Review - Sword of the Sea
Set Out on a Journey
August 19, 2025 - Giant Squid
Adventure / Cozy - Matt Nava, Austin Wintory
PS5, PC
Set out on a journey in an abandoned world as a Wraith. As you travel the land, you’ll bring life back into it and unveil its lore and history.
Characters, World, and Presentation
The world you’ll be traveling in Sword of the Sea starts as a large barren wasteland of sand and rock. However, as you explore and interact with it, flying oceans and sea animals begin to show up and expand the world. As you explore, you can get lost in just how beautiful the world can become. There’s not much to the main character, as there is no dialogue and it’s all visual storytelling, so it's not exactly going to make the memorable characters lists. However, it is a game about a world, and in that department, it nails it.
Gameplay, Design, and Sound
The main takeaway from the game is the journey through the lost world. It’s done by using a sword as a hoverboard, which you can also do tricks for points, which come in the way of triangle shapes. As you collect these points, you can add more abilities. You can also experience some really cool moments, such as riding sea animals and discovering hidden areas. If you’re into it, you can also score high points by hitting tricks, which are easy to do. It’s a pick and up play game, in that, you won’t need a lot to understand it, and you’ll be fine even if you’re the most casual gamer.
The sound design has an ambience and feel similar to Journey and Flow, which we should expect considering the game is composed by the same composer. It fits the game’s cozy feel perfectly and doesn’t get in the way as well. Every moment is synchronized with the sound cues and music, fitting the game’s personality.
One word of warning, because of the way this game moves, it can bring vertigo out of you. As someone who experiences dizziness, it was triggered slightly during my time with the game. The finale of the game is fantastic, but I did sort of want it to be done quickly because my vertigo was flashing red.
Negatives
As for negatives? Well… you sort of see it in how small this review is. This is a very short game. I had this done in less than two hours. Personally, I liked this aspect, as I was looking for a brief experience between games, but I can see someone finding the game too basic. You ride your sword and go through the world, pretty much doing the same thing with only some new additions, and it finishes in a strong finale, but then that’s it outside of replays. While I liked how short it was, it may not be for everyone.
The hoverboard gameplay quickly started to lose its appeal, but they do have some moments that helped bring in some highs. Lastly, if you want to buy the abilities, it’s going to be a tedious task as you collect points and may have to do multiple playthroughs.
Overall, Sword of the Sea is a brief experience, but a good one. If you’re looking for a quick play session, with no stress, but want your brain to like what you see, this is the game for you. It doesn’t matter how hardcore you are - anyone can play this. It was nice to do this after the frustrations of Silksong. If you have PlayStation Plus or don’t mind the $30 price, pick this up and take a segment of the day to play through it. It hits close to that Journey vibe.
I added this to my “future games to check out list” the second I read your character uses a sword as a hoverboard. Sounds fun, thanks for putting this on my radar!