PC (Microsoft Windows)PlayStation 52025

Sword of the Sea

Sword of the Sea is an action-adventure game developed by Giant Squid, the studio behind Abzû and The Pathless. Set in a vast desert landscape, players control a character known as the Wraith, exploring ruins and uncovering a lost world. Movement is centered on the "Hoversword," a tool that combines surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding mechanics. The game emphasizes fluid traversal, atmospheric exploration, and light puzzle-solving.

Community

Critics

Storyline

In a world where the terrain flows in waves, ride the Hoversword to speed over shifting seas of sand. It controls like a snowboard, skateboard, and hoverboard all in one. Build momentum to achieve great speeds and catch big air as you explore skatepark-like ruins, lost in the tides of the Necropolis of the Gods. The Hoversword embodies the feel of snowboarding and skating games, but in an entirely new context of adventure. You are the Wraith – resurrected in a desolate world and tasked with restoring life to it as you explore submerged ruins and the vibrant, varied cultures within. Surf through sinking tombs, mysterious shipwrecks, and petrified battlefields – and bring giant shoals of fish and creatures back in the process. But beware- this land is also home to massive leviathans that will stand in your way.

Trailers

Screenshots

Very Positive

1,482 Steam reviews

Review History

Reviews

1,482 total

≥h

Steam User 7151STEAMRecommended

It's beautiful and fast experience, similar to Journey, ABZU, Pathless. Totally worth playing, incredible experience.

Mar 30, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 0595STEAMNot recommended

I didn’t like this as much as Journey or Sky to be honest, and had a very weird bug that ruined performance every time I entered a new level.

So to fix my frame rates I had to reboot every level.

The art style in this game is great, but I can’t recommend the experience I had. Maybe on better hardware it’s fine.

Hardware: 8600G + RX6600
In theory should have been enough, I had full 60 fps experience prior to loading a new level

Reminds me of the performance issues Palworld has with caves. So it may be UE

Mar 29, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 5717STEAMNot recommended

This game is great. It just doesn't compare to The Pathless. It looks just as, if not more beautiful than The Pathless but it's shorter and underwhelming.

Mar 29, 2026·2h·Verified

Steam User 2489STEAMRecommended

STUNNING vibe and beauty. I didn't think they could do any better than Abzu but within the first few minutes I was just blown away. The soundtrack immerses you. The sand feels alive like in Dune. The carving through sand and water gets me so pitted. I'm only a couple hours in and it feels like there is much to discover. Well done team, I'm loving it!!

Sorry to hear some have run into fps issues, but mine ran smooth as butter on my low-tier rig (Ryzen 7, GeForce GTX 1080, 32GB ram).

Mar 29, 2026·2h·Verified

Steam User 5773STEAMRecommended

Great

Mar 29, 2026·6h·Verified

Steam User 4456STEAMRecommended

A fun short game, I bought it mainly for the visuals and they didn't disappoint!

Mar 29, 2026·4h·Verified

Steam User 0226STEAMRecommended

Mar 29, 2026·9h·Verified

Steam User 7674STEAMRecommended

Really enjoyed exploring the beautiful world and the game rewarded me for it. Movement was satisfying. Gliding through the world is more fun than it should be. My sole complaint is that it felt like it ended right as the movement really got interesting, I wanted more.

Mar 28, 2026·11h·Verified

Steam User 0365STEAMRecommended

These games are always a joy to play and so is this one
You can see the infuelnces from Abzu, Journey and Flower wich gives this game something wich you just dont see in other games
If i had one complaint then it is that the game does struggle sometimes (wich is understandable with all the fish and stuff) but all in all i would HIGHLY recomend this game

Mar 28, 2026·7h

Steam User 2603STEAMRecommended

Absolutely [b] Gorgeous [/b] beyond any and all comparisons. Soundtrack is Literally award winning. Game is one of the best examples of games being works of art. The adventure is a bit short for the price IMO. But theres a lot of collectables and some achievement hunting if you need to squeeze a bit more time out of it.

Mar 28, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 7549STEAMRecommended

Finished game in clear time of 2h 5 minutes and 50 seconds. Is this good? I don't know. Got 126 162 points with 1,75x time multiplier, is this good? I don't know.
What I know, I enjoyed the game. It is relaxing, very easy game that didn't cause me any "F this Sh-" moments, and with my temperament, it's saying a lot.

Judging from the achievements still available, I would say I could have easily doubled my playtime. So, 5 hour-ish of playtime is my guestimate.

Mar 28, 2026·2h·Verified

Steam User 6863STEAMRecommended

visually stunning

Mar 28, 2026·8h·Verified

Steam User 0250STEAMRecommended

great graphisms, and environment

Mar 28, 2026·12h·Verified

Steam User 4808STEAMRecommended

Truly a work of art. Giant Squid continues to cook.

Mar 28, 2026·12h·Verified

Steam User 6469STEAMRecommended

a strange, yet well done mixture of Pathless', ABZU's, and Journey's gameplay. i'm not sure whether it is AS GOOD as something like Journey, but it was great nonetheless.

the only real issue i would bring up is the framerate mostly staying under 60 fps. but i have no idea if that's just a me problem.

