THIS IS A HARD GAME TO TALK ABOUT WITHOUT GETTING PERSONAL.

I don’t know where to begin. Like most people, my first and really only exposure to Sea of Solitude was the introduction at EA’s press conference from E3 a while back (I don’t remember the year). I knew it was a very personal story that dealt with depression or some adjacent feeling to it and I had some interest in playing the game as someone who has had depression since before the age of 10.

Before I delve into the story, arguably the main content of the game, I want to just lightly touch upon the mechanics. Most of the game is a third person exploration game with a fair amount of platforming and minor puzzle solving. There’s plenty of collectibles to find, but for the most part the game tells the player what to do. The most difficult part of this game for some people will be the moments where the player has to time movement across water as to not be eaten by a giant monster. Outside of that, the game is quite forgiving, meaning it is accessible to most people, even those not super familiar with video games.

PLATFORMS: PC, PS4, XB1
MSRP: $19.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $14.99

Here’s where the review gets difficult for me, because I’m not sure what I am supposed to take away from this game.

In the world of Sea of Solitude, people become isolated and then turn into monsters. I am not sure if it is the isolation or the depression that turns people into these monsters, but each segment of the game has Kay, the protagonist, going through someone’s story of how they got to where they are and ultimately freeing them of their monstrous form. I like this concept in theory, but the creators chose the word monster and that’s generally used to describe terrible people. Maybe these characters are monsters because they too think they are terrible, but the issue is that the game could also be saying that this isolation and this depression makes you a monster.

As I write this I am in a depressive state, meaning I don’t want to talk to people. I isolate myself because I don’t like other people and I don’t like myself. Am I a monster for doing that? I don’t feel like a monster. It’s an odd choice. Depression is a monster, the people that live with it are not. I realize it’s an artistic choice but it feels wrong to me.

There is a point later in this game that shows one character in their symbolic animal form slowly darken as they isolate themselves and fall into depression. It was well done and I think had they not used the word monster I wouldn’t be coming back to that point, but it feels dismissive of people who have more than just the occasional sad. Depression is similar yet very different for many people and I realize this is one person’s take on it and it is unfair to criticize how they feel depression and loneliness because it is not like my own. I do however see the moments where this shines through and really speaks to the world the realities of depression.

There’s plenty of bright moments where I have fun and feel good, but they are surrounded and drowned out by my predisposition to feel bad. I feel like I am swallowed by it. I try to help the people I love out of it, but it doesn’t fix me. The best I can do is live with it. These are all moments that are captured so well in this game, and I wish that the other characters felt the symptoms of depression differently rather than simply having another story to tell that features depression. There are four stories we go through and all of them feel very similar in the way people live with their depression (isolation, anger, resentment, sadness) when there are plenty of symptoms that are less noticeable and arguably just as impactful (lack of energy, not eating, addiction).

I commend what was done with the story, but like the game GRIS I think a little more explanation on the goals of the developers with what they want to say would go a long way. I think the world has put too much weight on the consumer to create their own message within art, when really it is still the artist whose message matters. I don’t want to have to read third party write ups to get a game to make more sense. That’s not to say everything needs to be explained, but the way this game ends felt unclear to me with what the developers wanted to say, and I shouldn’t have to ask.

For the most part, because I’m late to the party, I want to defend this game from a criticism I deem unfair and has come up a lot: the voice acting is bad. No, the voice acting is not the best, but it is also not bad. The voice acting is done by people who are not native English speakers and therefore the emotional nuances in language that native English speakers expect are potentially not going to be there, or not as emphasized as we expect. Sure, the team could have gotten other people to do the voices, but maybe the personal relationship with the game was more important and maybe the people creating the game can hear the emotion they are looking for in the accent while others cannot. I wouldn’t have such an issue with this complaint if the “Japanese voice over is better” diatribe didn’t consistently come up in games in general. If you don’t fluently speak Japanese and understand the language’s nuances then you can’t say it is objectively better because you actually have no idea what is going on. The voice acting in the game is rough and feels like an independent project, which this game still is despite being published by EA.

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. Ultimately I’m giving this the same score I gave GRIS because I would find it unfair to give it anything lower or anything higher and I feel obligated to give it some score.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.