Game: Soul Searching
Genre: Adventure, Role-Playing, 2D Survival, Multi-player
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on Steam)
Developers/Publishers: Kayabros|Nakano.io
Price:UK £8.99|EU €9,99|US $9.99| CA $13.64|AU $14.99
Age Rating: EU 12+, US T
Release Date: initial release on 25th October 2019, bundle release on 17th April 2020
Review Code kindly provided by Nakano
While the original game of Soul Searching was released in October 2019, it is now published as a bundle, including DLC to collect donations for refugees, distributed by the UN Refugees Agency. The players owning the DLC get a Music Player in the “Random Mode”. A selection of 15 tracks from the “Story Mode” + 3 exclusive ones are available to play in the background. Aside from that, a few bugs in the original game are amended too. Let’s look at this newer version!
In a world plagued with uncertainty and fear, a young person makes the life-changing decision to set out from their hometown on a journey. They don’t have much to their name. Armed with an old map, a sleeping bag, and a bucket of water they bid farewell to their neighbors and parents, and board a flimsy little raft. They have no idea where they’re going, but are filled with the need to just go. And upon taking a vow of silence, they do. You do.
Defining your Purpose
Soul Searching is a survival and story game where you embark on a journey with no real purpose, at first. After designing the gender, color, and shape of your little person you are met with slightly cryptic dialogue, both from your hometown neighbors and the voices of your past. Those around you are unsure of why you have to leave on a journey to be a soul searcher, someone who takes a vow of silence and embarks on a journey, and so are you.
But as you sail from your Hometown to Graveyard Island to Green Island, or perhaps to Busy Island, the world you inhabit becomes to reveal itself. The people in this world are scared. They are scared of each other, and of the mythical beings that are angry at the humans: the dragons. As a young soul searcher, I felt myself almost reluctant to engage with the depressing dialogue of many island dwellers. However, I was spurred on by interest in uncovering more information about these dragons and their relationship with people. But I could ask no questions or offer any help, I could only listen.
Instead of sailing past all the islands and heading toward the mysterious one that was perched on the edge of the world, I decided to make pit stops at each island to uncover as much as I could about this very world I travelled. It’s a strange one. One filled both with magic and dragons, but also cars, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, murder, and suicide. It’s a depressing world, and to be honest I found myself to be frequently put off by the sheer depression and dismay. But it was the bright aqua sea, flittering fish, and flurry of gulls overhead that continuously had me returning to my raft to set off again and again.
Across the Sea
Because this is a survival game at its heart, much of Soul Searching has you navigating the open seas on your quest. In the beginning, you start off with a tiny round raft that is equipped with only the barest of necessities. The farther you get from your hometown, the more the islands are equipped with various tools that can be attached to your raft, or even larger rafts that allow for more equipment. Tools like the fishing rod allow you to gather sustenance while out on the open sea, instead of relying soly on the fruits gathered from the islands. There are also items like the wind sock that help you determine the direction of the wind, something quite useful once you learn spells that change the direction of the wind (more on magic later), or binoculars that allow you to take a peek into the distance.
As I travelled between the islands I sometimes found myself skipping the various upgrades, unsure of their usefulness. But the farther I got on my journey, the more peril encroached upon me. One time I was just sailing along when I was suddenly swarmed by a murder of crows that munched on most of my food. That wasn’t even the worst of it. Whilst travelling from Volcano Island to Cave Island I was suddenly attacked by a cluster of dragons! I had been attacked by one dragon every now and then, but all of a sudden I had like four or five dragons chasing after me and flinging fireballs at my boat. I once died from a fireball, so I knew now to jump I the water to cool off. But everything on my boat was burning and I was in a panic as what to do. I couldn’t sail away from them because they were too fast. Then I remembered, an island once surfaced from the sea and a mysterious person on it taught me the spell to dispel foes. I cast it several times. I watched as the dragons flew off and sighed in relief as the worst had passed. Or so I thought.
