Sea of Solitude Reviews
Sea of Solitude offers up a lot to love, with its rich aesthetics and well-intentioned design, but it fails to make a lasting impression with its gameplay or story.
At the heart of Sea Of Solitude is the idea that all emotions can have a positive or negative form — love can be twisted to be something unhealthy or saddening, for example, just as being alone can be quiet solitude or debilitating loneliness.
Sea of Solitude is a boldly personal game that has a lot going for it, notably its fantastic art style and score. Kay's story toward understanding her fraught relationships can be genuinely moving at times, but more often it comes across as scattered and heavy-handed. Add to that its clumsy, far-too-traditional gameplay, and Sea of Solitude feels like an interesting idea poorly executed.
Sea of Solitude is a tremendously moving and well-thought out narrative adventure that nails story and art direction and offers solid gameplay, but could have better voice acting and a longer overall length.
Despite artless visual metaphors, this is a rare and audacious game that tackles depression and its causes head-on
I’m torn on Sea of Solitude. I don’t know what score to give it even. I can’t say I love the game because I definitely don’t. I don’t hate it either. It has also been on my mind constantly since I finished it and that must mean something. Maybe I’m just too rooted in my own depression to understand this game. I’m not sure.
Sea of Solitude is a game not to be taken lightly—the content warning at the beginning attests to that—but well worth the tumultuous ride.
The attempt to copy the works of Team ICO was not successful, as well as the desire of the creator of Sea of Solitude to reveal a personal drama. Probably, Geppert chose the wrong format, but this does not make it easier for us.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Sea of Solitude left an impact on me that I won't soon forget. From its heartbreaking story to it's powerful and striking visuals. Sea of Solitude is another good example of a game bringing awareness to mental health issues.
There is a lot of potential for some innovative and memorable puzzles here, but the games heavy focus on its emotional narrative detracts from it being, well, a game.
It's hard to call Sea of Solitude a bad experience, but it feels very pedestrian at almost every turn. Bland gameplay means you'll rarely be doing anything too exciting, in turn making the short run time all the more suspect. Beautiful visuals and themes that may resonate with some are minor highlights, although they're not enough to make up for insipidity.
Sea of Solitude is sadly the least-essential EA Originals title to date. The game has heart and delivers a few brief powerful moments, but it's held back by erratic design and a lack of content. Sea of Solitude is a pleasant-enough wade, but it isn't the dramatic deep dive it could have been.
Sea of Solitude is a game of suffering and altruism, of lights and shadows, of terrible errors and courageous teachings. The work of Cornelia Geppert and Jo-Mai Games is without any doubt a game worth playing.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sea of Solitude makes one o the better and more realistic recreations of some mental issues that are more common that most people think.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Despite a gorgeous look, Sea of Solitude lacks of a complex narrative or level design that puts it into pair with recent games inspired by mental issues.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sea of Solitude is an interactive story that has bits of a game peppered into it. Like gamey meat, it's not for everyone. Some players may want more to do than run around looking for seagulls and messages in bottles in between story moments and the occasional "fight" sequence. The story (which we have not spoiled here) is likely to resonate with many people, but for some it won't be enough to overcome a lack of fun gameplay to take players in between exposition. It is a worthy attempt, but just falls a bit short.
Sea of Solitude boasts an abundance of heart, and has a genuinely great look, but the gameplay struggles to rise above anything other than basic.
Even if you’re fascinated by the story though, the tedium of actually playing Sea of Solitude will diminish its impact.
Its repetitive tasks are like the usual arbitrary gates to reach a cutscene in a mediocre video game.
Sea of Solitude is a masterpiece of storytelling, art-design and thematic visualisation. While not necessarily lengthy or mechanically deep it is an astoundingly well-crafted game that should be experienced by everyone