Sea of Solitude is an adventure video game developed by German studio Jo-Mei Games and published by Electronic Arts. The player controls a young woman named Kay who suffers from such strong loneliness that her inner feelings of hopelessness, anger and worthlessness turn to the outside and she becomes a monster. As Kay the player explores a seemingly empty, flooded city and its scaly red-eyed creatures in order to reveal why Kay herself has turned into a monster. The emotions of her manifest into giant monsters standing in her way, trying to help but also destroy her. Kay needs to interact with and understand their underlying intentions in order to overcome the negative effects of those emotions. The game is in the core an inner dialogue of a person trying to come to terms with their own shortcomings. The quarrels between her parents, the emotional isolation of a friend and the terrible experiences of her brother being bullied are presented on a metaphorical level - the experiences hunt her as enormous monsters she now has to face, representing feelings like loneliness, depression, as well as fear and loss of attachment. The city where the game takes place is based on Berlin. The developers announced the game online in February 2015. Its creative director, Cornelia Geppert, described the project, even though several parts of the game are not from her own past, as her most personal and artistic, in how it led her to probe her own fears and emotions following an emotional abusive relationship from 2014 to 2017. In March 2019, The New York Times highlighted the game as part of a growing trend in the video game industry towards tackling mental health issues. Sea of Solitude is not meant to be fun in the classical meaning, its focus is on letting players experience what it feels like to be affected by loneliness, bullying, toxic relationships, depression and a troubling past. Gamers are put in the midst of the conflict, with a call to not only feel the effects but also to influence and change the actions. Electronic Arts published the game under its indie game program EA Originals. The game's release was postponed from spring to summer of 2019 before having a set release date of July 5, 2019.
Reception
Sea of Solitude received "mixed or average reviews", according to review aggregatorMetacritic. Destructoid wrote that "Sea of Solitude' stands out as heartfelt, almost painfully sincere, so much so that I hesitated to actually put a score on this review at all. It felt almost crass to do so, like being allowed to read a relative's diary, only to give it a thumbs-up or -down." Game Informer said that "Sea of Solitude" provides an insightful look at how mental health devastates the lives of not just those it affects, but also loved ones on the outside. Kay learns a lot about herself by understanding the value of listening, coming to term with her flaws, and not just empathizing with family but also accepting that a simple fix isn't always possible." Vice Media said "The kind of story Sea of Solitude is trying to tell is deeply ambitious. It's the kind of game that might take an indie studio numerous attempts, even with the support of a giant like EA. Sea of Solitude may have drawbacks, but at the end of the day the game is still a stunning accomplishment.". The Guardian describes Sea of Solitude "a dazzling and cathartic exploration of mental health" and " a rare and audacious game that tackles depression and its causes head-on". Other reviews were more mixed. IGN summarised the game by saying that "Sea of Solitude gives you a beautiful world and an intriguing story but the gameplay fails to evolve enough to make this a compelling adventure", while Game Revolution'' wrote "In essence, it’s a boat that looks nice from the outside until you jump inside and notice all the holes actively trying to sink the whole thing." The game was nominated for "Games for Impact" at The Game Awards 2019, for "Game, Special Class" at the NAVGTR Awards, and for the Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award at the SXSW Gaming Awards. Five months after its initial release, the Creative Director Cornelia Geppert held an official Ted Talk about Sea of Solitude detailing the story of loneliness, the many metaphors in the game and the personal background that lead to creating the title. The game won the Unity Award for Best 3D Visuals.
