The character Britta from the TV present Community as soon as, when challenged, described an analogy as “like a thought with another thought’s hat on”, which is fairly good. So, that being the case, Sea Of Solitude is sort of a entire bunch of ideas carrying different ideas’ hats. The ideas all did a wacky hat swap on the workplace for Comic Relief, and now not one of the ideas are carrying their very own hat anymore. If you look carefully you’ll discover that a couple of of the brand new hats don’t fairly match, however usually they work.
I’m not going overboard in saying that. When I spoke to Cornelia Geppart a few weeks in the past, she made it clear that every little thing in Sea Of Solitude has a secondary that means. The best to parse is the ocean, which, on this vibrant however serious-thinking journey, is a stand in for loneliness and solitude. It’s a barrier that retains Kay, a younger lady and the character you play as, from her family members. The game is about navigating that sea.
There’s a powerful cohesion to Sea Of Solitude. There’s the marginally bouncy high quality to the animations, the sharp tonal divide between unhappiness and happiness, and even little particulars similar to how the display will get a visible wobble like a TV being tuned if Kay approaches a wholesome human and may’t perceive them. It all pulls collectively and creates a world that you could instinctively perceive, even when it’s speaking to you fairly loudly and slowly at occasions.
Like most treacherous waters, within the Sea Of Solitude: right here thar be monsters. Big, looming creatures, with weeping pink eyes, who would appear at dwelling in historic myths. Here a hunched over hen, there a reptilian lady’s face, topped with furry octopus tentacles like a brand new medusa. And their kinds are all consultant of a sure type of loneliness, of causes of isolation even while you’re not by your self. Kay, additionally slowly being monstered by her ache, finds methods to get nearer to those monsters bodily that contain getting nearer emotionally, and discovering wholesome methods to take care of private issues.
Despite the title of the game, you truly spend a number of trip of your little boat and operating across the washed out homes of the game’s Berlin setting as a substitute, as sections of the water increase or decrease and alter which bits of the map are accessible. That depiction of Berlin modifications with Kaye’s emotional state. It is gorgeous and welcoming within the sunshine, however horrifying and hostile at the hours of darkness and the rain. It’s a enjoyable place to run round, and Kay’s naked toes make a pleasant little slapping noise on the ground. There are gaps to leap, semi-cryptic messages in bottles to gather, which trace on the cyclical nature of loneliness, and a large murderous mermaid to keep away from. All the fundamentals, proper?
These almost-a-platformer sections are easy, however not boring. They’re often accompanied by a easy process associated to the monster you’re presently chasing after, like amassing recollections or melting ice partitions, however they’re additionally the place you get extra context for who Kaye is and why she’s right here within the first place, which is the extra fascinating half anyway.
So now we attain the opposite half of getting near individuals, the emotional, metaphorical bit. It’s the bigger a part of the Sea Of Solitude, and but additionally the bit most in peril of being spoiled if I discuss it. The morals are fairly easy and specific, actually, as are a number of the hats talked about earlier. If Kay amassing different individuals’s emotional baggage in a literal backpack is a thought carrying a hat, it’s a see-through bathe cap. But they’re additionally the kind of issues that lots of people will most likely profit from being informed merely and explicitly, and so I begrudge them nothing.
I don’t assume all of it really works neatly. Kaye is ready to summon a flare from inside herself that reveals her the best way, so I used to be studying it as perhaps being her emotional instincts, however then she will be able to additionally use it to banish smaller monsters or change them into constructive variations of themselves. She chases after a ball of sunshine she calls Glowy, which helps her however will get attacked or captured by adverse feelings. I used to be by no means fairly in a position to work out what Glowy was. So who is aware of?
But for all that I want for complexity in video games, I believe we might most likely do with stuff like Sea Of Solitude in a medium that may be so emotionally immature. We should be informed the fundamentals: typically you damage somebody extra by attempting to assist them, typically you have to let go, typically you’ll be able to hear with out listening, typically a monster isn’t a monster, typically an individual isn’t a monster, typically you’re not a monster. And they’re issues that we inevitably neglect and must study once more typically. At least this game will take you by the hand and say, “I’ve been here too. Let’s try it again, but with another thought’s hat on.” It’s the Bill Nye of games about unhappiness.
At the guts of Sea Of Solitude is the concept all feelings can have a constructive or adverse type — love may be twisted to be one thing unhealthy or saddening, for instance, simply as being alone may be quiet solitude or debilitating loneliness. I’ve little doubt that Sea Of Solitude may appear facile to some individuals, however that simply means it isn’t for you. I believe it’ll most likely be for lots of different individuals.
