I’m not sure why, but when I first dove into Sea of Remnants—and I mean really early stages here—I was bombarded with questions, right? Like, is this game just a chaotic soup of ideas or a genius masterpiece in disguise? Picture this: turn-based combat that might make you scratch your head, labyrinthine vendor paths that scream MMO, and a storyline so twisty even the subtitles need subtitles. And let’s not forget the voice acting—or lack thereof. Sometimes I wondered if I was even awake—so dreamlike was the whole affair.
But oh man, the style. This game’s drenched in it, like spilling a whole can of neon paint onto your screen. Characters are cartoonish to the point of hilarity, animations are exaggerated like a kid on a sugar high, and menus? Gorgeous. It’s all very Persona 5 meets pirates, if that makes any sense—a mess of charm, leaving you grinning even when you’re not sure why.
Anyway, backtracking a bit—very early, buggy build I got to play. If I’m honest, it’s been a while since I saw something so full of placeholders and a crashing bug frenzy. Felt like every moment could break—kind of like life. Non-Mandarin speakers, watch out. I was lost, often. Okay, where was I again? Oh yeah, the potential. Even unfinished, this was intriguing, a riddle waiting to reveal its secrets. Hold on while I adjust my pirate hat.
It’s like the game’s playing in that same sandbox as Sea of Thieves, with open-world pirating and island hopping, but then throws in these curveballs—turn-based whatevers and RPG elements. Every half-hour seemed to reveal another layer of confusion—hundreds of companions to recruit? What is this, Pokémon meets pirates? And don’t even get me started on missing multiplayer aspects. Sailing an online ocean alone felt, well, lonely.
The problem, or maybe it’s a feature, is just how all over the place it feels. I mean, the combat could be genius—eventually. For now, it flashes hints of greatness but lands short, simplified to the point of making Persona 5 combat look complex. But hey, there’s hope. Big fan of turn-based battles over here, hoping they’ll flesh it out enough to match some of my faves like Clair Obscur.
Yet, no matter how chaotic Sea of Remnants seemed, it’s undeniably… interesting? Unique, maybe. You meet these puppet-like characters with facades of wood but bursting with life. Their antics had me laughing till my stomach hurt. And despite the thematic similarities to Sea of Thieves, it kept me guessing. Like when, after whacking a giant monkey, it returns with a vengeance, commanding its own ship. Totally ridiculous—but in that wonderful way.
The setting, though, is where it truly shines. Typical piracy gets weirdly brilliant with touches like moons buried underwater (don’t ask me why), and marionette characters regaining memory in some Groundhog Day-esque cycle. A punk edge covers it all, with graffiti and character antics feeling like teenagers breaking free.
At the end of my misadventures, the big thing was whether all these cool bits could fuse into something that’s, well, coherent. Only the gaming gods know, and maybe they’re still figuring it out too. For now, I’m waiting, hoping for a flash of clarity in this striking chaos—as long as the tech and missing pieces sort themselves out.
Anyway, this could be a fantastic pirate tale in the making, or it could veer into something entirely unexpected. Either way, it’s bound to be an interesting ride.
