NetEase's next flagship is slowly setting sail

And what best exemplifies the uniqueness of *The Sea of Forgetfulness* is none other than the entire Otopia Sea itself. The development team has essentially rebuilt the structure of the open-world experience from the ground up—and this is precisely what tends to turn some players off while keeping others hooked.For example, in response to the current issues of mobile games burning through content too quickly and having excessively long lulls, roguelike mechanics offer a different approach—if the fun of building a deck within a single playthrough is worth repeating, players are less likely to get bored; opening up new regions is no longer the only way to provide long-term updates, as the game has many other ways to deliver incremental fun to players.This coherent design philosophy is precisely why I have higher expectations for the future performance of *The Forgotten Sea* than its current standing. Once players who stick around enter this virtuous cycle, they’ll naturally find themselves hooked.Therefore, I still believe that the future performance and reputation of *The Forgotten Sea* will rebound—and eventually reach new heights—as players gradually absorb the early content, more players progress to the mid-to-late game, and players develop a deeper understanding of the game. Many new games that have surged into the top ranks in recent years have followed a similar trajectory.

It has been two days since NetEase’s *Sea of Forgetfulness* entered open beta on mobile. Amid the heated discussions surrounding this game, the lack of consensus has become the biggest point of agreement within the community.

You may be like me—seeing countless opinions amid the chatter: for example, regarding the same art style, some people find it distinctive and of high quality, while others complain that they “just can’t get used to it”;Some complain that *Sea of Forgetfulness* is too grindy and exhausting—they’ve “had enough”—while others relish it, finding the grinding incredibly satisfying, especially since the experience in the second and third playthroughs has cured their “digital impotence”;Schadenfreude-driven observers are watching the sales charts closely, eager to see how NetEase will “go up in smoke” this time, but many others see the bigger picture—they believe this is a rare instance where NetEase is challenging itself to accomplish something inherently difficult.

No matter how many complex emotions and differences in personal preferences these discussions may involve—the fact that they’ve brought so many people together to engage in lively conversation speaks volumes about the many qualities of this product.As of this writing, *Sea of Forgetfulness* remains firmly in first place on the iOS Free Chart, having previously topped the trending charts on TapTap and Bilibili. All of this demonstrates that the majority of people have an extraordinary interest in this game.

The source of this interest lies in some of the highly unusual qualities of *The Sea of Forgetfulness*. As I’ve repeatedly mentioned in my reports on previous beta tests, *The Sea of Forgetfulness* is a game that dares to be different; in many ways, it actively seeks change and innovation. This is also the source of many conflicting and complex emotions.

Many people are drawn to it and love it precisely because they appreciate *Sea of Forgetfulness*’s unique style and atmosphere, as well as its distinctive features—such as the vast ocean world and its “search, fight, and retreat” (roguelike) mechanics—and believe it offers a fresh take on the intense open-world “arms race” of recent years.Some even believe that *The Sea of Forgetfulness* has the potential to break the vicious cycle where “games keep getting bigger in scale, yet gameplay design becomes increasingly conservative due to budget constraints.”

On the other hand, however, some expected friction does arise: the habits and expectations of flow cultivated by past second-tier and open-world games are too deeply ingrained, yet they aren’t entirely compatible with *The Sea of Forgetfulness*. In such cases, innovation becomes a real learning curve for players and tangibly affects the initial enjoyment of the game for some.

However, the brief duration of the open beta alone is not enough for players to form new expectations and unlock the full potential of the game’s mechanics. This is why I believe that the true moment to evaluate *The Forgotten Sea* has not yet arrived—it is not during the open beta.

Judging from past interviews, the project team clearly anticipated this “slow start.”For example, when the community became increasingly vocal with a variety of concerns, the *Sea of Forgetfulness* project team not only prioritized the issues raised by players in their development and optimization schedule but also used “Letters from the Project Team” to reassure everyone that future update plans would proceed as usual, and that scheduled collaborations and events would move forward according to the timeline.There was no panic, chaos, or operational missteps caused by pressure.

This makes me feel like the *Sea of Forgetfulness* project team is a bit like the band Blue Wave in the game and their rock music—they just go all out without a care in the world, leaving everything else behind to deliver the performance they want to present.

Then let time add the finishing touch.

