Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut - Review, a journey of self-discovery

Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut - Review, a journey of self-discovery

One of the most interesting and ambitious announcements that Electronic Arts made, in the previous generation, is probably the line of games called EA Originals. This initiative of the North American company provides a real help in the processing of some small projects of independent studios, an initiative that has allowed the public to touch works of the caliber of Fe, A Way Out, the two Unreavels or even the expected Knockout City. Along with the ones we just mentioned, there is also a certain Sea of ​​Solitude adventure developed by Jo-Mei Games originally released in 2019. So, three years later and thanks to the help of Quantic Dreams, the title directed by Cornelia Geppert finally arrives on Nintendo Switch in a revised and corrected edition. Thanks to a copy provided by the developers, we at Resources4Gaming bring you today the review of Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut, analyzing the additions and changes made in this republication.



A path already undertaken

The first game developed for PC and consoles by this small Berlin studio, simply wants to tell the story of a dark little girl named Kay. The product in question is extremely story driven, focusing much of its appeal in the possible identification of the player in the events narrated. Precisely for this reason, we prefer not to anticipate too much of the product narrative, except that it is strongly focused on the theme of facing one's fears, the world around us or our dreams. These topics are not difficult to discuss and yet, even with the presence of some small stereotype, the developers have succeeded in the arduous task of do not go into the banal or take it too far.



However, we can already see here some differences compared to three years ago, as a whole new cast of voice actors it's a new script prepared for the occasion. We don't know exactly why this drastic decision was made, but essentially the history remained unchanged telling the exact same events. We report the total absence of a dubbing in other languages or in any other language other than English, but is instead present as regards the written text. Unfortunately it is not translated correctly, but those who do not understand the Anglo-Saxon language will still be able to understand the thread of every single speech.

Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut - Review, a journey of self-discovery

We are still talking about a video game, and without some kind of gameplay it could not be part of this medium. The play structure turns out to be very simple, with Kay able to make a few simple movements. The player's goal is to follow the path set by the developers, in falsely immense environments and with a divided game structure in sections and chapters. This last feature proves to be a good setting especially for the console we are talking about, perfectly suited for short gaming sessions in portable mode.

The level design then proves to be well elaborated, offering almost always different mechanics within the approx three or four hours required to reach the credits. Unfortunately, Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut is not exactly a master of difficulty, also thanks to the lack of any system of lives and the immense generosity offered by the many checkpoints. We fully understand that this is a shrewd choice made by the development team in order not to damage the narrative experience, yet this feature risks decrease the replayability factor already reduced of the product.



Hunting seagulls

The boys of Jo-Mei Games have however thought of methods to entice the exploration of the game world, or the seagulls and messages in a bottle. The latter are the real ones collectable of the product that basically help to explore in more detail the past of our protagonist. For the occasion, the Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut team took the opportunity to make some "quality of life" improvements to the experience., mainly linked to the game menu. In fact, by going to “select section”, you can see How many collectibles are present and if we have forgotten some on the street. A feature requested loudly by the players of the original product, which certainly helps and speeds up the achievement of the coveted 100%.

At that point, just choose the selected part to be able to travel back in time and make up for our past mistake. The second, on the other hand, derives from placement changed some of the seagulls and bottles, however, inserted within the same level design as three years ago. This trick certainly serves to incentivize those who have already been able to try the original experience, perhaps through the acclaimed Xbox Game Pass or the populated EA Play, without completely succeeding in its goal. This is because the added additions are not essential, offering a certainly different experience but not enough to entice lovers of the original and try this version.

Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut - Review, a journey of self-discovery

The real exclusive novelty of the package is the photo mode, which allows you to take beautiful photographs in the most disparate situations. This mode fits us practically little or nothing with the rest of the experience of Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut, but given its popularity it apparently cannot be missed. Unfortunately we are completely distant from such functions present in other games, offering the most basic features possible. Another novelty of the code concerns the objectives, mainly due to the lack of any kind of trophy in Nintendo's online ecosystem. Unfortunately, this too turns out to be a very futile addition, in danger of being soon forgotten. Last but not least, we have the gyro support offered by the controllers, a nice little plus but very rough. Ultimately, the latter seem content that serves to make numbers, and not useful to increase the real quality of a product already excellent in itself.



An amazing soundtrack

Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut manages to exploit superbly Unity, but the port of the Nintendo Switch it is not among the best In circulation. We are not talking about the graphic aspect, which it manages to be clean and pleasant to look at even with the technical difficulties often exhibited by Nintendo Switch; we mean the general stability which presents not a few bugs, glitches, pop-ups and even slowdowns in some more excited sections. Let's be clear, these are not problems that seriously ruin the gaming experience, but situations in which Kay gets stuck or slips on the ground are clearly noticeable.

Sea of ​​Solitude: The Director's Cut - Review, a journey of self-discovery

In the pure artistic sideinstead, it still manages to be surprising today, demonstrating environments and plays of colors that can leave you speechless. L'art design of the world and characters manages to captivate the player, demonstrating a unique personality of its kind. The soundtrack of Guy jackson it has remained intact, and this is an extremely positive detail. The music is not only able to adapt perfectly to the misadventures told in each pixel of the game, but they are even compositions that can also be heard separately from the playful experience. A superb work by the composer, here at his very first performance in any videogame and multimedia product in general.

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