-
The Sea Will Claim Everything (2012 / 2016)
#12 of 26 (2018)
9 hours playtime
19 of 19 achievements
The Sea Will Claim Everything (2012 / 2016)
More book titles in this game than The Elder Scrolls... and that's probably the main reason it took me nine hours to complete, rather than the seven HLTB claims for a completionist. Well... that and manually trying every single alchemical combination. This game is a difficult one to describe, but sits well with my ideals of what a good point-and-click adventure should aspire to, while not being a great point-and-click adventure. The only reason I can't call it "great" is because it's not overly... accessible. It is though... there's fast travel, and a decent-ish interface, but it's very wordy. It skips among many different sociopolitical topics, but conveys a general message of kindheartedness, and that's a mission statement I can get behind.
I like the game. I didn't check the achievements beforehand to see if I'd get one for reading every single book title or clicking on every single flower and mushroom. I'm very glad that there's not an achievement for either of those things. Play it more casually than I did, but do take in the character dialog, if it interests you. It's a great slightly-offbeat world to inhabit for a few days, and the impact you have on the world is enough for me to call the ending "good", while also being very aware that the world is fleshed out in other ways outside of the game. Recommended for point-and-clickers who like a good sociopolitical read with its whimsical and intellectual influences worn on its sleeve.
The Sea Will Claim Everything, and a smattering of other good adventure games, cost me only 99 cents from the (first?) Bundle in a Box Adventure Bundle in 2012, and sneaks in at number twelve of "The 26" games I had set out to complete in 2018. Almost half! :D (Edit: Also, between 2017 and 2018's lists combined, this finally is number 26! :D)
Please escort 2018 from the premises, and welcome your new overlord… 2019
It’s been too long since I’ve written anything on this site!
Here’s my personal gaming year in review:
- created my own text adventure game using SteamGifts as the platform: The Cake Factory
- managed to not become homeless, whilst still playing games on a decade-old computer
- and I beat or completed at least forty-six games this year
Twelve of my beaten/completed were from my list of “The 26” games it was my goal to beat this year, and I made decent progress in five more of those titles. Considering that the game-playing time I had available in the latter quarter of the year was exceptionally dreadful, I think I did okay on my backlog, but it’s still way out of control.
Saw many good people leave SteamGifts, and can’t fault them for it either; thankfully, many are also still on this site.
Looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 at some point, and the eventual full release of Life is Strange 2. Still have many unowned titles that have released in the past years that I’d like to play, too, not to mention many very old titles. And I’d like to continue making games myself. Give me some time on that one… even The Cake Factory took about a year and a half, off and on.
Highlights and general recommendations for games I played in 2018 include Monaco (in co-op), Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing, Kathy Rain, L.A. Noire, realMYST, Dishonored, Human Fall Flat (in co-op), and The Sexy Brutale. Reviews for all of those are easily found linked from my BLAEO profile. :)
Currently trying to decide on my list of The 26 for 2019… will try to add more SteamGifts wins to the list, I think, and most likely all of the unfinished games from 2018 will make a return.
Happy new year, godprobe, I hope 2019 improves on 2018 in every way for you!
I wishlisted this game when someone mentioned it in some comment during your Cake Factory event. It’s nice to now see your recommendation of it! It convinces me it was a good idea and that some day I should move it from my wishlist to my backlog and than some day I should move it from my backlog to my completed games list ;D
It definitely had the feeling of… yeah, I need to talk to this dev, since if I make another text adventure game, but add graphics, it could turn out a lot like this one. I’d probably have a completely different theme, style, and pacing, with much less verbosity, and hopefully some animation, but interface-wise, writing-wise, and accomplishment-wise, I’d be pretty proud to have made something as nice as this game. Also, it tracks your quest goals well, so even if you’re not sure what to do, you still have a very good idea of what you eventually need to get done. That said, I wouldn’t fault anyone for abandoning it part way through either, if it’s not to their tastes.