Mar 28, 2026·13h·Verified

Steam User 4320STEAMRecommended

Очень хорошая игра

Mar 28, 2026·6h·Verified

Steam User 8967STEAMRecommended

After playing many difficult or imput heavy games this hit relly nice. Calm and relaxing, nowhere to be but where you are now. Fun just hitting lines on features and taking in the handcrafted world. love it for what it is but get it on sale for like half price.

Mar 27, 2026·7h·Verified

Steam User 2589STEAMRecommended

Loved the visuals, the music and the very unique gameplay in this game. I have never played a magical snowboard-platformer-exploration game before, and oh my, this was just so satisfying!

This feels like Giant Squid have managed to combine some of the coolest things from their earlier games into a whole new amazing experience. And the ending! The most EPIC boss fight ending! Soooo cool! :)

Mar 27, 2026·6h·Verified

Steam User 2753STEAMRecommended

Giant Squid once again delivered a beautiful game, this time really feeling more like an Abzu 2, with returning themes and visual elements. Also they once again got Soundtrack Jesus himself, and he delivers as he always does, with pieces of music which truly make the game what it is. If you enjoy this genre of game, this is a must play, and you will enjoy it 100%. But like me, you might feel like the end arrives a bit soon.

Unfortunately, the game does suffer significantly from performance issues, even on high end hardware. Getting the game to run at over 60 FPS at 4K required setting the resolution scaling to 50%. The confusing part is, there is no mention of DLSS or FSR or other scaling being used at lower internal resolution, but the game also does not look like it's running at just 50%, so there has to be some scaling under the hood that makes a huge difference.

If you can run this game, you should play it!

Mar 26, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 4245STEAMRecommended

it's got the sand and scarves and wall tiles from journey, and it's got the water and fish and blue chains from abzu, and it's got the faceless masked protagonist making a vaguely-defined journey to activate a magic light left floating around by a precursor civilization from journey and abzu. this one also has readable text, but the text is still about how the precursor civilization fell because of war or arrogance or both, there's not really actual story here other than the story told through the gameplay itself. but again, that's nothing new, because this is just journey again.

the skating/surfing alone makes this the most fun feeling One of These games to play, and this studio is certainly still the top dog of these types of games (many of the journey copycats have been embarrassing in their own ways), but gosh golly i'd really like to see giant squid do something truly new. pathless was a step in the right direction, now it's back to journey. do not pick this up unless you want journey 3: abzu 2: but surfing

one more note about the skating: you don't have to mash a button to push yourself forward. most skating games cause me actual pain because of this so i am very happy to be able to zip around without my hand aching

Mar 26, 2026·2h·Verified

Steam User 2177STEAMRecommended

Das Movement macht extrem viel Spaß, der Soundtrack ist wieder mal überwältigend und es sieht super aus!

Mar 26, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 9819STEAMRecommended

The game is just muah. love it. ran well too. cant add anything else.

Mar 26, 2026·7h·Verified

Steam User 8912STEAMRecommended

抛开优化问题的神作，视听盛宴。后续针对优化方面下点功夫吧。

Mar 26, 2026·4h·Verified

Steam User 7409STEAMRecommended

its good

Mar 26, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 2964STEAMRecommended

Looks gorgeous, plays great

Mar 26, 2026·Verified

Steam User 6256STEAMRecommended

Sword of the sea, like its predecessor Journey, immerses the player into the world and lets you figure everything out on your own. I don’t know what to say about this game, I don’t know who I'd recommend it to. Its a bit like saying "man, you'd really enjoy Edgar Degas' art" I cant control, or even expect, what you would take away from an art piece because this game is art.

You may love it, or you may hate it, everything you experience is equally valid because by the very definition of art is to spur conversation and thought, and we are here talking about it.

I came into Sword of the Sea expecting another quiet adventure into another weird, beautiful world. I think they succeeded.

Mar 26, 2026·2h·Verified

Steam User 3533STEAMRecommended

7/10 Beautiful and mostly enjoyable.

The world is spectacular. It's basically a waking dream in game format. The action is simple: you ride your sword-board around the map activating various switches which open up new areas to activate more switches until eventually the game ends. There's a boss fight too.

Note that there's almost no meaningful connection between cause and effect in the gimmicks, but that can be forgiven here because the whole game plays out like a hallucination anyway.

The controls feel great, but only so long as you are on your sword-board. Unfortunately, there are two segments of the game where you're riding a giant marine animal, and here the controls feel very weak and clunky, diminishing the fun.

Meanwhile, the story is best skipped entirely. It is told through text displayed when you access tablets in the game: something about a war between gods, but the story text is painfully bland generic fantasy that is entirely inconsequential to the game.

Still, most of the game is a solidly fun, beautiful adventure. Worth the asking price.

Mar 25, 2026·3h·1·Verified

Steam User 9370STEAMRecommended

No sé si es la mística del mar, lo genial que me parece su estilo artístico o lo mucho que me ha divertido un juego de plataformas... pero sabía que en cuanto vi el tráiler de este juego me iba a enamorar de él. Y así ha sido. "Sword of the Sea" es un juego brillante en cuanto a transmitir belleza visual y con mecánicas muy divertidas. Me ha encantado poder disfrutar de esta aventura. Gracias a Giant Squid por seguir creando obras así.

