley work. ![]()
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