With certain narratives imploring Kay to listen closer, while others tell her to let go, it can be a little difficult to track.
Each story is fairly robust on its own, and could plausibly all be tied together through Kay acting as a nexus-but they don't always cohere. There's a chapter about childhood bullying and suicidal ideation, and a chapter about marital challenges. But the varied narrative focuses and individual episodes mean that Sea of Solitude has to work harder to communicate a cohesive message than it would have, had these stories all been about Kay, rather than people in her life. In that sense, it's still centered on the personal experience of mental unwellness-a substitution I use here, because the game doesn't precisely label whether Kay has depression, anxiety, or another diagnosis, though she visibly struggles with feelings of worthlessness.
SEA OF SOLITUDE FOCUS HOW TO
As a result, the game's focus can be more accurately characterized as Kay's difficulties with "caregiver syndrome"-learning how to be a more effective caretaker and support system, while realizing the toll it can personally take. Every few chapters focuses on their lives, and each of these sections resolves into a kind of parable. Instead, chapters center around specific people Kay cares about who are experiencing forms of grief, estrangement, and suffering. There's evasive swimming, enemy luring, mild maze running, and basic platforming. The game predominantly sticks to a basic formula of region exploration and corruption clearing, though each chapter plays with a different core puzzle mechanic-with varied levels of success. She has a flare that acts as a very well-calibrated wayfinder, guiding her through cityscapes and seas by boat and foot. Kay has a backpack that she uses to collect swirling black substances, known as "corruption," that infect balls of light that would otherwise light the region. This is Sea of Solitude's primary gameplay mechanic. All life and energy can be sucked away at a moment's notice thanks to a giant monster or Kay interacting with an area of "corruption." It's cinematic, it begs to be traversed, and it’s marked by extreme vicissitudes in fortune. At its darkest, the game calls to mind favorable comparisons to Limbo or Inside. When well lit, it has the expansive freedom and awe of Journey. Fluctuations in lighting and water level effectively communicate tone and mindset in a way rarely seen in games. Though Sea of Solitude lasts around four hours, the world was captivating enough to make me spend additional hours simply running around in it.
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