Charge up a jump and then complete sick tricks with a few quick inputs, or unleash a bubble of sonic energy to smash nearby vases, uncovering bits of currency in the shattered pieces. The protagonist moves in whatever direction you push, stopping immediately when you let go of the analog stick. There are giant chains to grind, a hover ability in some areas, and half pipes generously positioned around the environments. Control prompts pop up when you\u2019re first introduced to an ability, but the text fades quickly and you\u2019re left alone in the desert. There are no waypoints in Sword of the Sea<\/em>, but the environment tells a clear story, inviting you to solve puzzles in the mysterious temples dotting the landscape. Find glowing orbs on the rooftops and hidden down secret passageways to unlock the buildings\u2019 secrets, opening up new areas.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n I played about 20 minutes of Sword of the Sea<\/em> at Summer Game Fest, but I wanted to surf its dunes for a lot longer. It\u2019s the kind of game that makes the real world fade away, no matter how chaotic or intrusive your immediate surroundings are. It\u2019s built on rhythm and vibes, and it encourages a meditative flow state from its first frames. Learn the controls and then forget them; play with pure intuition and it\u2019ll most likely be the right move.<\/p>\n \u201cThe game is about surfing, and it's really about the process of learning to surf and getting comfortable with surfing, and then trying things that are a little bit beyond your abilities, failing, and then figuring it out and actually accomplishing them,\u201d Sword of the Sea creator Matt Nava told Engadget on the SGF show floor. \u201cAnd in the process, you kind of realize that surfing is all about harnessing the power of something greater than yourself. You\u2019re not paddling \u2014 the waves carry you. The zoomed out camera, the little character; in a lot of games, they're right on the character, because the character is the focus. But in this game, it's about how the character is a part of the environment, that is the focus. And I think that's a constant in a lot of the games that we've made.\u201d<\/p>\n Nava is the creative director and co-founder of Giant Squid, the studio behind Abz\u00fb<\/em><\/a> and The Pathless<\/em>. Even with these two successful games under his belt, Nava is still best known as the art director of Journey<\/em>, thatgamecompany\u2019s pivotal multiplayer experience that hit PlayStation 3 in 2012. Nava has spent the past decade attempting to build explicitly non-Journey<\/em>-like games with Giant Squid, and while Abz\u00fb<\/em> and The Pathless<\/em> both have his distinctive visual stamp, they\u2019re the opposite of Journey<\/em> in many ways. Where Journey<\/em> was set in a dry, desert landscape, Nava\u2019s follow-up, Abz\u00fb<\/em>, took place in an underwater world. After that, The Pathless<\/em> was mostly green, rather than dusty orange.<\/p>\n With Sword of the Sea<\/em>, Nava let go. He dropped all preconceptions of what he should be making and mentally said fuck it<\/em>. He finally allowed himself to manifest the game that came naturally to him.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this game, it's very much taking on, accepting and proclaiming that this is me,\u201d Nava said. \u201cI did Journey<\/em>. I'm doing orange again. And I'm going back to the desert because I have way more ideas that we couldn't do in that game \u2026 It\u2019s like I\u2019ve been living in my own shadow for a long time in a weird way. It's like, why am I doing that? I should just be who I am and continue to explore the art that is my art.\u201d<\/p>\n Sword of the Sea<\/em> is a specific and special game, and even though it\u2019s set in an orange desert, it doesn't feel like Journey<\/em>. The game also includes music by Austin Wintory<\/a>, the Grammy-nominated composer behind Journey<\/em>, Abz\u00fb<\/em> and The Pathless<\/em>. Together, Nava and Wintory form a formidable foundation.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of video game scores, they just make a music track for the area,\u201d Nava said. \u201cIf you're in the town, you hear town music, and then it just repeats. But that's not how it works here. The music advances as your story advances, it reflects where you<\/em> are on your surfing adventure, what you're learning how, how far your character has gone on this character arc. And so that's where the music of a video game<\/a> like ours should be.\u201d<\/p>\n As Nava and I chatted, someone sat down to play Sword of the Sea <\/em>on a nearby screen, and when I glanced up, I saw that they were gliding through an area I didn't find in my runthrough. A giant animal skeleton was half-buried in the sand, bright white vertebrae dotted with gold gems for the player to collect. There are a lot of secrets in Sword of the Sea<\/em>, Nava assured me. The best way to find them is to just let go and play.<\/p>\n Sword of the Sea<\/em> is due to hit PlayStation 5<\/a>, Steam<\/a> and the Epic Games Store<\/a> on August 19.<\/p>\n