Kickstarter Project of the Week: Sea of Choices

Alex Harding -

For this week’s Switch Kickstarter Project of the Week, we will be looking at Nicholas Prindle's Sea of Choices. The game is slated to release in December 2021 on PC (via Steam). In regards to a Nintendo Switch port, here is what the team had to say:

IF THINGS GO REALLY WELL WE WILL PORT IT TO THE SWITCH

Here's the overview:

Thousands of years ago the planet Nova was a mystical place only inhabited by its magical caretakers, the Zen Guardians, and animal companions known as Darfurills. Nova's two neighboring planets, Romulus and Eros, were densely populated by multiple species of sentient beings. Things had been good on Romulus and Eros for a time, but their societies began to crumble due to the strain from a harsh class system.

There was a great war initiated by the bureaucrats of each planet's societies that involved both planets attacking each other for land and resources they wanted on Nova. Since Romulus and Eros were within spitting distance of each other while Nova was relatively far away in comparison, they resorted to attacking and sabotaging each other before either could manage to land on Nova. And thus the Great War for Nova ensued...

However, in a victory for the working class, a massive migration event took place when the Zen Guardians intervened and rescued those not involved with the war using their magic powers by teleporting them back to Nova. After this miraculous event, the Zen Guardians were drained from using so much power to transport everyone. Seeing this, the only hyper-intelligent species from Romulus known as the Clow Clow enacted a huge technological feat that employed a barrier around all of Nova preventing any spacecraft from entering its atmosphere. All species joined in to build the machine and protect the planet.

After that, there was peace.

All the species that made it to Nova have lived in harmony and unison with the planet and the Zen Guardians for generations. They've been very appreciative of the world they live in and all the splendor, sustenance and comfort it naturally provides them. Each species has respectively gravitated to regions and adapted to those that suit them best, but some folks like to wonder and see Nova in all of its glory, too. Huge cities and technological feats have been achieved, as well as the dawn of artistic pursuits like music and painting. Things are thriving, and renewable energy sources are abundant and powering the way new Novans live.

Fast forward to the present day.

*Cue Conflict*

But now something's amiss on the once peaceful planet Nova! The Zen Guardians are being slowly wiped out by an unknown force. You fill in the shoes of Aura, a young Lon Lon, who in a rare twist of fate, is given the ability to use magic. With this power in your hands you must choose how you will go about responding to the newfound chaos that is rocking your once calm planet.

When classic JRPGs are the inspiration for new indie entries, we tend to see a lot of sprite-based 2D iterations. This is likely due to it being easier to develop, pixel art having an ageless quality and the developers being inspired by the golden age of JRPGs - the SNES era. However, it's always brave (or stupid) for developers to try their hand at 3D RPGs and I have to commend the team of Sea of Choices for sticking to their guns and making the game that they want to make. Sea of Choices looks like it still has a long way to go but it's core concepts, in addition to its actions having consequences mechanics, makes the game one to keep an eye on.

This game requires $5,000USD and it is currently sitting at $525USD after 13 backers with 55 days remaining. If you’d like to support the development of this game to help it come to Nintendo Switch, click the link below to visit the Indiegogo page.

Click here to check out Sea of Choices
Click here to check out the last Kickstarter Project: Call Me Under

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