Mar 25, 2026·4h·Verified

Steam User 7255STEAMRecommended

風景很漂亮的遊戲~~
音樂也很好聽~~~!!

Mar 25, 2026·9h·Verified

Steam User 5240STEAMNot recommended

***CHECK THE SPECS BEFORE YOU PLAY***
I didnt and paid for it, my drivers got screwed up because i thought this wasnt going to be a resource heavy game but it is, and my PC isnt the best (as you can see on the specs listed)
the game is very pretty, very nice atmosphere and music, reminded me a little of Hyper light drifter in asthetic, but I feel like a game like this shouldnt have minimum specs this crazy, and a few others seem to feel similarly
this review isnt meant to be super negative, i loved where it was going, I just simply couldnt play more of it, so more take this as a middle of the road review than a negative.

Mar 25, 2026·1·Verified

Steam User 7562STEAMRecommended

Another banger by Giant Squid. Absolutely floored. Visuals out of this world and gameplay that was relaxing and addicting with its skate/surfing flow. Highly recommend it. My one complaint is it took me only 4 hours to beat, and I was not rushing in fact I felt like I was taking my time trying to explore and just take in the scenery. For the price this game is going it's a bit of a hard ask, but I enjoyed my time with this game too much, please give it a shot, tho I understand ppl for wanting to wait for a sale.

Mar 25, 2026·4h·Verified

Steam User 6674STEAMNot recommended

I'm disappointed by this game. After playing and loving The Pathless, this is a severe step down. The Pathless was utterly fantastic, with amazing gameplay with cool boss fights, fun movement, fantastic designed, and an interesting story. Compared to that, Sword of the Sea is pretty, but it had all the depth of a puddle.

Mar 25, 2026·4h·Verified

Steam User 7240STEAMRecommended

More of a trip than a journey. If you have the cash to burn, I'd say it's worth it

Mar 24, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 7906STEAMRecommended

If you're getting random crashes, turn down the "Fish" graphics setting.

Had to drop that to medium (might've even had to drop it to low earlier on in the game), but everything else I could run on Ultra at 2.5K.

Otherwise, the game's good. Fun. Chill.

Mar 24, 2026·6h·Verified

Steam User 3491STEAMRecommended

i swear to GODDDDDDDDD this studio can just have my bank account information. all their games are peak. this game is peak. this game is exactly like if journey, abzu, and tony hawk had a love child.

Mar 24, 2026·5h·Verified

Steam User 4583STEAMRecommended

I am water

Mar 24, 2026·5h·Verified

Steam User 1349STEAMRecommended

Коротенькое медитативное приключение с ламповым визуалом и успокаивающей музыкой которое взяло лучшее от Journey и Abzu.
Концовка отдельный восторг вызывала ибо идёт в разрез с тем, чем ты занимаешься всю игру.
Из минусов не самая лучшая оптимизация, но если хочется максимальной плавности без потери качества картинки- подрубите "Плавное движение" в настройках nvidia app и будет вам счастье

Mar 23, 2026·5h·Verified

Steam User 1246STEAMRecommended

Sword of the Sea is a feast for the senses; a truly gorgeous game with a soundtrack that evokes an appropriate sense of wonder and an incredibly satisfying movement system. Absolute easy recommendation, it's the kind of game I wish I could live in; my only word of warning is that the game chugs a bit here and there due to complex visuals, though you might not have this problem if you have a powerful PC.

The game is VERY short, leaving me desperate for more; its mechanics hold a lot of unrealized potential, as SotS never quite gets deep or complex enough to provide a real challenge. Beating the game once unlocks the speedometer and score counter, which makes sense as the game's areas essentially just become skateparks for you to delight in; just one more "sandbox" area and a few more complex tricks would have done wonders here to help replayability.

Mar 23, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 2873STEAMRecommended

This game is art. It will relax you after a long work day, and soothe your soul. I love Giant Squid's games, they feel like meditating, relaxing, and having fun rolled into one. The only bummer on this one is that the graphics requirements are a bit heavier than previous titles. At 3440X1440 (specs attached) I'm often just at 60FPS when playing at high graphics. Still - an absolute stunner. ~PR0XIDIAN

Mar 23, 2026·4h·1·Verified

Steam User 2063STEAMRecommended

Giant Squid doing what Giant Squid does best. Sword of the Sea builds on the foundation of what we've come to expect in Abzu, Journey, and the Pathless and takes it up to 11. This game is an absolute visual spectacle, the controls are fluid and satisfying, and the gameplay flows smoothly.

If you've enjoyed the previous Giant Squid games, you're going to love this.

Mar 22, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 7346STEAMNot recommended

Stunning looking game, felt really great to play, in the 20 minutes or so I gave it before I started noticing jarring dips below 60FPS running at my native 1440p. I no longer have a 'high end' rig as such, but still a pretty damn good gaming rig for 1440p.

