During the dozens of hours I spent experiencing "Sea of Oblivion," my gameplay journey was consistently filled with fulfillment and satisfaction. The game offers comprehensive content, ranging from the underlying logic of character progression and open-world exploration to the fusion of dungeon roguelike and extraction shooter mechanics. This meant that almost every minute in the game involved encountering something new, and time flew by from clocking in at work to clocking out.
You could certainly say these gameplay elements have their respective origins, but managing to combine them all seamlessly into one pot is quite an accomplishment.
Just looking at the game's title, I initially didn't have a clear picture of it. Since the title mentions the sea, it might be related to sailing? And "Oblivion" might be the theme. But what kind of game is it exactly, and what are its gameplay mechanics? These were likely the most urgent questions for all players attracted by the game's PV.
"Sea of Oblivion" doesn't keep players guessing for long. The game opens with exquisite ocean scenes paired with high-quality animated cutscenes, pulling players into the prologue of a nautical adventure.
It turns out the player controls an amnesiac sailor who, in order to resolve their life's confusion, resolutely embarks on an adventure.
It's worth mentioning that "Sea of Oblivion" has a distinct and prominent art style. It may seem somewhat gloomy at first glance, but once players immerse themselves in the game's worldview, they will readily accept its unconventional puppet character designs.
This perfectly echoes the "Oblivion" in the game's title. Every player, controlling a puppet character, will constantly search for memories and create new ones throughout the game.
Interestingly, the game also introduces a warning mechanism for ocean level design. If players stay in the sea for too long, they will be forced to succumb to the vast ocean and lose their memory. In a world surrounded by water, this makes the player's exploration journey always accompanied by lurking dangers, making a small boat the most reassuring harbor.
Through the combination of art style and gameplay mechanics, "Sea of Oblivion" provides players with a highly atmospheric role-playing experience—you feel eccentric when in the middle of the ocean, yet breathe a sigh of relief when your feet touch solid ground.
Every time players set sail, and every time they return triumphantly from an adventure, they receive substantial positive feedback from the game.
The nautical theme sets the main tone for the game, and exploring the developer-curated open world is the best way to practice this philosophy.
"Sea of Oblivion" understands that the joy of exploration is strongly tied to discovery. Therefore, the game embeds a large amount of discoverable content throughout the entire map area.
For example, the enduring content fillers of RPGs: treasure chests hidden in corners, mysterious NPCs in deep alleys, twisting side quests, and a variety of mini-games ready to be played at any time.
When I first stepped onto this unfamiliar land, feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to begin my adventure, I instinctively engaged in humorous mini-games like drinking contests and rock-paper-scissors with various NPCs. My skilled techniques almost emptied the wallets of every NPC on the street.
Due to my playful nature, I stumbled upon mysterious characters with personal secrets, gradually uncovering layer upon layer of interesting gameplay, peeling back the mysteries of characters and the world background.
"Sea of Oblivion" excels at constructing such coincidences, subtly increasing the player's familiarity and engagement with the game without them even realizing it.
For example, early in the game, players are assigned a task to catch a rooster. You need to chase this agile bird through alleys, following it across numerous streets. In your stereotype, this might seem like a tedious fetch quest. However, when you eventually explore the entire town and recall that initial chicken-chasing moment, you'll realize—the game's guidance was hidden within these absurd main and side story developments from the start.
What I mean is, the large town might overwhelm newcomers, but by following the rooster around a few times, players will quickly grasp the most important main routes of the street.
If players are attentive enough, they will discover environmental interactions in the nooks and crannies of the map that both enrich the game's fictional layer and provide gameplay functionality.
Whenever I pass by flowers and plants, almost every vegetation nearby has a name, can be harvested in special ways, and integrates into the gameplay, making fun随处可见 (visible everywhere) throughout the adventure journey.
This meticulous attention to detail immerses players in the atmosphere. For instance, cooking in the game isn't just a simple pop-up ignored in passing; it requires players to skewer raw ingredients one by one and then personally manage the heat over the fire.
"Sea of Oblivion" always manages to surprise players beyond expectations with details they never anticipated.
Perhaps you just want to have a few more drinks, or maybe you're broke and happen to want to earn some cash. A well-timed encounter is enough to trigger a series of bizarre developments. After many twists and turns, countless encounters compose the player's adventure story, becoming the chapter titles of the nautical saga.
Of course, players don't need to worry about accidentally missing out on exciting developments. In the "Decent Person's Diary," players can easily review both completed and pending discoveries.
This prevents players from feeling lost in the open world. Just open your notes, and you'll always find something to do.
