"We are all like islands, the philosopher said. Perhaps it's true. But I cannot help but remember an older saying, scratched on a cave wall somewhere by a long-forgotten prophet: in the end, the sea will claim everything."
The Sea Will Claim Everything is an Adventure Game with an emphasis on narrative, created by Jonas
and Verena Kyratzes and composed by Chris Christodoulou. After Underhome is foreclosed on and traumatised by government agents, The Mysterious Druid creates a portal to the Lands of Dream and asks the player to help heal Underhome and save it and its inhabitants. Along the way, the player becomes involved in the affairs of the local islands, which are sinking under debt and being bought and privatised by Lord Urizen.
TSWCE is an oddball that doesn't fit very well into existing video game genres. A personal, political, and philosophical work reflecting on the Greek government-debt crisis, TSWCE may be best described as a children's story book for adults.
Contains the following tropes:
- A Dog Named "Dog": Moddey Dhoo, "black puppy" in his language.
- Affectionate Parody: Of early Adventure Games.
- There are four verbs, three of them entirely superfluous, all of them adding Flavor Text. They are "poke", "sniff", "ingest", and "give to snobby mouse for evaluation".
- The infamous Pixel Hunt is playfully subverted. Details below under Pixel Hunt.
- Action Girl: Many of the soldiers on the Isle of the Stars.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
- EDDIE generally averts this, but also zigzags this for laughs.
"I say do as you please, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone. And if someone disagrees, murder them. (That was a joke.) (No it wasn't. I'm a killer AI.) (No I'm not.) (You would say that.)"- Subverted and then inverted by Primus.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Plants, fungi, and rocks.
- The Bartender: Oi Stagson, keeper of Oi's Inn.
- Brainwashed: Primus.
- Cast of Snowflakes: With the exception of the mayors.
- Continuity Nod: To other games set in the Lands of Dream.
- Books written by Raven Locks Smith from The Book of Living Magic can be found.
- Primus and Herr Schaedel, from The Book of Living Magic and The Fabulous Screech, respectively, make cameos .
- Squiggles from The Strange and Somewhat Sinister Tale of the House at Desert Bridge and The Fabulous Screech from The Fabulous Screech can be summoned via alchemy. They'll complain about you messing with the continuity, though.
- Books written by Raven Locks Smith from The Book of Living Magic
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: The new mayors of the Isles of the Moon, Sun, and Stars.
- Diegetic Interface
- Embarrassing First Name: Subverted. The, whose surname is Mysterious Druid (as in The Mysterious Druid), is quite proud of his name. His parents were interrupted by a natural disaster. They sacrificed their lives to save countless others.
- Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: The subnana.
- Flavor Text: Enough to fill an actual novel, since almost everything can be clicked.
- Fungus Humongous: Tree-sized mushrooms can be found on the Isle of the Moon.
- Funny Animal: Many characters.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Related to the Diegetic Interface and there being No Fourth Wall. You have to actually disable the graphics by flicking a switch on the left side of your portal to get through the Unspeakable Cave lest you go mad.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble
- Ghibli Hills
- Global Ship: Given to you by Captain Pelargos. You need a compass and a sextant before you can navigate, though.
- Heel–Face Turn: A centaur soldier on the Isle of the Sun if you reveal to him that the rulers of the islands are all the same and have been embezzling money from all off them.
- Interface Screw: Ingesting certain objects can cause your UI to turn blue, stony, or goth. Don't worry, the effects wear off after a while.
- Interspecies Romance: Druids with mutants, cats with dogs, and most scandalously of all, mushrooms with flowers.
- Jump Scare: Played for Laughs. One possible alchemy outcome, and happens whenever you enable the graphics in the Unspeakable Cave Cave.
- Magic Mushroom: Certain types of mushrooms are used in alchemical recipes.
- No Fourth Wall: The game window is actually a portal into the Lands of Dream.
- Organic Technology: Technodruid biotechnology.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Milish is a dragon that eats rocks. He's almost nine hundred years old, a child by his species' standards.
- Pixel Hunt: Playfully subverted. The player needs to find some fertiliser in a room full of boxes. The fertiliser isn't in any specific box—after clicking on a specific number of boxes, the player finally finds it and never has to look inside another box again. The subversion becomes obvious when the flavour text starts rhyming.
- Plot Coupon That Does Something: Tokens owned by the families who overthrew the almost-forgotten Timber Tyrant of the Isles. They're needed to access his tomb, which contains treasure that the islands can use to pay off their debts.
- Port Town: Port Darragh of the Isle of the Moon, Afthonia of the Isle of the Sun, and Sadaqah of the Isle of the Stars.
- Portal to the Past: Can be created via alchemy, though you can't step through it.
- Sapient House: Underhome.
- Sea Monster: One can be found on the world map and talked to once you get your Global Ship. It wants to explore the world.
- Scenery Porn
- Shifting Sand Land: The desert of the Isle of the Stars.
- Shout Outs: Quite a few. It might deserve its own page.
- One to Valve Software.
- Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: Level 5, almost perfect equality.
- Speech-Impaired Animal: Moddey Dhoo, the black puppy.
- Starfish Aliens: Katzensaeule, the caterpillar from the Beyond."Your customs are as peculiar to me as your lack of limbs. In particular I wonder about why you keep to one shape throughout your lives, changing only upon death."
- Utility Magic
- Wise Tree: Stavros, the philosopher.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: EDDIE the holographic AI. Minus his murderous tendencies.
- You ALL Look Familiar: The new mayors of the Isles of the Moon, Sun, and Stars. The only thing that distinguishes them from each other are their hats and glasses. They're all the same person.
- You No Take Candle: Moddey Dhoo."ai iz harbingerz of death."