Whilst this game is visually very pleasing, the level of eye candy on offer simply should not be asking too much of a RTX 4070Ti and a 98003xd CPU.

No excuse for this slop.

Not even any DLSS offered which might go some way to salvaging the crappy frame rates.

Mar 22, 2026·2·Verified

Steam User 9808STEAMRecommended

I happy to say that this one succeeds journey in many elements for me. They price is rather steep, so best get it on sale for 15 or 20 since the game is short. Well worth it though if you can grab it at a good price.

Mar 22, 2026·5h·Verified

Steam User 2388STEAMRecommended

永远可以相信Giant Squid

Mar 22, 2026·2h·Verified

Steam User 7107STEAMRecommended

I think Sword of the Sea might actually be the single most beautiful 3D game i have ever played. A title i previously bestowed upon 'Kena Bridge of Spirits' thanks to its pixar-esque visuals and incredible environments. But Sword of the Sea steals that crown, bringing to life the most awe inspiring 3 dimensional spaces i've ever seen in a video game. It not only has an exceptional art style, beautiful textures and incredible lighting but it also has amazing designs, both for characters and especially the environments. It takes the best aspects of Journey's spaces, bringing their massive sense of scale and recognizable landmarks to the mix. Which is then fused with the liveliness and feeling of movement of Abzû's aquatic biomes. In fact movement is a central hallmark of this game, even reminding me of Heart Machine's excellent game Solar Ash (genuinly also worth playing).

The fluidity of the controls and the speed at which you move makes for an incredibly satisfying core gameplay loop. As you gradually uncover these massive environments, trying to explore every nook and cranny. I'm not joking when i say massive as the playable spaces within this game are sprawling creating that aforementioned sense of awe due to the resulting scale of everything. Depending on how thorough you want to be exploring this huge world, the game may take you quite a bit longer than its contemporaries. I was in no rush myself, taking time to soak in the vibes while trying to explore everything. Even in those 6.7 hours i didn't manage to find every collectible so if you're a completionist there's a lot to sink your teeth into. I personally found some of the achievements to be a bit annoying as they required full replays. There's also MANY very well hidden collectibles i missed, but i'm glad to leave it at 72%, a respectable percentage if i say so myself.

No matter how much of the game you beat though one thing will be clear throughout. The music is exceptional as Austin Wintory once again delivers an OST worthy of all the acolades. These tunes are such an integral aspect of the experience that listening to them again afterwards transports me right back to the world of Sword of the Sea. These are the hallmarks of a great soundtrack, proving once more that games are a legitemate artform both audibly and visually. On a similar note in regards to audio though i do have to say that the sound design in the game is at times a bit underwhelming as some scenes lacked a bith of oompf. Performance was also a let down as i played the whole game at 40 fps, occasionally diping into the twenties. My pc is getting dated though (GTX1070) so if you have a more performant rig it's probably not an issue. Even despite these framerate issues i genuinly loved my time with the game, it is for all intents and purposes a must play.

Mar 22, 2026·7h·Verified

Steam User 5051STEAMRecommended

장대하고 예술적인 바다와 속도감있는 서핑의 느낌이 좋은 게임 압주나 저니 재밌게했다면 강추

Mar 22, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 2718STEAMNot recommended

The performance was atrocious.

Mar 22, 2026·1·Verified

Steam User 7732STEAMRecommended

Mar 21, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 5998STEAMRecommended

Прошёл за 3 часа. Это Journey + Abzu: простой, приятный, ОЧЕНЬ красивый платформер. Сложных мест нет вовсе, визуально песок сменяется водой, ещё есть лёд, лава, много рыбок и разнообразных огромных китов

Сюжета по сути нет, что прекрасно, проходишь зону за зоной, принося за собой везде воду и добро)

Mar 21, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 5461STEAMRecommended

yes

Mar 21, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 4703STEAMRecommended

On point as always.

Mar 21, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 0000STEAMNot recommended

It is not good. It has been over 10 years of Giant Squid and we already know that they know how to make a game look good - presentation and sound really are 5 stars. Unfortunately, there's not much more than that. It is still the same type of storytelling, a game that is literally about sand surfing that doesn't feels good to control... I simply do not understand how cant you aspire to make better.

I had to refund and I don't think I am buying again from them again. I gave them way too many chances already, sadly, it seems their games are not for me.

Mar 20, 2026·1h·2·Verified

Steam User 4679STEAMRecommended

I really loved Abzû for the soundtrack and able to interact with the environment. Sword of the Sea gave me the same experience of overweilming emotion of joy in the first two levels. I really liked how there were hidden secrets and it push you to explore everywhere you could go while being rewarded. Loved the fact that the map change from your progression and you could go back with the water healed. It would of been nice if you could re-play the entire game with the water already healed and just explore without re-doing them start start.

The ice level started to fall off the charm, but I loved the new booster mechanic. Falling star level brought back the charm, but then the final area with the lava destroyed the entire charm of the game. It felt stressful with the new danger and lack of ways to heal the level made it off. I liked the final boss fight, while it was pretty easy.

