For long enough, we knew virtually nothing about Sea of Solitude besides the fact it involved a woman, a motorboat, sunken ruins, and some gorgeous watercolour environments. Last year, a series of GIFs showing the game almost in action created a stir, and now developer Cornelia Geppert has spilled the game’s first footage beans by way of a dev interview.
It looks great.
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Speaking to Anthony Carboni, Geppert explained that protagonist Kay suffers from loneliness and her innermost feelings have been projected outwards, transforming her into a shadow version of herself.
The world in which she explores is filled with huge shadowy monsters who’ve suffered similar afflictions and who were once also humans. Each monster is tied to different weather conditions that affect each area of the sprawling world and it’s up to Kay to help the monsters – who can be inadvertently aggressive towards her – back to their previous forms in order to restore her previous life.
The result is a wonderful inverse take on Shadow of the Colossus that also explores issues of mental health. Here’s Geppert in conversation:
“I’m originally a comic artist,” Geppert tells Carboni. “I’m really into mangas and Japanese art. I feel in love with Ghibli and also love all the Japanese games, like Silent Hill…[Sea of Solitude] will be like a mixture of Ghibli and Silent Hill art-wise, but also from the feeling.”
Sea of Solitude is without a release date as of yet, but it’s one we’ll be keeping a keen eye on.