Yesterday Electronic Arts (EA) kicked off E3 2018 with the EA Play press conference. During the presentation, the studio announced the latest around a number of its flagship properties such as FIFA, Madden, and Star Wars Battlefront, but sandwiched between all of the major releases was an indie title from Berlin developer Jo-Mei Games titled Sea of Solitude.
“When humans get too lonely, they turn into monsters.” This is how the game’s Creative Director, Cornelia Geppert opened her presentation on Sea of Solitude, a game that Geppert began writing when she was at the loneliest point of her life. Sea of Solitude is her artistic representation of that loneliness and Geppert hopes that players will be able to “see, hear, and hopefully feel” how loneliness turns us into monsters as they play Sea of Solitude. An underlying concept that Geppert says is “so important and so unique that nearly every human being can at least somehow relate to or remember the feeling of being lonely.” While the subject matter may seem dark and heavy, Geppert assures us that this is done in a playful way, but players who really want to dive into the emotional piece behind these themes will definitely have the chance to do so.
Sea of Solitude is about a young woman named Kay who is suffering from such strong loneliness that her inner feelings of darkness, anger, and hopelessness materialize on the outside, turning her into a monster. In the game, you’ll explore not only why this happened to Kay, but also help to change her back into a normal human by confronting an ocean full of creatures just like her. Ultimately, the player’s goal is to bring all those emotions to a balance and help Kay embrace the destructive traits and self-doubt the same as joy and hope. “This is what being human is all about, and this is what our game is all about,” explained Geppert.
Sea of Solitude will be released under the EA Originals banner in early 2019 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
