It’s 2012, the indie renaissance is well underway and the seminal title from thatgamecompany, Journey, is released. It’s not the first game to put you in a big world to explore but it does popularise some key concepts that others will emulate for the decade to come. The stylized, low poly/low texture visuals, cooperative play in an exploration only game and what I coined as “That Journey Moment”. The latter has made its way into many titles; having you rapidly traverse a large section of the world to give you a sense of the scale of the world whilst you’re serenaded by an orchestral soundtrack. The cheekier side of me wants to say that Sword of the Sea is the answer to the question “What if the entire game was That Journey Moment” but in reality it’s an evolution of that concept, continuing Giant Squid’s trend of delivering ever-grander spiritual successors to Journey.
The world was once a lush landscape, teeming with life. The arrival of the fire leviathan changed all that and now what was once a vast oceanscape is a desert, the undulating waves of the sea now ripples in sand dunes. The Wraiths, protectors of the ocean, lay dormant underground waiting for a time when water flowed once again so they could return the world back to the splendour it once knew. All it took was a single drop to revive one of them, bringing it and the powerful hoversword back to life. So it was that the Wraith set to work, surfing the vast deserts in search of ancient artifacts, ocean seeds and tetras so that the ocean could spring to life once again. The fire leviathan was not gone however and it would not abide the Wraith’s work for long.
Matt Nava certainly hasn’t sat on his laurels since the release of The Pathless and the evolution of his style seeks to make generous use of what modern gaming platforms are able to provide. The same heavy stylisation still applies although it’s far beyond the old low poly/low texture stylings that many will remember him for. Sword of the Sea is visually dense yet simplistic; all the extraneous details stripped out so you’re left with a tight visual language that conveys everything it needs to and nothing it doesn’t. It’s very much an improvement on The Pathless which felt utterly lifeless compared to what they’ve achieved here.
As my opening blurb alludes to Sword of the Sea is a casual exploration game that’ll have you exploring large areas with speed and sick skateboarding tricks. Each area has a number of ocean seeds you’ll need to collect which restores the environment back to its former oceany glory which will allow you to progress through to the next area. There’s a number of upgrade items called tetras scattered around the place too which can be turned in at your friendly neighbourhood…dude who’ll unlock new tricks and improved jumping capabilities. There’s also a variety of other collectibles to be found, usually in the places that are a bit harder to get to than just surfing around randomly. There’s also some challenge areas where you can compete, mostly with yourself, to get the highest score using all the wicked sick moves you’ve unlocked. As you’d expect from Giant Squid it’s not a complicated game and can easily be enjoyed by just following the game where it leads you.
The core movement mechanics are done extremely well, making movement across large swaths of land really enjoyable. It can sometimes get a little wigged out when the camera and your character aren’t properly aligned, making fine grained movement (especially at speed) feel like you’re wrestling a greased snake. Still though even some of the more demanding platform sections aren’t too troubling to get past as they’re generous enough with placing the various challenges close enough that you’re not relying on pixel perfect precision to get them done. The optional challenges however are a very different beast.
Which is where the game probably falls down a little in my mind. Whilst the challenges and collectibles are entirely optional, so I really only have myself to blame for chasing them, it can easily pull you out of the really slick flow that the main exploration parts get you into. To be sure there’s nothing quite like sailing through a level, knocking over a bunch of challenges without missing a beat. But when you do miss one? Suddenly you’re out of that loop and focused on just doing the challenge itself. Most of them don’t take long to do, to be sure, but it’s enough that to take the wind out of your sails. Perhaps there’s something to be said then for doing an initial playthrough just focusing on the main story and then, should you feel the need to, come back and do the challenges.
There’s a bit more meat on the bones with Sword of the Sea’s story than previous titles which is good although the narrative is still pretty thin on the ground. Whilst you’ll be able to glean quite a lot from the various text dumps around the place they only give you surface level details as to the why and how of the current level you’re in. I will admit that it’s a step up from the usual visual-only storytelling we get with titles like this, but I still think there’s a missed opportunity here. There’s so many great examples of games that have been able to uplift their experiences through active storytelling that’s used in conjunction with the main game loop. The Turing Test comes to mind. How would you apply that to a game like Sword of the Sea? I don’t know, but I feel like there’s a GOTY contender just waiting to be made if Giant Squid figures out how to pull it off.
Sword of the Sea is another fantastic evolution in the genre of games that Matt Nava and Giant Squid helped create. The core game loop is very satisfying, the exploration mechanics done well and it’s all backdropped by some amazing visuals that many will attempt to replicate for decades to come. This old reviewer may have done himself a disservice by chasing some of the challenges, given those tended to both remove them from the flow and showcase some of the lesser polished parts of the experience. The narrative is an improvement but still has a way to go and I’d definitely like to see Giant Squid experimenting more in that space beyond just adding flavour text. All in all Sword of the Sea is exactly what you’d expect from it, and that’s a good thing.
Rating: 8.5/10
Sword of the Sea is available on PC and PlayStation 5 right now for $43.95. Game was played on the PlayStation 5 with a total of 2.5 hours playtime and 24% of the achievements unlocked. Game is also included in PlayStation Plus Extra.