It was a great story from start to end, but I think I would of enjoyed it more if it was a bit more peaceful and joyful at the end. The the first two levels were extremely well done.

Mar 20, 2026·11h·Verified

Steam User 7221STEAMRecommended

Excellent blend of music, gameplay, and flow!

Mar 19, 2026

Steam User 7236STEAMRecommended

雰囲気ゲー大好物

・溜めジャンプがやりづらい
・「凍りついた礫土を浄化する」取れない（全部壊した）
・途中で戻れなくて怠い・・・
・何度もチャプター最初からやり直すの？
・ムービーカットできないの？

Mar 19, 2026·13h·Verified

Steam User 3852STEAMRecommended

Most underrated game of 2025 tbh.

Mar 19, 2026·3h·1·Verified

Steam User 5359STEAMRecommended

i'll play this game again, someday, when my GPU is upgraded of course.

Mar 19, 2026·Verified

Steam User 9383STEAMRecommended

Very Short, around 3 hours or so, Beautiful game that you'll want to take a screen shot every frame, beautiful OST, get this if you also love The Pathless, ABZU and Journey, Get it on sale

Also it's a lot harder to run than the studios previous games without FSR... Thanks Unreal Engine...

Mar 18, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 5580STEAMRecommended

The game is very beautiful and the music doesn't disappoint. While it's easy to notice they possibly reused the assets from Abzu or other form of games, the story telling is good enough that it's still a different story.

However, I do have a huge criticism for this game; the sound effects design is all over the place. I tried adjusting many volumes in the game to realize that the jumping sound and riding on water sounds did not change in volume at all and it really annoyed me to the point that most of the gameplay was me avoiding any water puzzle segments by jumping. The water drift sound was good and it made me wonder why they didn't use the same sound for that for the main character's riding water sound.

That's the only complaint I had, but overall, it's a good game. Not great, but just good experience... if you can stand the atrocious sound effects design.

Mar 18, 2026·6h·Verified

Steam User 5910STEAMRecommended

大乌贼又一力作，冲就完事了

Mar 16, 2026·6h·Verified

Steam User 1842STEAMNot recommended

I loved Journey and ABZU. This developer makes beautiful almost poetic game experiences. With Sword of the Sea, they've returned with another beautiful looking game with a wonderful soundtrack. This time you're platforming around on a floating surfboard, and the gameplay and platforming is decent, although quite easy like their other games. Sadly I can't really recommend this one. I was struck first by how much of it felt re-used from Journey and ABZU. Half the assets seem to come straight from ABZU. The restoration of the sea and wildlife theme was reused from ABZU, while the deserts felt just like Journey. The "story", such as it was, felt even more incomprehensible than their previous titles. Aside from the surfboard gameplay it just didn't feel very new or inventive. And even at $20 it was very short. Without the creativity usually on display the experience felt a bit tired. If you've played their other games, you've basically already played this, and I don't recommend it. If you haven't played any of their other games, I think their other games are better than this one, and I still don't recommend it.

Mar 16, 2026·4h·5·Verified

Steam User 1342STEAMRecommended

Sword of the Sea is just like Journey and Abzu since it's got all the beautiful things around you and the relaxing music! And best of all ocean animals!

Mar 14, 2026·13h·Verified

Steam User 4633STEAMRecommended

Definitly worth the time and the price. very atmospheric.

Mar 14, 2026·7h·Verified

Steam User 2569STEAMRecommended

Liebe Entwickler... bitte weiter so machen! Ich hab mich Hals über Kopf in das Spiel + den wundervollen Soundtrack verliebt. Dieses Spiel kommt mit wenigen Worten aus und lässt einen trotzdem tief eintauchen in eine bezaubernde Welt.

+ machbare Achievements
+ Soundtrack 100/10 kann man nicht genug davon bekommen
+ leicht verständliches Gameplay
+ einiges zu entdecken

- raubt einem Zeit für Haushalt oder Freunde
- hat mich nach 1 Sekunde gefesselt
- wollte nichts mehr anderes Spielen

mein Fazit: 10/10 <3 ganz viel Liebe an die Entwickler

Mar 13, 2026·13h·1·Verified

Steam User 2433STEAMRecommended

My favorite studio made my favorite kind of game, games where you go Very Fast Forever, and it's everything I could have possibly wanted

Mar 13, 2026·5h·Verified

Steam User 7639STEAMRecommended

Conditional recommendation: on sale. Sorry but it just isn't worth the full price. Short runtime (5.5 hours in two sittings, mind you it should be replayed for some extra things), badly optimised (eats a 9070XT for breakfast, topping out at 2K 90 FPS, should be way more considering the art style), bit bland gameplay if not for the high scores (smash, "loot", activate in various flavors - final chapters do put in a twist for the better).
Music by Austin Wintory, he was the main reason for me to look into it - no regrets, joy throughout! Artwork is comfortably simplistic and likeable, it's Matt Nava behind it after all. Photo mode is a blast!
Having loved Journey, I do adore Sword of the Sea, will replay it because it's not THAT bad - but definitely not without some things left to be desired...

