Colours are used sparingly and sprites are simple, but it’s this stylized look that makes the game so expressive and this world feel so full of life. The final piece of Burly Men at Sea ’s picture book approach is a gorgeous, minimalist art style. It is probably not a very good cave.’ Elsewhere, on another adventure: “OR MAYBE I WILL FETCH THREE! Rumbling happily to itself, the geological oddity thunders away.” This,’ he continues, ‘is a cave I have found. ‘One does not simply sail into the afterlife. It’s penned in a third-person prose that you don’t often see in games, allowing for particularly vivid storytelling that’s irreverently charming. In fact, start to finish, Burly Men at Sea is a lovely, funny game from start to finish, thanks in no small part to excellent writing.
Folks will remember meeting you on previous adventures, too, leading to some lovely, often funny moments. When you pick a path you’ve taken previously, a more concise and slightly different version of that event will play out. When you get to the end, you’ll find your way back to the village again, ready to set off on a new adventure.īurly Men at Sea elegantly avoids the common visual novel problem of having to skip through scenes you’ve already seen to get to the branches you haven’t followed yet. You’ll encounter mermaids, dragons, nymphs, maelstroms, and benevolent seals, among other weird and wonderful creatures. You may run into a golem-like giant made of rock who, like a well-meaning dog with no awareness of his surroundings, insists on bringing you “flowers” that are actually uprooted trees. The adventures themselves are varied and utterly delightful. Like I said, it’s a picture book in video game form. It’s a structure that’s perfect for playing just before going to bed, or to just take a break from the world for a bit and get lost in an adventure. A simple branching narrative structure leads to 12 different possible adventures, each taking half an hour or so to run through. I say “first adventure” because Burly Men at Sea is a game made for repeated playthroughs, each designed to be played in a single sitting. On my first adventure, my beards escaped through the whale’s blowhole, found themselves held captive by a masked assailant after losing a race, and then fled into the night when he wasn’t looking, before finally winding up back in the little fishing village I’d departed from. Soon after setting sail they’re swallowed, boat and all, by a giant whale, and what happens after that is up to you. It’s a wonderful thing.īased loosely on Scandinavian folklore, Burly Men at Sea follows the adventures of three beardly fishermen: Brave Beard, Hasty Beard, and Steady Beard – as they set off into the unknown seas in search of adventure. It’s a game you can play just before going to bed to lull you into a peaceful sleep with dreams full of adventure.
Rather, I mean that it quite brilliantly captures the calm, simple sense of wonderment found in the likes of Where the Wild Things Are and the works of Dr Seuss. I don’t mean that it’s a visual novel, in the sense of a mechanics-derived game genre – though I guess it is that, too. Burly Men at Sea is a picture book in video game form.
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