Sword of the Sea is what occurs when Matt Nava str...

Sword of the Sea is a recreation about letting go. Its primary mechanic entails browsing throughout huge desert dunes on a skinny blade, slicing by way of glittering sands and scaling historic towers on a quest to unearth the secrets and techniques of civilizations previous. It performs greatest whenever you overlook concerning the controls completely, and simply give up to the slick physics and let your little character circulate. With sufficient exploration, you’ll naturally uncover glowing orbs and shining gold gems, and the sands will rework into deep, crystal clear seas with fish swimming by way of the air, carving moist paths by way of the dust. Your character, wearing flowing robes and a gold masks, rides the orange hills and the blue waves with the identical simple athleticism, reacting immediately to each enter on the controller.

Cost up a bounce after which full sick tips with a number of fast inputs, or unleash a bubble of sonic vitality to smash close by vases, uncovering bits of foreign money within the shattered items. The protagonist strikes in no matter path you push, stopping instantly whenever you let go of the analog stick. There are large chains to grind, a hover potential in some areas, and half pipes generously positioned across the environments. Management prompts pop up whenever you’re first launched to a capability, however the textual content fades rapidly and also you’re left alone within the desert. There aren’t any waypoints in Sword of the Sea, however the atmosphere tells a transparent story, inviting you to resolve puzzles within the mysterious temples dotting the panorama. Discover glowing orbs on the rooftops and hidden down secret passageways to unlock the buildings’ secrets and techniques, opening up new areas.

I performed about 20 minutes of Sword of the Sea at Summer season Recreation Fest, however I wished to surf its dunes for lots longer. It’s the type of recreation that makes the true world fade away, regardless of how chaotic or intrusive your instant environment are. It’s constructed on rhythm and vibes, and it encourages a meditative circulate state from its first frames. Be taught the controls after which overlook them; play with pure instinct and it’ll most definitely be the proper transfer.

“The sport is about browsing, and it is actually concerning the technique of studying to surf and getting comfy with browsing, after which making an attempt issues which can be a bit bit past your talents, failing, after which figuring it out and truly conducting them,” Sword of the Sea creator Matt Nava advised Engadget on the SGF present flooring. “And within the course of, you type of understand that browsing is all about harnessing the ability of one thing better than your self. You’re not paddling — the waves carry you. The zoomed out digicam, the little character; in loads of video games, they’re proper on the character, as a result of the character is the main target. However on this recreation, it is about how the character is part of the atmosphere, that’s the focus. And I believe that is a continuing in loads of the video games that we have made.”

Nava is the inventive director and co-founder of Large Squid, the studio behind Abzû and The Pathless. Even with these two profitable video games underneath his belt, Nava continues to be greatest referred to as the artwork director of Journey, thatgamecompany’s pivotal multiplayer expertise that hit PlayStation 3 in 2012. Nava has spent the previous decade trying to construct explicitly non-Journey-like video games with Large Squid, and whereas Abzû and The Pathless each have his distinctive visible stamp, they’re the other of Journey in some ways. The place Journey was set in a dry, desert panorama, Nava’s follow-up, Abzû, passed off in an underwater world. After that, The Pathless was largely inexperienced, moderately than dusty orange.

With Sword of the Sea, Nava let go. He dropped all preconceptions of what he needs to be making and mentally stated fuck it. He lastly allowed himself to manifest the sport that got here naturally to him.

“On this recreation, it is very a lot taking over, accepting and proclaiming that that is me,” Nava stated. “I did Journey. I am doing orange once more. And I am going again to the desert as a result of I’ve far more concepts that we could not do in that recreation … It’s like I’ve been residing in my very own shadow for a very long time in a bizarre method. It is like, why am I doing that? I ought to simply be who I’m and proceed to discover the artwork that’s my artwork.”

Sword of the Sea is a selected and particular recreation, and despite the fact that it’s set in an orange desert, it would not really feel like Journey. The sport additionally consists of music by Austin Wintory, the Grammy-nominated composer behind Journey, Abzû and The Pathless. Collectively, Nava and Wintory type a formidable basis.

“A number of online game scores, they only make a music observe for the realm,” Nava stated. “In the event you’re within the city, you hear city music, after which it simply repeats. However that is not the way it works right here. The music advances as your story advances, it displays the place you are in your browsing journey, what you are studying how, how far your character has gone on this character arc. And in order that’s the place the music of a video game like ours needs to be.”

As Nava and I chatted, somebody sat all the way down to play Sword of the Sea on a close-by display, and once I glanced up, I noticed that they had been gliding by way of an space I did not discover in my runthrough. A large animal skeleton was half-buried within the sand, brilliant white vertebrae dotted with gold gems for the participant to gather. There are loads of secrets and techniques in Sword of the Sea, Nava assured me. One of the simplest ways to search out them is to only let go and play.

Sword of the Sea is because of hit PlayStation 5, Steam and the Epic Games Store on August 19.