I checked my raft for damage. In the wreckage, the dragons had burned up some of my food supply and worst of all, my map. Without the map, you literally have no idea where you are out on sea. My binoculars could only see so far. I literally had no idea which direction to go. In the end, I just decided to sail west. It was the general direction to the mysterious island that was perched on the end of the map. I figured I would just keep heading that direction until my supplies ran out. This was scarier than I had imagined. I kept sailing on, eating and drinking when needed, but I was gripped with a kind of uncertainty. At one point my water supplies had run dangerously low, and I was certain it was the end and I would be teleported back to the last save point (this game autosaves only). However, I was suddenly saved by a magical sting ray! Yeah, let me break that down a bit more.
Casting Spells and Chasing Dragons
As you’re sailing through the sea there are two things that appear in the water around you, gold and magic. The gold is easy to spot and collecting it allows you to buy items like raft upgrades. The magic, though, was a little confusing to figure out at first. When I dove off my boat and into the sea for some gold, I noticed a fluttering butterfly looking thing. When I grabbed that as well it made an “Oh” sound and started following me. To be honest, I thought it was something bad and avoided all the others I saw for quite a while!
As I continued on and learned a bit more about what it means to be a soul searcher, I began to wonder if the sea butterflies were in fact lost souls. So, I collected them thinking that they were what I needed to change the depressing attitudes of the island dwellers. It wasn’t until quite near the end of the game, a while after I began using magic, that I realized these were magic points. In other words, you need to catch these little sea butterflies to be able to cast a spell like ‘lure fish’ or ‘cast wind’. I suddenly became desperate to find them in order to be ready to cast the spell that dispels danger (aka dragons and crows).
Another thing I noticed was that if you have quite an abundance of magic trailing you, then you could often unlock magic islands or sting ray looking creatures. I was sailing along when suddenly an island rose from underneath my boat. It had food, water, and even a person who claimed to know me and taught me a new spell. The next time such a random event happened was when the sting ray creature emerged from the sea and guided my boat to a near island when I was lost and without a map. To be honest, that was when I was most grateful. From what I gleaned from the story and unlockable achievements, these aids come to those who are good soul searchers. Though in honesty, I’m not sure what defines that in the game.
The Mechanics of Soul Searching
This game had a lot of interesting quirks that I enjoyed. Whilst sailing you may encounter abandoned rafts with leftover supplies which you can board and loot, possibly the remains of failed soul searchers. The music shifted in accordance with your time on sea or perhaps slower moments when you fall asleep on your raft and watch your boat drift by. Sometimes there is no music at all, making the sheer isolation on your raft feel ever more real. At times you would be assaulted with monochrome flashbacks. They were confusing, and at times jarring for their abrupt interruptions. But there is a story in them, one I think I understand but wouldn’t mind delving further into.
Soul Searching asks questions that break beyond the game itself. I think this game is trying quite hard to be meta and to address problems and thoughts that seep past the pixelated world and into our own. Truthfully, I didn’t really like the depressing and sometimes violent themes this game wants to address. Instead, I found myself much more interested in trying to learn about the history of the dragons in this world (something I didn’t think there was enough of), as well as simply sailing, catching fish, and just trying to survive. I found the core survival gameplay and pixel aesthetic to be really fun and even beautiful at times. I think the developers of this title did a good job in making a living world, despite it being a miserable one.
Lastly, Soul Searchers offers a variety of other features to dabble with. You could play the main story alone, like I did, or you could play with up to three other players. This can be both fun and challenging as there will suddenly be more mouths to feed upon the tiny boat. But I could also imagine it being a lot of fun as someone could be a navigator dedicated to keeping an eye on the map and binoculars whilst someone else could be focused on catching fish and keeping food supplies up. This multiplayer mode isn’t just locked to the story, as there is a random mode that creates randomized islands for you to reach. I think this is a fun mode for those just interested in the survival mechanic of the game. Lastly, there is also a feature where you can play through some “artistic” short stories. They’re pretty experimental, and I wasn’t a total fan, but its worth checking out nonetheless.
And that’s my story, young one! I travelled the rough seas, braved dangerous dragons, and even rode on the back of one in my quest to be a soul searcher. I lived to tell the tale. And now, brave one, it is time for you to take a paddle and map and set out on your own journey.
Final Verdict: I like it.
