Today we're taking a look at sea of solitude the director's cut on the switch an exclusive build of the game with a few adaptions, how does it play and is this a port worth investing in ?
It's a story and for spoilers sake, i'm not going to be giving you too much the idea though. You are exploring a fantastical world that is drowned by water and darkness.
You must now like set out to not only conquer her fears but also face themes of depression loneliness and pain. It brings the family into the tale too as you dive into their individual challenges. All of this is then represented in the world design itself and the way they use you know black and white and color the story is decent.
It tackles some challenging topics and while a few areas didn't quite land for me. For the most part i enjoyed this journey of self-discovery alongside this director's cut. It is worth knowing it has been rewritten for this switch release.
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The gameplay on this is an incredibly simplistic experience relying on just a few mechanics to explore this world. You can jump, you can fire a beacon of sort it. Basically leads the way where you you know when you may be struggling it even uncovers some secrets and moments. You can sail a boat which acts as your transport from one location to the next.
It may look at times like an open world. But i would describe this more
as mini sandboxes with very linear gameplay within them, you know that's very
much at the forefront.
Basically the game like it goes like this reach this point get a new checkpoint move on. There is a few secret battles to uncover in this world. I found maybe half of them. So there is some excuse for a replay of this one.
But i think a little less handholding would have been a good thing here, just to take advantage of these sandbox worlds gameplay-wise though. You'll typically be solving very simplistic platforming puzzles. They normally come down to figuring out how to reach a location. I didn't once get stuck or last i typically looked for a ledge of some sort and began that ascent alongside this then the sailing. You'll be avoiding the occasional obstacles.
I think maybe these fences that blow out air or maybe enemies. You can't fight back against them. But you can turn on a light source to kind of dispel them. But the best bit of the gameplay, Sea of Solitude gotta be the swimming, you need to traverse from rooftop to rooftop to these underwater worlds and there's just dramatic waves you know along with swimming enemies that kill you instantly.
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It was by far the most exciting moment of the game. There was something just incredibly satisfying here in seeing your timing your enemy placement and almost a stealth approach to it come together perfectly to work out that's. Honestly really gameplay-wise outside of reaching the checkpoints connecting with these sources of pain that's what you're kind of collecting that's what your adventure is for. You suck those up into your backpack that's about it.
It's not a game that's focused on challenge or even mechanics. It wants to hook you with story and while i did enjoy the tale. It definitely felt a little weak on the mechanics front, everything in here has from a gameplay perspective been done better elsewhere before. The controls feel slow and slightly sluggish, almost the climbing for the most part. It does work but it's all very canned and specific in how you must you know approach these moments and then a few areas it tries to reach outside the formula.
But it kind of ends up feeling like padding like a moment where you must stealth around the location again like everything else it works. But the slow speed here is force the crouch is forced. You simply point the direction you want to go, give me more control.
Let me decide the level of risk i take and i promise you the reward. It would have just been so much more. Overall see a solitude's gameplay works. I just wouldn't call it articularly exciting some basic platforming with a very linear path to that end game.
It just misses the opportunity to take advantage of what i would call
decently sized sandbox locations. Finally, it is also a short one it took me
right around three hours to beat it.
But alongside the bottles we do at least also get achievements that may drive you to come back and have another replay of course, if that is your thing no difficulty options though or new game plus to face here.
So graphically the director's cut is a new build of the game this is not simply a port rather they've gone in. They've like clearly tweaked some of the locations, some of the design the textures to make it run as smooth as possible on the switch and that is. I've got to say very apparent, because the frame rate here for 99 of the experience.
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It's just fine, it's floating right around 28 to 30 frames per second there was one moment where it hit low 20s. But this was maybe a couple of minutes at the very most. For the most part you wouldn't even notice. It's dropping below 30. Honestly the world's detail then at times it can be a little lacking where the textures have next to no detail.
Sea of Solitude can also have a bit of a soft image as well. But i think given the scale. They've done a good job of porting it across the worlds. They change frequently the weather, changes the water you know rises and drops the color palette quickly flips and the monsters just beautifully animated.
Other issues then some clipping throughout with k's almost spiky like the same that was very clear and then pop in these. As i said small sandboxes you will for sure notice buildings and textures popping in in the background, this is weirdly especially noticeable in the last two to three minutes of gameplay.
But none of it impacts the game itself. You know the challenge
everything that pops in isn't necessarily. Somewhere you need to be there's
also then a screen tear kind of like distortion effect at times seemed to have
been a design decision.
But i'm not sure it was for me. Finally graphically to wrap up on a high note. I think the real winner here, it's got to be the water. It's stunning as it brings waves crashing around you and while theyhaven't gone for realism.
Its intensity is very much apparent. So audio finally and first it is fully voice active. These are new actors compared to the original release of the game supposedly that released. The performances they're a little weak. I can say here though, these new actors they absolutely deliver. I thought the acting was great from start to finish and no doubt the apparently stronger script played a part in delivering this.
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Sound effects are solid throughout from the water to the more mystical to buildings that crumble. It has everything you would expect. Finally though the music mostly kind of minor chill orchestral. It's a strong school that absolutely captures the emotion kate is facing the music's highlighted though. As the credits roll there's a full track vocals, you know the full-on performance completely stood out and was a nice cap to the experience.
So overall see a solitude has some decent story that's not shy of challenging topics and yes a few areas miss on the writing front. But for the most part it's solid for those that want something just a little bit different this is then reinforced by for the most part, solid audio and graphical design.
Unfortunately though it is let down by the repetitive and kind of bland gameplay where it tries to add in things like obstacles and challenges. But it's the engine. So simplistic it never feels very satisfying to overcome. Because as i said the game honestly 90 of the time just screams that you go here follow the beacon and that's about it.
There is a few highlights the swimming, avoiding monsters, the sailing.
Unfortunately though these moments, they are too few and far between. So if you
do come here, my warning i wouldn't necessarily come here for the gameplay
itself.
But rather the intrigue of the story that's what kept me personally pushing forward and in the end i wasn't disappointed after the three-hour run time for some that will be too short given the price point.
But for me, for this experience playing Sea of Solitude, it did feel just right. The gameplay just can't reach the quality of the rest of the package. But i'm excited now to see where this team goes next. Because one thing is guaranteed, they show a ton of potential with that. So thank you all so much, if you do want to check that out for yourself i have many article about another nintendo switch game review in thia blof, and i'll see you all on the next article, thanks everyone.
