BinaryMessiah Sword of the Sea Review

The magic of Journey has rarely been replicated. The fantastic audiovisual spectacle captured many gamers' hearts and is one of the most memorable games I have ever played. Sword of the Sea can be considered the unofficial spiritual successor. There's clearly some heavy inspiration from Journey here as well as its follow-up, Abzu. There's also some Tony Hawk's Pro Skater thrown in here, and before you close this review, keep reading. It sounds absurd, but by golly does it work. There's not much of a narrative drive here. While Journey told a story through simple visuals and it worked, it still wasn't what people remembered the game for. Sword of the Sea is about the journey. The sights and sounds are what you will remember and take with you. The sweeping soundtrack, gorgeous art design, and incredibly memorable design choices will make you talk about it for years to come. Sword of the Sea is what Journey could have done if there was more power available from the PS3 and if the game was faster paced. The golden sands, luscious water, and sweeping vistas from Journey are all here. You play as a hero who uses a hoverboard and can move insanely fast across the landscape. The power of the current consoles allows for larger levels, further draw distance, and better physics. The magical part about Sword of the Sea is "rehydrating" (as I call it) areas by using your interact ability (very similar to Journey). This is done by lighting lanterns placed in a circle, and then the sand turns to water, and you can see through the water but can't go into it. It's incredibly magical once you rehydrate an entire area and it feels like you are underwater. Fish and marine life seem to fly through the air, and you can glide up kelp. You can bounce off jellyfish, grind giant chains, and boost through the air to find secrets for trophies. Exploration is all optional, including finding currency known as Tetra, which can be handed to a vendor to acquire optional abilities such as spin and jump tricks. It's nice that all of this is optional, so most people can just enjoy the narrative while others can explore. Nothing bars progress so trophy hunters have something more to do. The control is fantastic with the hero moving at high speeds, but if you stop pressing the analog stick he will make a dead stop allowing for precise platforming. There are various environments, from deserts to actual seas, a volcano, a ghostly ocean, and underwater caves, and various others. These are massive areas that are so beautiful and well-designed. In between each stage are scripted linear areas in which you ride a sea animal at high speed. You can dive in and out of sand and ice like water while hitting lanterns to activate water bubbles to hydrate the area. These also include scripted cinematic moments that will make your heart leap. There's an ice level that has you climbing a massive mountain and jumping off of ramps, and flying hundreds of feet is exhilarating and never gets old. Optionally, you can perform tricks with the face buttons. This includes wall riding, half-pipes, and anything you can jump from. The overall score is tallied at the end of the game. I feel the trick system is more of an afterthought and isn't as elaborate as something in THPS as there are just four basic tricks. I honestly only did tricks for the four optional trick event areas, and they are incredibly easy. You just need 10,000 points. As long as you don't touch the ground, you can keep your multiplier going by bouncing on jellyfish, wall riding, and boosting in the air. Outside of all of the optional content, which I recommend doing on your first run, you can do a new game plus with all of the upgrades you bought and can just speed run through the game and enjoy the cinematics and scripted events more. This is definitely a game that would be enjoyed by multiple play-throughs. The feeling of seeing the levels transform from desolate to beautiful is something I haven't felt since Okami, when you make a large tree bloom and the entire area bursts with color and life. The soundtrack is equally beautiful, with swells during cinematic moments and calming vocal chants during exploration. Each level has its own song, and I highly recommend listening outside of the game as well. This is a game of moving art. The amount of work that went into the level design and everything surrounding it is astounding, trumping even AAA titles with their multi-million dollar budgets. This is a game you won't forget. Play it on your nicest display (preferably an OLED), turn off the lights, and watch your room burst with color and life as you bring life back to this desolate world of sand and death.