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Joker Studio, the team behind Identity V, is charting new waters with Sea of Remnants. The game’s playable preview reveals a project that shares its predecessor’s distinctive style but ventures into different thematic territory. Instead of horror and suspense, this adventure combines absurd humor with thoughtful storytelling, built around pirates whose memories fade like magenta liquid into the sea. Here’s what the preview has shown so far about this unusual voyage.
Sea of Remnants takes an unexpected approach to its pirate setting. The characters exist as puppet-like beings whose memories constantly drain away, represented by magenta liquid flowing from their minds. Rather than creating an existential crisis, this memory loss becomes the driving force behind their journeys. The development team explains that these pirates don’t question who they are—they simply live in the moment without overthinking.
The game operates on a loop structure. Pirates sail to the edge of the sea, discover the truth, choose to forget, and set out again. This cycle creates a narrative that feels both light and surprisingly deep, mixing romanticism with philosophical undertones in a way that sets it apart from typical pirate adventures.
Two Worlds to Explore
The game splits its open-world design between Pirate City and the ocean itself, giving players distinct experiences in each location. Pirate City serves as the game’s social hub, and the team has invested heavily in making it feel alive. The city contains 400 named pirate NPCs, each with their own backstory and daily schedule. Thousands of additional background characters fill the streets. Walking through the city means witnessing natural conversations, watching characters go about their routines, and discovering small details that make each NPC feel distinct. The entire space functions like a living puppet theater, packed with personality and charm.
The ocean world contrasts sharply with the city’s intimacy. Development started four years ago, and the team has continuously expanded the scale of islands throughout production. Each sea region offers different things to discover. The preview only covered a small portion of the ocean content, but the island layouts, environmental variety, and event design demonstrate that the team has filled this space with purpose rather than creating emptiness for the sake of size.
Exploration That Respects Your Time
One of the preview’s strengths is how it handles pacing. The game doesn’t throw dozens of early quests at players or demand mastery of every system immediately. Instead, it lets players get comfortable with the world naturally. In the city, you can search for treasure, talk to NPCs, visit shops, or try minigames. On islands, there are resources to gather, creatures to fight, quests to complete, and random events to encounter. The rhythm stays relaxed without becoming boring or overwhelming.
The minigames deserve special mention for their quality. Options include Sichuan Mahjong, rhythm games, beer races, Snakes and Ladders, and rock-paper-scissors card games. Each one receives proper attention—Mahjong flows smoothly from dice roll through drawing and claiming tiles, while the rhythm games carry a clear Rhythm Tengoku influence. Even the beer-racing challenges turn out to be genuinely entertaining. Importantly, these activities are optional with no penalties for skipping them, making them fun diversions rather than mandatory tasks.
Combat on Land and Sea
Sea of Remnants uses two separate combat systems depending on where you’re fighting. Land combat relies on a turn-based system organized by speed, without complex action points or stat overload. Characters have basic attacks, skills, and ultimate abilities, keeping the foundation straightforward. However, depth emerges as characters level up. Players can learn various Shanties—buffs with multiple tags—that unlock new class paths when certain conditions are met. This system lets you develop the same character in completely different directions, whether as a tank, damage dealer, or support role, providing flexibility in team building.
The dice mechanic adds a signature pirate flavor to battles. Each action generates enhancement points that you can spend to roll enhancement dice. When enemies expose weaknesses or have vulnerable attributes, your dice roll matters. Higher rolls strengthen attacks and can grant extra actions. The dice system also appears during exploration—if you attack an enemy first, a dice roll determines whether your entire party delivers a pre-emptive strike before combat officially begins, giving you an early advantage.
The dice-based comeback moments create genuine tension and excitement, similar to gambling in a pirate den. This mechanic injects unpredictability into combat, making even routine encounters feel dramatic and full of potential.
Naval combat takes up less of the overall gameplay but delivers high engagement. You control ship movement, maintain your course, and aim cannon fire simultaneously, creating an active challenge. The preview didn’t include large boss fights, but the team showed later content featuring a small ship against a massive sea monster. The waves, shadows, roars, and screen shake all contribute to making the encounter feel epic and exciting.
First Impressions
Based on what the preview reveals, Sea of Remnants stands out through its approach rather than its scale. The game doesn’t sell itself on map size or system complexity. Instead, it creates a world where puppets, memories, and sea breeze combine into something distinctive. The comfortable exploration, genuinely fun minigames, unique combat mechanics, engaging naval battles, and narrative that mixes romanticism with cyclical mystery give the game its own identity. If the full release maintains this level of quality, Sea of Remnants could become the kind of game players return to repeatedly, ready to forget and sail again.