Mar 13, 2026·31h·1·Verified

Steam User 5960STEAMRecommended

Sword of the Sea es, ante todo, una mezcla entre Abzu y Journey.

No lo esconde en ningún momento. Utiliza planos de cámara que ya ha usado en Journey (imagino, que a propósito) y ideas de Abzú que funcionan bien.

Sin embargo no puedo no evitar tener la sensación de que el juego se pierde un poco a mitad de este mismo. Empieza muy bien, pero luego tiene algunas ideas que a mí personalmente no me han encajado.

Quizás durando una hora menos y centrándose más en la idea inicial hubiese encajado mejor.

Mar 12, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 1767STEAMRecommended

gorgeous, hope they could create a bigger game with similar mechanism

Mar 12, 2026·32h·Verified

Steam User 1891STEAMNot recommended

journey之极限滑板

Mar 12, 2026·Verified

Steam User 4859STEAMRecommended

If you liked Journey, you'll love this game too. Visually stunning and accompanied by a magnificent soundtrack, the game doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does take the “Journey-like” genre to a whole new level.

Mar 10, 2026·7h·Verified

Steam User 1172STEAMRecommended

Short but very atmospheric particularly the music, i can see why it wins awards
gameplay reminds me of EXO ONE. its a bit pricey for what it is but I enjoyed
mu time with it

Mar 10, 2026·5h·Verified

Steam User 7989STEAMRecommended

9/10 wish cutsence could be skiped and also that the menu /load game / chapter optione was also allways thier as replaying section is made a bit stupid by not being able to quikly load / skip cutsences

Mar 10, 2026·18h·Verified

Steam User 8545STEAMNot recommended

Am i the only person having to play low settings yet still suffer poor fps issues when i dont see any plans for the game to get DLSS or FSR, cause at this point i am buying something that would never be enjoyable if the game is dropping frames so much that i wonder if the game is suppose to be about frame dropping or maybe the goal is to admire the artwork rather than a game, then consider me a refunding it and also pirating cause i dont like buying games that dont work so pirating is the only issue i will do until this is giving stable performance if even my rtx 3060TI couldnt even run 60fps and playing less than 30fps is not an enjoyable experience.

Mar 8, 2026·1h·Verified

Steam User 5129STEAMNot recommended

Thanks to UE5, even with these graphics it runs like ♥♥♥♥.

Mar 8, 2026·1h·2·Verified

Steam User 7944STEAMRecommended

One of the most relaxing games I've ever played. 12/10

Mar 8, 2026·1h·1

Steam User 8220STEAMRecommended

Very replayable and fun throughout. Not super challenging, but I don't think anyone expects it to be. Really solid movement system, character design, story, and some fun extras if you're willing to dig deep.

Mar 8, 2026·17h·Verified

Steam User 6064STEAMNot recommended

Very disappointing, coming from The Pathless its big downgrade in everyway and if you are expecting Journey oh boy this is not

Mar 8, 2026·7h·Verified

Steam User 8872STEAMRecommended

A piece of art in its truest form, taking clues from journey in both scenery and soundtrack (Austin Wintory does not disapoint), but redefining its own identity as a unique game that impresses each time with breathtaking views.
If you liked journey or any similar game, this is absolutely recommended.
If you don't like short games though, beware this is not very long (still worth every penny in my opinion).

Mar 8, 2026·10h·1·Verified

Steam User 3193STEAMRecommended

If Journey is one of your favorite games of all time then you will love this, unless you have some weird disdain for skateboarding or snowboarding.

I loved it, highly recommended.

Mar 8, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 8243STEAMRecommended

It's a good game, the movement is extremely flowy and great to muck around with, environmentally it's very relaxing and atmospheric, as you'd expect from these developers. Unfortunately it's also quite poorly optimised as others have noted, and the developers aren't actively updating it, I would hold off if you have anything less than a 3060ti or equivalent currently. Hesitant recommend.

Mar 7, 2026·8h·Verified

Steam User 6094STEAMRecommended

o que esse jogo relaxa e uma loucura, fantastico!

Mar 7, 2026·4h·Verified

Steam User 8077STEAMRecommended

Its a fckn vibe! enjoyed the game only bad part is how short the game is. but still enjoyable but buy when its on sale

Mar 7, 2026·9h·Verified

Steam User 4818STEAMRecommended

I really liked the art and storytelling in Abzû. And I liked the freedom of movement in The Pathless. In Sword of the Sea, it is like the best parts of two of my favorite games. The veteran developers at Giant Squid are still able to pull off things I haven't even imagined before. If you liked either of the previous games, you will like this one too.

It was interesting to see a return to more linear storytelling, with the concession that most of it was done in huge open zones with clear objectives that can be completed in any order. You can still explore unimpeded by time pressure, although progressing the story and [strike]unlocking[/strike] buying new skills (weird) certainly makes exploring easier. I wondered as I played how late in development they decided to lock skills behind a vendor with a long unskippable animation. It slows down gameplay to have to collect coins just so you can play effectively, but your first time through this probably won't be an issue.

