Sword of the Sea: Capturing the Flow State in Gaming
It’s among the rare games that pulls you so entirely into a concentrated state of movement. This atmospheric adventure from the creative minds behind Journey, Abzû, and The Pathless combines thrilling rogue-like mechanics with deep environmental narratives and elegant sound design.
Chasing the Flow
Sword of the Sea was born out of the desire to give players a taste of that elusive feeling called "Flow State". It’s this “Flow State,” or a feeling frequently experienced in action sports, where concentration, action and environment meld. 'While a lot of games do have snowboarding or surfing – but they just touch it on the surface. Then it’s back to movement-centric, non-dialogue-bothered game-these. Sword of the Sea seeks to afford players a fuller connection that real surfers or snowboarders instinctively feel: the rhythm of a moving surface, the struggle against the waves, and what might lie ahead.
Discussing his earlier games at the same time, the director likened Journey to hiking and Abzû to scuba diving. Sword of the Sea is a worthy successor in that vein, providing a meditative experience where tricks, exploration and storytelling converge.
Movement Meets Narrative
Whereas most established snowboard/skateboarding games are almost exclusively trick-based, Sword of the Sea combines the surfing/board mechanics with a tinge of exploration and a quiet little story. Players start in a dry as bone desert and move toward an ocean, along the way discovering relics of some kind of ancient forgotten society. It’s a subtle kiss to the real world's environmental problems, treated gracefully rather than pounded with deranged moralizing.
Gameplay is centered on speed, freedom and experimentation. As players progress to higher moves and more challenging lanes, they will unlock advanced scores, brisk times, and whole new ways of traversing the world. With no speed limit on the character, the potential for skill is infinite — perfect for art-loving competitors.
The Role of Sound in Immersion
Much of Sword of the Sea’s atmosphere is thanks to its sound design. Music is from Austin Wintory, who scored Journey and Abzû for the director as well. The development process is very cooperative — the music and animations grow together, so that every note fits exactly into the visual story.
And the soundscape isn’t just one of tone setting; it also reacts to the player’s movements, only deepening your bond with this rider, his board and the world.
Surfing, Snowboarding, and Church
More than mechanics, Sword of the Sea aims at getting the spiritual vibration of surfing and snowboarding. Whether it’s the ephemeral perfection of surfing within a wave or the tranquil solitude atop a mountain, these episodes of pure connection are rare in gaming. Next, they are at the center of the experience.
While surfing brutal swells and dynamic terrain, players are always manipulating speed, angle and timing, playing both revulsions and suspicion. With repetition, this behavior becomes so secondhand that it generates the exact experience the game intended to overcome.
Check out the official trailer:
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