There is now a demo for The Sea Will Claim Everything. I still think the best way to find out whether you like the Lands of Dream games is to play The Fabulous Screech, but I understand that some people would prefer to be able to see what a game is like before they spend money on it. So here you go!

DOWNLOAD DEMO (53MB)

The download is fairly big and should give you quite a bit to look at – but it actually only contains a tiny fraction of this rather big game (actually it’s a portal, but let’s keep it simple). If you buy the game you will have to download a bigger file, but your saves will be kept.

Few things are more inspiring to a traveller than to hear the tales of another. Tales of distant cities and mighty rivers on faraway plains plant a seed of yearning in the heart: not to see the same places, but places like them in distance and mystery. Many of my own travels, the stories of which you may find on this site, began with the stories collected in Lord Dunsany’s A Dreamer’s Tales. He was a great traveller.

I’ve already said elsewhere that The Field moves me like few stories do, but there is another in this book that is perhaps equally important to my life. That is Idle Days on the Yann, the spirit of which influenced all my own travels in the Lands of Dream and continues to do so.

When you can, take some time to read it. Come aboard the Bird of the River, meet her captain, and sail down to Bar-Wul-Yann. You will see many wonders.

While heroically fighting my own stomach, I took some time to create a couple of trailers to help promote The Sea Will Claim Everything. The first one explains the second one. Ahem.

There are supposed to be updates here. But there aren’t, because my stomach has decided to eat itself. Yay for autocannibalism!

Updates will resume in a couple of days, I hope, when I go back to having a functioning human body, or at least something resembling one.

– Jonas

I know that some people come here and simply don’t know what to make of The Sea Will Claim Everything. It looks interesting, but what is it like? What’s with the graphics? What’s with the lack of a proper feature list? Just… what is this?

“It’s a portal to the Lands of Dream” doesn’t sound like much of an answer, even though I’m pretty sure people who have played TSWCE will agree that it’s the most accurate one. So let me try to explain a little.

The first thing you should know is that the game is the way that it is because it is meant to. Take the visuals. We’re often told that the more realistic graphics are, the better. But even if they paid me to make this game in the Unreal engine, I’d refuse. Not because I hate 3D engines or anything, but because it would just be wrong. I’ve noticed that people who aren’t gamers often absolutely adore the graphics, simply because they come at them from a different perspective: they love the strong colours and the bold lines and the imagination and the fun. And you will too, I think, if you give them a chance.

I don’t know if the screenshots really capture the feel of the game, to be honest. It feels different when it’s not just a little image in your browser. The screenshots feel static, but the game feels alive – even though it’s drawn on paper.

The second thing you should know is that this game comes from the heart. Every little bit of it. It has flaws and quirks, like people do, but every single bit of it is the result of thought and attention and care. It matters to us like something entirely real, and I think that’s why you’ll find that so many reviewers write that they, too, cared about the Fortunate Isles.

The third thing you should know is that brushing your teeth is really important. I’ll go brush mine right now, in fact. Be right back.

The fourth thing you should know is that playing this game will be a journey you’ll remember. You’ll see strange places and people. You’ll have moments and experiences you’ll treasure. You’ll find something that will be special to you; it’s different for everyone and usually entirely personal, but the world of TSWCE is so large and so full that everyone finds something.

The fifth and final thing you should know is that this game isn’t a joke. It’s not “I’ll throw together a quick indie game and make some money”. It’s different in its aesthetics, but it’s not cheap. This is a huge game with hundreds of screens and enough words to fill a book; it’s got beautiful music and a real story and real ideas.

But what is it like? Well, in terms of games not set in the Lands of Dream… nothing, really. It’s not Myst, it’s not Quest for Glory, it’s not Monkey Island. But thankfully, all the other Lands of Dream games are free, so you could play some of them. I’d recommend The Fabulous Screech; it’s only fifteen minutes long at most, but it’s quite representative in a way. Just imagine that TSWCE is several hundred times larger, and non-linear, and much more complex, and… well, anyway.

I hate to use the language of marketing, but the truth is that The Sea Will Claim Everything is unique, and that in itself is a good reason to buy it. You don’t even need to be into adventure games to enjoy it, because it’s not a typical adventure game. You don’t even need to be into games! (Honestly.) Everyone is welcome, and everyone can find something of value in the Fortunate Isles.

The Oneiropolis Compendium has been updated with an entry about the mysterious statue known as The Great Catanthrope.

Enjoy!

Is that bear gone?

Are you sure?

Good, he was kind of scary. Anyway… what was I going to say? Ah, yes. I found this hat and it had some links in it.

• TSWCE review by Gregory Weir. There’s nothing as wonderful as when the people you respect like your work.
• A thoughtful review of TSWCE by GameChurch.
• Hookshot interviewed me!
• A review by Scripted Sequence that contains gems like “It’s a court-jester who throws shaving-cream pies rather than custard. Because in these times of austerity, who can afford custard?”
• An awesome review by GameOver.gr which is, well awesome. It’s in Greek, of course, so most of you won’t be able to read it. But it really made my day.

There may be many more links to share, but that’s all I found in the hat, and looking for more hats is difficult from this internet cafe I’m in.

I AM A BEAR. I EAT PEOPLE.

PEOPLE ARE DELICIOUS. THIS IS WHY I EAT THEM.

BEARS LIKE MUSIC. SOMETIMES WE DON’T EAT MUSICIANS FOR THIS REASON. BUT I WAS GOING TO EAT CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU. AND JONAS TOO, FOR PICKING HIM. HELEN TREVILLION MADE SUCH BEAUTIFUL MUSIC FOR THE LANDS OF DREAM THAT I WAS CERTAIN NO ONE COULD MATCH HER. THIS COULD NOT BE ACCEPTED. SO I WAS GOING TO EAT THE NEW COMPOSER. ALSO A RABBIT. I HATE RABBITS.

I WAS JUST FILING MY TEETH USING THE REMAINS OF A BABY ROBOT WHEN I FIRST HEARD THE SCORE FOR THE NEW PORTAL. AS I WROTE IN MY REVIEW FOR THE DAILY URSUS:

The score was not only varied and layered, it also had a grace and depth that I can only describe as “adult” – quite unlike the adolescent, bombastic scores we hear so often these days. Even at its most triumphant, there is a note of melancholy that we bears know is part of all life.

SO I DID NOT EAT CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU. INSTEAD I BOUGHT THE SOUNDTRACK AND LISTENED TO IT AS I ATE A SUPPORTER OF SOMETHING CALLED THE GOLDEN DAWN. HE TASTED LIKE SHIT BUT THE SOUNDTRACK WAS WORTH IT.

Hello all,

Verena and I are leaving for Greece today, to sadly return on the 5th of July – but don’t worry, we’ll still read our emails and respond to questions and the like. I’m mainly posting this so you know that answers won’t be instantaneous in some cases. We badly need to take a break; the last few weeks have been really tough, with Verena’s accident and the cat getting sick and all. And before that we spent months working nonstop on The Sea Will Claim Everything until we were completely burned out.

Speaking of which, if you haven’t bought TSWCE yet, please do! Look at the reviews page (now including links to the new Adventure Gamers review and a lovely German review from Bildschirmsprünge) for reasons why. And if you have bought it and liked it, your help in speading the word would of course be hugely appreciated. It’s not easy to reach people when your game is so peculiar.

And don’t forget to check back here for new Compendium entries and an update from a bear.

– Jonas