PS5

Sword of the Sea

AdventureIndie

Time to beat: about 2.8 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Sword of the Sea is a 2025 adventure video game developed and published by Giant Squid. In it, the player assumes control of a character named Wraith, who rides on a "hoversword" to restore life to a barren wasteland. The game released on PlayStation 5 and Windows on August 19, 2025. Versions for Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S released on October 29, 2026 published by Fictions. It received generally positive reviews upon release.

In Sword of the Sea, the player assumes control of a Wraith, who explores an abandoned, desolate world and seeks to bring life back to it. The Wraith explores the world with a hoversword, which combines parts of a snowboard, a skateboard, and a hoverboard into one. As the player explores the world, they will collect Ocean Seeds, which upon collecting, will bring back water to the desert wasteland. Returning the ocean to the world provides new opportunities for surfing, and the returning marine life opens up paths for exploration. The player can find Tetra, and donate them to vendors to unlock hoversword tricks.

Sword of the Sea was developed by Giant Squid, the studio behind Abzû and The Pathless. The game was directed by Matt Nava, who worked as the art director of Journey, a game also set in a desert. Nava decided to return to a desert landscape for Sword of the Sea because he felt he had many ideas that were not used in Journey. As with Journey, Sword of the Sea has no dialogue, and its storytelling relies on its visuals and music. Giant Squid unveiled Sword of the Sea in May 2023, and released on Windows and PlayStation 5 on August 19, 2025.

Sword of the Sea received "generally favorable" reviews on review aggregator Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received "mighty" approval, being recommended by 96% of critics.