Sword of the Sea

• Genre: Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Not much to spoil the way the story is presented.
• Time Played: 4:17
• Too Short/Long: Good for the type of game it is.
• Did I cry: A little bit.
• Soundtrack: Amazing. It's key to building the atmosphere of the game. 
• Why I played: I've liked all of the teams previous works, though I need to go back to Pathless because it's the only one I haven't finished.
• Jank: It's pretty much jank free besides some weird "can I land on this" and "no" via invisible walls.
• Difficulty: Practically none.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm very pleased, as I have been with all their games.
• Recommend to others: I would if it's the kind of thing you're into. All of their(Giant Squid, and Thatgamecompany) games are a bit abstract and enigmatic. They're defining examples of games as art, and definitely more art than game.
  

There isn't much to explain if you're familiar with Flower, Journey, and Abzu. It's very much in line with those. Even visually, it's pretty much like they smashed Journey and Abzu together. We like desert AND the sea, so what if the Sea was in/on the desert?

You pretty much just ride around on your hover sword and interact with the environment until you can go to the next area. There are hidden collectibles, there are upgrades, and there are even little trial trick areas. It's fun to explore and take it all in, but there isn't too much more than that. Not that it needs to be. I do think with the sword being such a focus, the game could have maybe had some more combat of some kind of variety, but obviously those aren't the types of games these people are generally trying to make. 

I didn't play Pathless which did have some combat if I recall, but maybe that's just it. I didn't play it. How many other people also skipped on it - their one game with combat? So back to what they were best known for - something you more... experience, rather than "play" in the typical sense. I mean it's still very much a game as far as how it controls, it's far from what I would call a "walking simulator" but stakes are barely existent and difficult is rather low. Finding some secret may require some sufficient skill or ingenuity though. 

I don't know if it beats out my experience with Journey, but unfortunately Journey is more of a "your mileage may vary" experience with the infrastructure. I did really enjoy Sword of the Sea though, probably a better instance of capturing the same magic completely solo though.