From the very first trailer, Sword of the Sea had me. A largely serene but mysterious world that you just navigate on a hover sword, which is a hoverboard plus sword (but in addition a surfboard and snowboard), all wrapped up into one? The stainless vibes of a Large Squid title, a la ABZU and The Pathless, with just a little little bit of Journey sprinkled in? It hooked me immediately, which can be most likely why I had fairly excessive expectations.
From the very first second, Sword of the Sea has it. As an historical guardian who awakens on a single drop, you enterprise forth into this desert-filled world to unleash the water and restore prosperity. There’s some deeper lore, however when it comes to atmosphere and vibes, it’s merely breathtaking, nearly Breath of the Wild-esque in its reveal.
As you step out into the ocean of sands, slicing effortlessly by its dunes, the desolation offers approach to vibrancy. Each time you launch the water, varied aquatic life springs forth, creating this sense of visible buoyancy, which extends to the gameplay as properly, particularly when hopping on jellyfish or browsing up greenery. Little or no else issues as you glide by environments, performing sick tips to nobody particularly (with no threat of messing up, after all).
“Although all of the mechanics actually come collectively within the late recreation (and admittedly not for very lengthy), they nonetheless provide a seamless platforming loop that’s very gratifying. It doesn’t really feel punishing in any respect, however the ease with which you’ll be able to discover these big areas is enjoyable in its personal proper.”
From spin tips and flips to constructing momentum off half-pipes and leaping over gaps, Sword of the Sea controls as seamlessly because it unfolds. You possibly can simply zone out in an setting, exploring methods to succeed in sure chests or occurring upon collectible seashells. All of the collected foreign money might be deposited on the mysterious retailers current all through the world (who’ve a supernatural knack for showing on the proper occasions), which unlocks extra tips and even the flexibility to drop down. Which is sweet, however you rapidly notice their insignificance within the grand scheme of issues.
As trendy as a triple front-flip off a mountain might be, it doesn’t actually have any influence on the gameplay. You typically default to the double-jump, spin, and grinding whereas traversing the world, embracing a extra conventional platforming loop. Even when you care concerning the rating, helpfully revealed whereas paused, the general depth of the tips feels extraordinarily restricted from the outset. Whereas I utterly perceive Large Squid’s aim – of supplanting this explicit kind of motion into an exploration recreation – any sense of fashion and competitiveness feels utterly superficial.
I nonetheless want to emphasise the impeccable design of the environments and the pacing. In contrast to The Pathless and its open world, Sword of the Sea provides extra linear development with a lot fewer distractions, as you traverse from one chapter to the following. Acquainted locales like snowy mountains and lava-filled caverns nonetheless really feel extremely contemporary to discover with little or no downtime. Some visuals – a metropolis rising from beneath the sands, floating isles and ships amid a nighttime sky – are downright stunning, boasting attractive and vibrant artwork path. The depiction of water and marine biology jogs my memory of ABZU, and it’s pleasant to identify whales and dolphins swimming by the skies seemingly and not using a care on this planet. Having the ability to journey them and simply calmly wade by, even when it’s a small predetermined circle, is sweet.
Although all of the mechanics actually come collectively within the late recreation (and admittedly not for very lengthy), they nonetheless provide a seamless platforming loop that’s very gratifying. It doesn’t really feel punishing in any respect, however the ease with which you’ll be able to discover these big areas is enjoyable in its personal proper. Different notable sequences additionally combine up the core gameplay in several methods, and whereas they’ll drag a bit, they’re a welcome change of tempo.
“Whereas the developer’s earlier titles created a way of emotional connection of their quick runtime, Sword of the Sea doesn’t fairly nail it. It additionally doesn’t assist that the story begins winding down after hitting what seems like its stride.”
Your aim is to primarily restore the Cycle, which turns into interrupted for an unknown purpose (that rapidly makes itself obvious in fiery consternation). It’s fairly simple, and consequently, the stakes can really feel low-key till about midway into the sport. Possibly it’s as a result of the main target is so squarely on feeling your means by and absorbing the ambiance whereas lore is introduced in snippets. The civilization that got here earlier than, their demise, the non secular river that binds every thing, so on and so forth. Nevertheless, I didn’t discover myself as invested as in The Pathless or ABZU.
Maybe it’s as a result of, as a cohesive narrative, there are means too many questions left unanswered. Who was the Minder answerable for that one empty metropolis? What of the Ghost Warriors, whose huge our bodies stay frozen in that subject as sentries, guiding you from one place to the following? Are these retailers inextricably tied to the Cycle just like the Guardian?
There’s additionally a really familiar-looking character with an essential function that hardly rises above being a cameo. However then once more, they could even be the Champion spoken of within the tablets, given their talents. A lot of the lore, particularly its themes of fireside vs. water, life and dying, spirits and people, is open for ascribing one’s personal that means. That’s, when it isn’t used to elucidate away why these Ghost Warriors are current in a snowy subject (or why precisely it really works the way in which that it does).
Whereas the developer’s earlier titles created a way of emotional connection of their quick runtime, Sword of the Sea doesn’t fairly nail it. It additionally doesn’t assist that the story begins winding down after hitting what seems like its stride. Total playtime is shorter than The Pathless – and that’s with loads of admiring the structure and brushing for secrets and techniques. Which isn’t a foul factor, given how a lot tighter this feels by comparability. I simply couldn’t actually shake the feeling of, “That’s it?”, even because the credit unfolded.
Sword of the Sea does provide some extra gameplay components afterwards, which lean additional into speed-running and exploration. There’s a Journey-like component to this, however in contrast to that title and its seamless co-op leading to splendidly emergent encounters to today, I’m undecided if Large Squid’s method has as a lot endurance.
“As endearing as it may be to get misplaced among the many waves, you want one thing to ultimately anchor your self, and for higher or worse, Large Squid doesn’t fairly ship on that entrance.”
For so long as it lasts, Sword of the Sea is a gorgeous, engrossing expertise, one which’s simple to get misplaced in, and that’s in no small half because of Austin Wintory’s unimaginable rating. It accentuates the quiet moments and presents some unimaginable vocal items all through, typically carrying the emotional weight when the plot fails to take action.
On the draw back, as unimaginable because the artwork path is, there have been a number of efficiency points, even with a GPU and RAM that surpass the beneficial specs. Maybe a lot of it’s CPU-bound and my eleventh gen i5 is the bottleneck, however body fee drops happen even when dropping the decision scaling and high quality settings have been set to Medium. Upscaling help could have helped with these points, however there’s no denying that additional optimization, or on the very least, higher {hardware}, is required in some areas.
Regardless of all these caveats, I might nonetheless suggest Sword of the Sea for these in search of a comparatively gentle journey with excellent artwork path, motion, and music. The truth that it fires on so many cylinders, from the world design to the general pleasure of exploration, and but fails to enthrall me in so many significant methods, stays baffling. However as endearing as it may be to get misplaced among the many waves, you want one thing to ultimately anchor your self, and for higher or worse, Large Squid doesn’t fairly ship on that entrance.
This recreation was reviewed on PC.