Because this game was designed for replay I think moreso than the others. There are all these high score arenas and tricks you can do to earn points (for what?) all designed to get you playing better and faster; cue an achievement to finish the game in under 2 hours. But I found the movement a little bit too floaty and the off-center camera positioning so annoying I couldn't be bothered with any kind of precision play. But it's there if you want it, and at the end of the day I will still buy whatever these guys put out (and its incredible soundtrack).

Mar 7, 2026·8h·1·Verified

Steam User 3824STEAMRecommended

[REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS]
Did you like Journey, ABZÛ, and The Pathless? Then you will also like this one. Beautiful visuals, a top tier soundtrack, and a very fun new way of movement - in other words, another Giant Squid game. If I may offer one or two criticisms, I would say that this game combines elements of the three previous games in ways that sometimes feel derivative, or like lesser imitations of their original instances. While flitting across a desolate desert landscape, activating mysterious mechanisms to release a bloom of kelp and sea life, or fighting a beast corrupted by flame and hatred, I could not help but see fragments of those games taken out of context and tossed into a somewhat more disjointed whole - and the new unique element of this game, the skating, brought with it a series of challenges so openly gamified that their inclusion cracked the facade and jarred me out of my immersion in the world. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It was a blast to play and I will likely be buying the soundtrack at some point. Although I would rate it slightly lower than its forebears, this game is still an 8/10.

Mar 6, 2026·17h·Verified

Steam User 4217STEAMRecommended

Didn't think I would get to experience a Journey type game that isn't Journey 2. I am in love with the art style, the music and the sword surfing. The game is short if you just rush the main objectives, but you can get a good 10 hours out of it if you explore and take in the environment. I 100% recommend this game, even more so if you can get it on a sale.

Mar 6, 2026·12h·6·Verified

Steam User 4875STEAMRecommended

So while yes this game is beautiful, very atmospheric and fun snow/surf mechanics - I sadly did not make it very far before I got motion sick. I wasn't able to adjust the settings to make it playable (for me) but I would still recommend it to anyone who doesn't suffer from motion/seasickness. :')

Mar 6, 2026·Verified

Steam User 8218STEAMRecommended

[h1] [url=https://keylol.com/t1013696-1-1]【其乐鉴赏家】海之剑——美中不足还是美吗？[/url][/h1]

[quote]本评测的游戏由[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/9730205-Keylol-Player-Club/]其乐Keylol鉴赏家[/url]提供[/quote]

Mar 5, 2026·10h

Steam User 9626STEAMRecommended

The ocean is a beautiful place.

Mar 5, 2026·15h·Verified

Steam User 1334STEAMRecommended

The price is a bit steep for a 3 hour story but the game is just so dang beautiful and the gameplay is slick af. It was worth it.

Mar 5, 2026·10h·4·Verified

Steam User 8090STEAMRecommended

NO HIT ACHIEVEMENT CAN EAT MY JORTS

Mar 5, 2026·11h·Verified

Steam User 0292STEAMRecommended

If you liked GS's other games then you'll love this one. A little short but certainly replayable. Lovely soundtrack and immensely beautiful.

Mar 5, 2026·4h

Steam User 0398STEAMRecommended

Un jeu extrêmement fascinant et qui m’a bien plu au premier abord.

Sword of the Sea m’a très bien conquis, il est très beau visuellement sur un style très animé sans parler que le concept est très intéressant. J’ai rencontré aucun bug.

L’histoire m’a plu même si elle est pas super dynamique, elle reste assez sympa pour que ça soit agréable à suivre, sans parler que pour un jeu un peu « patoune » (un jeu de collect), il n’est pas très désagréable, même mieux : intéressant. Le gameplay est assez dynamique sans que ça soit mou et les énigmes ne sont pas répétitives et bien espacées. Un jeu qui m’a extrêmement plu sur l’océan et ses merveilles.

Je vais fâcher des gens : le jeu dit que ça se termine en 4h, c’est bien vrai. De mon côté où j’ai pris tout mon temps, je l’ai fini en presque 3h30.

Je trouve qu’il y a plein de très bonnes idées mais il reste cher pour une durée de vie et j’aurais voulu plus et des concepts pas explorés : que ça soit des poissons abyssaux ou préhistoriques. Ils en proposent 2 mais vont pas plus loin, je trouve que c’est dommage qu’ils n’aient pas poussé l’idée plus loin.

Ça c’est personnel : je trouve très dommage que le beluga on ne puisse pas le monter.

Je peux vous le recommander sans hésiter mais pas à ce prix. Je vous conseille de le prendre en promo (moi je l’ai eu à 25 €) et je vous conseille de prendre votre temps et de faire plusieurs sessions (2-3) pour pas sentir en manque, et de prendre votre temps. Pour une meilleure expérience de jeu, je recommande vivement de porter un casque et une manette.

J’ai été tellement convaincu que je me suis lancé pour mon tout premier jeu à faire les succès et j’espère une suite sur un 2 car s’ils parlent d’autres thématiques, il y a de quoi faire une suite.

Mar 4, 2026·8h·Verified

Steam User 1727STEAMRecommended

Если со скидкой и у вас мощный пк - очень красивое путешествие на два часа

Mar 4, 2026·4h·Verified

Steam User 3129STEAMRecommended

Didn't realize how much I miss SSX Tricky.

