Recent Playing: Sea of Solitude
May. 28th, 2022 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rocky41_7I'm knocking 'em down this month because I won't be taking the X-box with me to Louisiana.
Sea of Solitude is a simple 3rd person game with smooth, cartoony graphics and basic gameplay. The basis of the game is that Kay--the protagonist and PC--has become so consumed with loneliness she's transformed into a monster. In her quest to heal herself and defeat the monsters of her fear and anxiety that tail her throughout the game, she finds that most of the people around her are also dealing with loneliness in some way and it's her efforts to help them that help her help herself.
This game drives hard at the emotional element. There's not much subtlety and it might come off as hokey at times, but overall the game has a lot of heart and its very earnest. I've been interested the last several years in the theme of loneliness and some of the inherent isolation of the modern world, especially if you don't have a romantic partner in your life, so I was really interested to see a game try to tackle this theme and I think they did pretty good overall.
They did a good job of showing how Kay struggles to overcome her own inertia, not knowing when to try to help vs. when to let go and give space, and realizing that she's really overlooked the people in her life crying out for help until now.
The gameplay itself gets a little repetitive; it's mainly 3D platforming with a few other small mechanics, because the point of the game is really about Kay's emotional journey. It gets a little stale, but the game isn't long enough to feel really bored with it.
It seems to be only available as a digital download right now, not sure if the studio is planning on releasing a physical copy later.
I enjoyed the game, but I will add a warning that it deals with some pretty heavy subjects including depression and suicidal thoughts, so mind your triggers if you play.
Sea of Solitude is a simple 3rd person game with smooth, cartoony graphics and basic gameplay. The basis of the game is that Kay--the protagonist and PC--has become so consumed with loneliness she's transformed into a monster. In her quest to heal herself and defeat the monsters of her fear and anxiety that tail her throughout the game, she finds that most of the people around her are also dealing with loneliness in some way and it's her efforts to help them that help her help herself.
This game drives hard at the emotional element. There's not much subtlety and it might come off as hokey at times, but overall the game has a lot of heart and its very earnest. I've been interested the last several years in the theme of loneliness and some of the inherent isolation of the modern world, especially if you don't have a romantic partner in your life, so I was really interested to see a game try to tackle this theme and I think they did pretty good overall.
They did a good job of showing how Kay struggles to overcome her own inertia, not knowing when to try to help vs. when to let go and give space, and realizing that she's really overlooked the people in her life crying out for help until now.
The gameplay itself gets a little repetitive; it's mainly 3D platforming with a few other small mechanics, because the point of the game is really about Kay's emotional journey. It gets a little stale, but the game isn't long enough to feel really bored with it.
It seems to be only available as a digital download right now, not sure if the studio is planning on releasing a physical copy later.
I enjoyed the game, but I will add a warning that it deals with some pretty heavy subjects including depression and suicidal thoughts, so mind your triggers if you play.
