Soul Searching is a minimalist rendition of the survival/exploration adventure genre. With pixel graphics and simplistic gameplay, it’s a narrative-driven experience that challenges the player to learn and explore. Will you simply be an explorer, or a true soul searcher?
The game controls easily, with you moving your tiny character along the map collecting food and other resources toSoul Searching is a minimalist rendition of the survival/exploration adventure genre. With pixel graphics and simplistic gameplay, it’s a narrative-driven experience that challenges the player to learn and explore. Will you simply be an explorer, or a true soul searcher?
The game controls easily, with you moving your tiny character along the map collecting food and other resources to survive. You start with a small boat that you can load with supplies to make your trips between islands easier. As you explore, you’ll be able to purchase bigger boats that can be outfitted with an array of different tools, allowing you to do things like fish and have better control of your direction on the seas. This could be better managed with a menu interface, but so could things like resource management. I feel like the lack of menus was purposely done.
As you traverse the islands, you’ll encounter small cutscenes that can expand to your understanding of the small world around you. Eventually you even encounter terrifying creatures like a giant predatory bird, or a killer whale, both of which attempt to make your trip as unsuccessful as possible. You’ll also be able to speak to most of the inhabitants of the islands, each painting a picture of what life is like there, explaining their worries and their struggles, each with very sobering experiences to tell about that can be surprisingly existential for such a small game.
The sounds in game do a good job of tying the environment and structure of the adventure together. In some of the later scenes with a particular race of creatures, as well as on a more solitary island, the pixel art really shines through, showing that this minimalistic artistic expression can be a real treat.
The game does have other mini games and short stories available to play, many of which can be fairly entertaining. The real joy though, is the single player story, which is surprisingly complex with a rich world full of lore if you take the time to go and find it.
Pros:
-minimalist graphics
-open exploration
Cons:
-can be difficult to navigate in certain boats
-no clear directive can be confusing
Overall 8/10
This game is a bit of a secret gem. There’s a lot to unravel here, and the execution is done really well. It’s like a pop out book you can slowly unfold into a series of wonderfully artistic scenes. While there could be a bit of polish in some areas, it’s overall a good experience.
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