Mar 4, 2026·14h·Verified

Steam User 3639STEAMNot recommended

This game is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ beautiful. I literally almost cried. But for the love of god, please optimize this game. I can get over 200 fps (ultra settings + 2k res) on God of War Ragnarok which is also an extremely beautiful game but I cant get over 60 fps (ultra settings + 2k res) on this game. 60 fps isn't the end of the world, but it can be so much more. And if you can get it optimized well it will unlock a whole new market for people with weaker pc's and handheld gaming like the steamdeck. So devs, please optimize it.

Mar 4, 2026·32·Verified

Steam User 2004STEAMRecommended

this game is friggin amazing

Mar 4, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 6197STEAMRecommended

What an absolute feast for the senses. I held off on buying this at first because it seemed overpriced for its length - huge mistake on my part. Everything is so smooth, satisfying, intuitive, visually stunning and the gorgeous soundtrack ties it all together.

Mar 3, 2026·2h·Verified

Steam User 4100STEAMRecommended

Amazing music, Amazing graphics, and an amazing story. I would pay atleast $50 for a game like this. Totally worth the money.

Mar 3, 2026·3h·Verified

Steam User 9403STEAMRecommended

Fantastic. Music is amazing. Visuals are stunning. Movement is fluid and fast when it should be, but platforming doesn't feel floaty when you don't want it to. It's been giving me all the feels of Journey and Abzu without being from the same studio. You can definitely see where the inspirations come from, yet it still distinctly feels like it's own game and it's own experience while scratching that itch for a beautiful world to explore.

Mar 3, 2026·4h·Verified

Steam User 4533STEAMRecommended

Abzu 2: Skatesword Boogaloo
good game

Mar 3, 2026·4h·1·Verified

Steam User 7555STEAMNot recommended

It seemed very promising for the first half of the game (which I don't personally consider more than half considering how much more thought was put into it), I thought that it was like Abzu but with the right flow, vast like Journey but with more things to explore and the speed was very good in proportion to the space to explore, with internal sections that felt cool and deeply explorable, then in the second half of the game, a bit after entering the snow section, it shows its true face, first with a little prelude, then here come vast almost empty spaces between the few points of interest (like what I've seen of the Pathless too), and what's left between them is almost all meh, while the internal sections are almost only linear.
Yes, in those sections it felt visually cool at times and the fishes were always awesome, but not much more than that.
And then I thought, well the parkour is stylish, but not so precise and tight to be able to truly fluidly use it for tight parkour, from these point of views is pretty mediocre, surely they wouldn't do something tight where you need precision that the game itself doesn't procure masking being skilled with being able to compensate what they did worse as mechanics as the last parkour trial right? ....Of course they did, and this time, unlike other games, I was already deluded with the game by then to care about compensating what they did worse.
This last thing and the second half of the game really shows how much they think highly of themselves, thinking that a vast space with less tought in it can feel poetic from their side while saving some real efforts, and that every thing beside performance problems and visual bugs is the player fault.
Ah yes, and the collecting the game value that seemed to truly reward exploration? Nah just a little time saver, even with all of them collected, you must replay all the chapters at least once more to fully farm all the moves (because selecting the chapters makes you see every unskippable cutscene while respawning every vase and chests), or forcefully take the bet of playing in Ng+. In any case if you want everything prepare to farm like Devil May Cry chapter select style but in a slower way. I surely won't.
One thing that felt truly cool during the second half? [spoiler]Even if it was a fake difficulty it was cool to seemingly confront a boss that mechanically felt like a mix between a Zelda and a Sonic one[/spoiler]
A shame, really, for the first half it really felt like Journey, Abzu and The Pathless were just an experiment to truly come to a complete masterpiece that fused the good aspect of them and even some of Flower, but alas Flower will remain the only one game from this company who truly felt awesome for the whole time, without some uselessly forceful things that ruined the game by slowing the flow for a long part without feeling really meaningful or purposefully putting wide useless space in proportion to the speed of the character used.
Abzu had some forceful slowdowns because yes but they were more limited and didn't bother me THAT much, so a solid second place. Journey and Sword of The Sea were almost wonderful it's a shame they decided to worsen themselves for long section without being that meaningful storywise as slowdowns. And only by seeing The Pathless in gameplays it's clear where the critics come from, don't even care to touch it a bit.
And also thinking about it, the parkour felt more restricted as where you can go in the second half, I truly thought you could have a parkour freedom and places to be, even with prizes in most places, like Blue Fire, a shame really

Mar 3, 2026·7h·Verified

LANGUAGE	AUDIO	SUBTITLES	INTERFACE
English	Y	Y	Y
Chinese (Simplified)	—	Y	Y
Chinese (Traditional)	—	Y	Y
French	—	—	Y
German	—	Y	Y
Italian	—	Y	Y
Japanese	—	Y	Y
Korean	—	Y	Y
Portuguese (Brazil)	—	Y	Y
Russian	—	Y	Y
Spanish (Spain)	—	Y	Y

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