The Sea Eternal
"The Sea Eternal" is an epic interactive fantasy novel by Lynnea Glasser, author of "Creatures Such as We" and "Coloratura," winner of the 2013 Interactive Fiction Competition and numerous XYZZY awards. Your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based--283,000 words, without graphics or sound effects--and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
The whales have granted the merfolk eternal life, and asked you for so little in return. Defense against the giant squid. Secrecy from humans. But when a rogue mermaid tries to destroy the gift of immortality, ancient secrets rise from the depths, and the delicate balance of society rests in your hands.
Will you fight to protect your immortality, or surrender it for a higher cause? Will you choose sides in the neverending war between the whales and the giant squid? Will your undying love save the City of Glass, or destroy it?
• Decide what being a hero means to you, with over 10 unique endings
• Choose your own mer-self, with multiple gender and orientation options available
• Play alongside similarly diverse characters
• Romance human visitors to the underwater city
• Earn the trust of nuanced characters
• Break their trust
• Pick up the pieces of your shattered relationships
Category : Role Playing
Reviews (26)
Maybe the book isn't my cup of tea, but I found that it can get a bit dull. The book has enough, even minimally, to keep going but not enough to fully engulf the reader and keep them invested and entertained. Note, I haven't read the rest of the book since anything after the first five chapters makes you pay. I don't think it's worth paying. And from other reviews, it just says the same.
The writing is evocative, even lovely in places, but that doesn't save The Sea Eternal from being mind numbingly dull. For a Choice Of game, it was bewilderingly devoid of agency while also being predictable and dense. I'll admit that I often felt very preached at during this experience. Diversity is what sold this game to me in the first place, and I was disappointed by how hamfisted and clumsy some of these very important issues were handled.
The story isn't bad of itself, but it's too short and the choices offers very little impact on the story or characters.
Slightly boring, but well written. However it is very short and has a horrible ending half with contradictions. Not worth purchasing even on sale. Only worth reading if it was ad supported or free.
This could've been a very good game, if you were allowed any agency. (Spoiler Alert) Right from the start, there's some very unsubtle signs that the whales are supposed to be the bad guys. I would've liked the option of hearing their side of the story and coming to my own conclusions.
Amazing. A creative masterpiece
Low entertainment value and basically shovelware for the writers political ideology and PC culture
I actually purchased this book. This story was outstanding. It has two factions going against each other and you can choose which faction to support which gives this excellent replayability. The characters are easy to remember and the plot was very good. This is actually one of the better choice books out there and the topic of mermaids is rare. Multiple endings as well so this has great replayability. Highly recommend.
I'll be brief and blunt. I only made it up to the point you met the other human (not the new human, the other one) and I was already bored. I didn't care about the characters we've met, not even the person you play as, to the point where I just... had to stop playing. Felt more like a chore then anything else. I can't recommend this. I'm sorry, I wish the author the best of luck with their writing.
Ah! I loved this so much! Then I reached the end of the free content 😭 biggest cliffhanger ever! Isn't adds enough though? I mean all the adds would amount up to the 5 dollars you have to spend to get the rest of the game right? I mean I could deal with ads every chapter knowing I get the whole story. Don't get me wrong though, I frekken love all Choice Of's work, I have most of your games and I remember playing Choice Of Vampire many years ago. You're very talented Choice Of, and I love it! Just please don't cliff hanger us 😭 Thank you for all your work!!
I actually like it and others in the series..just wish that you didn't have to pay to play the entire game.
The story could have been writin better. I found it kind of boring and the choices you have to chose from are not the greatest either. I will not be spending the $5.00 to get the rest of the story.
The game is nice and the story has a lot of potential, but the endings are rather poor. Not the pennies worth.
Chose any gender ,name, with so many different endings well worth buying the full game
THIS GAME IS GREAT AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH
Very bliase writing after the paid stop
This story has potential, but so much of it is unexplored. A lot of philosophical and social issues are raised. Which is good, but it tries to go through so many and tries to rush so quickly through the plot that the characters become one sided attempts to push the message and little else. There was so much that was unexplored, and the constant "what does this mean" or "is this wort it" without trying to give it much actual significance to the story felt too preachy
Overall the story was an exceptional idea. I've never heard or read a story remotely close to this. Lynnea Glasser won my heart with "Creatures Such as we." She has a knack for trying ideas that most writers would find challenging. I do wish her stories were longer because I could never get enough, however I appreciate the time and research that does go into her stories.
Just like creatures like us this is a game that has almost all the things I want from a good story. Only thing I wish for besides what was offered is for one to be able to write in pronouns manually just like with gender, and to be able to have non-monogamous relationships. I would have loved to get together with both my ex and the new human.
Probably one of the best text based games I've played. Overall it's of a very good quality but it could easily have been a little longer, as it sometimes felt a little rushed. Still a great game, and unlike others of the type there is replay value (although Metahuman is definitely a better game, in my opinion.)
The story kept building to something greater, but never really delivered. It had and explored a lot of interesting ideas, but it ended before the central plot as a whole could be realized. It's different from most other things I've read, so it might be worth your time and money just for that, but if you want a proper narrative experience, you won't find it here.
Has potential, but far-leftist and SJW propaganda was crowbarred into the story. The start of the story tackles concepts such as gender identity and racism (with an undercurrent that white people are racist). While these issues are important and need to be handled sensitively in real life, they don't fit in the setting of this story. This platform should be used as a form of entertainment, not to impose a political agenda onto the reader, especially if they are required to pay to unlock the whole story.
The story was very engaging and honestly, I feel like I might know myself a little bit better after playing it. It def pushed some of my "terrified by the notion of being trapped inside/losing my own mind" buttons pretty hard, but I think that's a pretty good indication of how good the writing and overall concept is.
Really, really stellar story. Great balance between moving the plot forward and engagement with ideas about the nature of life and other philosophical questions. Absolutely worth it to pay for the entire story. I've played through twice with drastically different storylines and will play through several more times. Well-done!
It's a nice game, but before much of the plot was developed it sort of just swooped in there and pushed in a bunch of about how "all Whites are racist" and "Whites can't change." I found it insulting! We're supposed to be trying to move past racism, but that won't happen if people keep accusing us of being racist! I'm sorry, I just couldn't get myself to read any more.
I feel cheated...it might not have been so bad if it had just been one of the free ones but this one costs money. The game doesn't allow for real choices, you are pushed to side with the humans even if you don't like them, pushed towards very specific ideologies, really, plus the story isn't developed enough to be intriguing. Many characters just felt in the way and the true lore is never explored. Utterly disappointing.