Once players have a general understanding of the town, the true core gameplay of "Sea of Oblivion" unfolds: recruiting crew members, building your fleet, and leaving land to begin your own nautical adventure.
Although the player's initial ship isn't luxurious, this small vessel already possesses sufficiently comprehensive basic functions, such as convenient autopilot and cannons to deal with enemy ships.
It must be said that although sailing is mostly a means of transportation to destinations, "Sea of Oblivion" did not neglect the optimization of ship controls. In fact, compared to the stereotypical handling of sea vehicles, the ship control in "Sea of Oblivion" feels much smoother.
Shortly after the game's early phase, players will experience a pirate etiquette ceremony on the sea surface. This battle includes not only long-range cannon fire but also close-quarters dogfights and maneuvering displays. It perfectly presents the charm of naval combat, easily captivating someone like me who rarely engages with this genre.
However, thrilling naval battles are not the entirety of what "Sea of Oblivion" offers, or rather, naval combat is merely an interlude during travel. We have a clearer objective: landing on islands.
You can consider yourself a pirate or an adventurer. "Sea of Oblivion" features numerous small islands, each serving as an independent dungeon with its own ecosystem and main/side quests. Players can fully enjoy exploration gameplay on these islands, similar to finding treasure chests in towns, or follow clues in their notes to uncover hidden secrets arranged by the developers.
To ensure these islands provide better feedback to the gameplay and to achieve a superior gameplay loop, "Sea of Oblivion" introduces roguelike elements. This means there is no strict permanent equipment system; instead, every voyage becomes a fresh start.
Players can plunder various islands and defeat different bosses to gradually strengthen and perfect their build configurations, ensuring a completely different combat experience with every voyage.
This mechanism brings a highly customizable role-playing experience to "Sea of Oblivion." Combined with plug-and-play skills, every battle becomes an advanced test of the player's strategic reasoning.
Additionally, "Sea of Oblivion" provides a considerable amount of meta-progression content. As players gain more experience at sea, unlocked meta-items will feed back into in-game builds, bringing richer and more diverse in-game strategy combinations.
Beyond the strong replay value brought by roguelike elements, "Sea of Oblivion" further expands the application of extraction shooter mechanics. Players can send treasures obtained at sea back to town, sell them for meta-game economic resources, accumulate resources round after round, and spend these resources to enhance character abilities.
I don't need to reiterate how fun roguelike elements are, and the addictiveness of extraction shooters has long been proven by the market. When fresh naval combat is combined with these two, and further integrated with onion-layered open-world exploration, the interlocking gameplay becomes the core competitiveness of "Sea of Oblivion," allowing it to easily captivate fans of any genre.
But don't forget, "Sea of Oblivion" is also a standard RPG. It features solid role-playing elements and combat gameplay, allowing players to fully utilize the equipment and skills gained at sea, advancing step-by-step with strategic battle planning.
Meanwhile, "Sea of Oblivion" hasn't forgotten to innovate in its core combat. In each battle round, players can gain extra buffs through special dice. If an opponent reveals a weakness, the dice roll can be used for a clash. Successfully breaking the weakness grants an extra turn.
Regular RPG players know that turn-based battles usually revolve around extending gains through follow-up attacks. An extra turn is an even more aggressive "door-opening" effect. One can easily imagine the extravagant performance double actions bring to combat.
During the fairly long playtime, I progressed from a novice captain to an experienced old sea Dog.exe, immersed in the interlocking gameplay of "Sea of Oblivion." Previously, I never imagined so much game content could be harmoniously combined. The more experienced a player is, the easier it is for them to derive satisfaction from its rich progression arrangement.
This makes the game endlessly replayable. Whenever I think of the countless secrets waiting to be uncovered in towns and on islands, I can't wait to set sail. Even if consecutive voyages make me slightly tired, I can switch gears and treat it like a Galgame, competing against NPCs with outstanding character designs and art in mini-games.
With such rich game content, I can only summarize it with the plain phrase "has Everythinggj." "Sea of Oblivion" might be the game most easily appreciated by players this quarter. Precisely because it has Everythinggj, it covers nearly all types of players, allowing enthusiasts of any genre to enjoy it.
This is no exaggeration. While I was demoing this game in the editorial office, almost every editor passing by my desk would stop for three to five minutes. Soon, a crowd formed, even disrupting the work atmosphere of colleagues in other departments.
Some editors cared about the game's sailing mechanics, while others focused on the exquisite dynamic UI and art style. I had never seen this group of critical, middle-aged individuals so enthusiastic about the same game. Even more surprisingly, even I, a player who rarely plays turn-based games, ended up grinding day and night. It's magical.