Play as Kay in her personal journey of depression, loneliness and being alone in this action/adventure game where you must face your feelings and demons and get past her feelings.
Please be aware that the game deals with mental health and that the subject matter of the game may not suitable for all gamers to play in your gaming family. We encourage you to read the review and watch game play footage to see for yourself.
General Gameplay
When playing as Kay, she is trapped into her own world of her feelings that manifest into her personal demons and she must be able to overcome her fears in this adventure game. In the game there is some platforming and puzzle solving where to must overcome her demons and progress throughout the game story. The Game Visuals are created in a bright color pallet and darker colors throughout the game. The game colors change its design based on what is going on in the game. So, when you are dealing with happier times in Kay’s life the colors are more bright and vivid and when dealing with darker emotions the colors get darker to match the mood. This is an interesting way to showcase the game visuals throughout the game. The game characters, background and enemies are drawn in a lot of detail to show what is going on in the game. The game does a great job of showcasing the character detail so it can better show the story and progression. The game does not support a colorblind mode; however, it is not needed as the colors are bright enough to see on the screen. In our play testing, outside of some scary images, the game is very family friendly (More on this in our family friendly section) Sea of Solitude Audio is done in well for a game like this. The game is more of a storytelling of a journey so there is a lot of somber music within the game. The game has spoken audio and there is some language in the game that expresses Kay’s feelings and thoughts and her struggle with her personal demons. The game has all the sound effects that you would expect to hear from the game. From the water splashing, to seagulls flying, sounds of the monsters and other creatures in the game. The game does a great job of showcasing the audio in the game. Sea of Solitude is presented in 5.1 surround sound and in stereo sound as well. In our play testing, outside of some language there was nothing offensive to hear for pre-teen age gamers in your gaming family. Controls in Sea of Solitude are very easy to control in the game. The left thumb stick controls the character where the right one controls the camera. There is a button to use a flare in the game and also to jump and an action button. The game is very easy to control Kay in the game and the game controller setting is very user friendly. As the game is an action/platform game the controls are very well designed for the game. In our play testing, we did not have any issues with the game controls and the game is very user friendly. As the game is on the consoles there is no need to use a special controller for the game.
“A great story that showcases the struggles of Kay and mental health. The game story is well told and for those that are looking for a game with a great story, this is a must play game”
Family Friendly
With games that deal with mental health, the game, story and design have to dance a thin line of being entertaining and educational to the gamer. When playing a game that deals with this issue you have to engulf the gamer into the feelings that the character is going through. Sea of Solitude does a great job of telling a story, Kay’s story and her struggles with her feelings and depression. The game is not to hard to play and it is more about experiencing her journey to overcome this. Her feelings and fears are displayed well to show what is going on in her thoughts, and the level and the level design also does a great job to portray her feelings. In the game you can see what Kay is feeling and how she is trying to overcome her own feelings. When playing the game, our testers felt her happiness, sadness and her fears, and this adds to the game and the gameplay. Sea of Solitude is a more of an story then a game but for those that love story driven games, you will love this game. One of the concerns that we had with he game is that as it does deal with mental health, that parents/guardians may want to either play the game first, watch video of gameplay or even sit with younger gamers that may play the game. The game can dig into some deep issues and that this may not be more appropriate for all gamers in your gaming family. The only downside to the game is that it is short 6-8 hours and that once the game is complicated that there is nothing else to do in the game. If you or someone in your gaming family love story driven games or games that are very deep in story telling, we highly recommend Sea of Solitude is a great game for your digital library.
Closing
Sea of Solitude is a fantastic game that does a great job of telling Kay story and her struggles with her feelings and mental health. Any gamers that are fans of story driven games will love this game.
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