Sea Horizon

You have to die a few times before you can revive, said a Gothenburg man once, and that's exactly how I feel every time I pick up a rougelike. A genre that I really hate. Actually, I have neither nerves nor patience for this kind of self-torture, but at the same time it is one of the best feelings in the world, when after hundreds of attempts you finally stand there as a winner. When the frustration and bottomless hopelessness you've felt for so many hours is suddenly replaced by a sense of victory and euphoria. When you've been lying there in the middle of the night on the floor in the foetal position, doubting your choices in life, but now you stand up, straight as an arrow and shout out your salvation. So it doesn't matter that I've spent an inordinate amount of time getting here. To the end of the road.

Now this doesn't happen very often as the games are of course just damn difficult but they must also be fun to play and preferably there should be some kind of fair system that doesn't leave me completely helpless in the hands of RNGesus. Something that doesn't make my run completely pointless and cause me to throw in the towel early. Some kind of progress that I get to keep even when I die, which is something that the giants of the genre do very well.

The amount of blood, sweat and tears I've sacrificed on the altar of chance in brilliant games like Slay the Spire, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells and Hades is undeniably great but I never feel like I've wasted a session as it always leaves me with some sort of progression, like new cards, characters, items or anything else that might make my next round easier, or Lady Luck doesn't smile at me at all and I'm back to sitting there with my arse in my hand. But that's also the beauty of a game like this. That it can go just about anywhere. That I learn something new every time, become stronger, smarter. Less desperation and more strategy. It's a genre that really doesn't suit everyone, but for those who like the concept there's a lot to choose from, but you have to find the right one because there are few things in life more frustrating than a really bad rougelike. Sea Horizon does a lot right but also falls into some of the most common traps.

A lot is familiar from the aforementioned titles but above all I see the similarities with Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon and you can certainly get a worse combination. Each playable character has a distinct fighting style, which is represented by playing cards and just like in Slay the Spire, I also unlock new cards that are added to my pile and remain there for future rounds. However, what is new in Sea Horizon is the mix of cards, dice and elements. Each item, be it a sword, shield or armour has a dice rating attached to it, with numbers and a symbol. This is true both in the number of dice that will be rolled if I choose that particular item, but also in the element that can potentially appear on the dice once the roll is made.

It's not the easiest thing to explain in text format but in short, for a battle to be successful, you need high numbers from the dice and the right type of symbol to play as many cards as possible and thus do maximum damage. It's a complex system that is brilliant when it works, but it's also a pretty steep learning curve and it takes even longer to really master the technique. You can think what you want about that because what it does in the end is add another layer of challenge to an already fairly difficult genre. Personally, I'm torn. I like the challenge, which as I said is a prerequisite for rougelike, but at the same time I hate how little I can influence the outcome of the battle.

And speaking of battles, they are the bread and butter of the game. This is where all the action is because even though the game world is presented in a simplistically beautiful hexagonal tabletop view free to explore with both boat and apostle horses, it's still ultimately the battles that drive progress. This is where I pick up lots of loot (which unfortunately is often made up of duplicates), new abilities, money and food. Necessary to get anywhere at all in a cubist world where everything wants to kill me and where some enemies only need a single blow to send me packing. Sometimes I can avoid my bitter fate, other times I'm screwed before I even start. I can basically predict the outcome by letting the game tell me what the battle will look like.

Because if the journey is shown from above, the battles are instead in a panoramic perspective, again just like in Slay the Spire, but as some game modes also allow more than one playable character, it is also reminiscent of Darkest Dungeon and just like in the latter title, I can choose to click on my enemies to see how they will act in the next round. How much damage will they inflict? How much health do I have going into the battle? Are they planning to block my two-handed sword? Is there any enemy on the screen that can heal, and if so, how much? Do I have time to kill my primary target before it regains its health meter? This is a gameplay moment where Sea Horizon really excels. It forces me to carefully consider every move. A single mistake can mean the end and it keeps me on the edge of my seat. There's nothing wrong with variety either. During my journey I encounter everything from giant wolves to evil wizards, interspersed with a couple of impressive bosses and a host of other loose cannons, always ready to impede my progress.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, it's a bit too unbalanced as I fail many times. Not because I'm clueless or have played recklessly, but because luck simply hasn't been on my side. With its triple system where cards, dice and symbols all have to work in symbiosis, this is easily the case. It's one thing with just cards, or just dice, or where elements control all decisions, but a combination, that's difficult. Add to that the fact that I am constantly consuming provisions and there is yet another thing to keep track of. When the food runs out, it's finito. Then you die with a bang, after a number of steps and in the beginning it is generous with crabs but the further I get the more sparse the food becomes and soon I feel that all the gods of chance are fighting me down.

Now I realise that's the point of the game design itself and that it's just a matter of buying the set-up or admitting to myself that this isn't for me and moving on with my life. I do the former and despite terribly frustrating game segments, I have a surprising amount of fun for many hours and there is a lot of game time to be had here, thanks to the many different game modes.

Sea Horizon offers no less than three different game modes, story, dungeon and exploration. Story is exactly what it sounds like, a story mode for your chosen character. There are ten to choose from, all with their own stories and this is also where the tutorial can be found and it is highly recommended, even if you are used to the genre already. Dungeon in turn allows three characters, who in pure Darkest Dungeon style will try to survive at all costs to ultimately defeat a brutally difficult boss. Last but not least is exploration, which allows the player to freely explore the map with three different characters. You unlock the different characters and their clothes by completing missions, and thankfully there is no way to add your own money, either for cosmetics or progression.

If you're already hooked on this type of game and feel the need for something new and challenging to sink your teeth into during warm summer evenings, there's a lot to discover in Sea Horizon, but it won't attract any new fans to the genre.