Equally so, the voice acting throughout the game goes through some ups and downs. While this familiarity is good to see throughout, some of the more sticky controls, especially when trying to board your boat again or mount certain ladders, can be frustrating. Gameplay-wise, Sea of Solitude has some great and clever reuses of the areas below the waves. Though a note to the wise that I only figured out late in the game, make sure to hold jump while swimming! These changes of mechanics are never too abrupt and you will know what to do after some initial looking around, with checkpoints if you fail, never resetting you to frustrating distances to go over again. Increasing and decreasing the level of the waters, parting it, making it deadly, or even freezing it solid to build up new ways of navigating the city, quickly feels familiar but equally so much larger than it actually is. These messages expand the lore of Kay and her place in the darkened world, with many providing some more difficult-to-traverse platforming puzzles for you to get through yourself in order to discover its complexities.
The seagulls provide a brief look at the world in the immediate area as they fly away, giving a bit of info as you traverse the city. There are multiple collectibles to be found that will keep the platform gamers out there entertained, split between messages in a bottle and seagulls to shoo away. the game can be a little on-the-nose with the symbolism.
This is never anything done in poor taste (and the game does go out of its way to let the player know it should not be used for dealing with the issues, rather that if you are suffering from it to seek the appropriate help), but it would have been nice to see some more subtlety being used like other games touching on this subject matter have managed to pull off ( Gris comes to mind as a contrasting take on the matter). While all of these instances are handled well, each one following some very real examples of what that manifests as, the game can be a little on-the-nose with the symbolism and solutions to these problems. Sea of Solitude is naturally split up into different chapters that deal with different parts of loneliness, and the very many different ways that it can be expressed and handled. These shift as you learn more about them or about Kay herself. Each represents someone else or some stage within Kay’s life, each with their own approaches to Kay. This is further explored as you slowly start meeting more and more of the other denizens of the strange city that you find yourself in. In this way, the game explores having that safe place that we all go back to when we are in difficult places, showing how things can change depending on our perspective of things. This initial introduction to one of the more important mechanics of the game quickly leads on to the basic platforming and puzzle-solving that you will be doing throughout, the light on your boat providing a safe beacon in the storms of the world - with the world darkening and the storms crashing in soon after leaving the safe haven it's light provides. She is quickly met by the first of several denizens of this fugue plane who helps to light the way on for her boat. After awakening in the middle of a sea, storm clouds gathering all around and finding herself possessing the form of a monster, she sets out to find out why she is in this place, and to try to find a way out. Sea of Solitude is a tale about dealing with loneliness, told through the journey of a young woman named Kay.
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