01

Breaking the Linearity of the World

A key factor contributing to the homogenization of traditional open-world games is that the exploration experience has become relatively formulaic. Whether in single-player games like *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* or other open-world titles, the process is similar: you start from your spawn point, face a map shrouded in mist, and gradually unlock areas;then quickly clear out the area, complete quests, turn the unknown into the known, and finally put the game away or let it gather dust. Players are already very familiar with this entire process.

But *The Sea of Forgetfulness* is different. The developers aren’t aiming to create a linear adventure with a definitive ending, but rather a spiraling, evolving experience.The game’s core loop draws inspiration from the “roguelike” genre: players repeatedly set sail and return through the “set sail—explore—level up—withdraw” cycle. As in-game gear and out-of-game progression accumulate, they gradually experience an increasingly addictive sense of satisfaction from their growth.

For example, within a game, defeating specific bosses or monsters can reward players with items and the chance to choose one of three class skills; players can level up and change classes after meeting specific conditions; and learning a “ship’s song” unlocks new characters and skill traits. Together, these systems form a comprehensive in-game customization system.

Items such as treasures, Prayer Stones, and ship nails that players obtain while exploring in-game can be taken out of the game and used for permanent progression, such as “Brain Enhancement” or ship upgrades.As the Golden Fruit’s level increases, more high-level gear with rare attributes will drop in-game, making the level-clearing experience richer and more satisfying—rewards from in-game exploration feed back into out-of-game progression, which in turn reduces the grind and lowers the entry barrier for in-game play.This creates a snowballing virtuous cycle.

The difference is that in "Meat Pigeon" games, players have certain expectations regarding this entire late-game progression.

Take *Hades* as an example: Zagros starts with only one basic attack and two skills, but players don’t feel bored or frustrated because they can’t beat the game. That’s because everyone can guess from their experience with roguelike games that, later on, they’ll be able to upgrade the Mirror of the Night to unlock talents.But when it comes to an open-world framework, this set of expectations needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

However, even setting that issue aside, the gameplay in *Sea of Forgetfulness* still deserves to be called “ingenious.” This is not only because it’s the first game to truly fuse the open-world genre with roguelike elements, but also because this fusion happens to address some of the very real challenges currently facing the open-world genre.

Take, for example, the topic of gacha monetization, which continues to spark heated discussions among players—the problems with the traditional model are plain to see: the frustration caused by unbalanced gacha pools, the lack of access for free-to-play players, and so on.

*Sea of Forgetfulness* ties its multi-playthrough loop mechanics to gacha monetization: Every week a player completes a playthrough, they can draw a Black Ticket crew member (SSR) for free, with a 50% chance of drawing an SSR and a guaranteed SSR every three weeks.This effectively provides a buffer for the traditional character gacha pool while also giving players a goal and incentive to engage with the roguelike’s replayability.

Players who started playing the PC version half a month ago, after half a month of “research,” have already uncovered quite a few strategies, such as the “Nuke” build and the “DoT” build:Whether SR or SSR crew members, as long as they’re paired with the right team composition and undergo in-game class changes, they can deliver performance far beyond what was possible in the early game—even sweeping through high-difficulty Nightmare stages. Mobile players, however, will need some time to level up their characters before they can experience this level of fun.

The content of *Sea of Forgetfulness* is rich and deep, and players will gradually uncover it as they play through the game over the long term.In addition to the island’s numerous side quests and countless mini-games, if you perform actions like “sacking the city” in the capital of Utopia, there’s even a very slim chance of triggering a hidden “crash” Easter egg—where even the in-game purchase portal is confiscated in a “breaking the fourth wall” manner,leaving players with no choice but to contact customer service to roll back their progress.

Content related to this has already begun to emerge within the community and is being shared organically by players. These days, a common sentiment in player reviews is: “It would be great if *Sea of Forgotten* were a single-player game.”This actually reflects players’ high regard for the core experience of *Sea of Forgetfulness*. Coupled with the enhanced gameplay experience in the second and third playthroughs, it demonstrates that high-quality content and gameplay—the very elements that define the game’s core—will always shine through.

They just need more time and space to allow more chemical reactions to take place.

02

Connecting Players and the Times Through the Ocean

In addition to waiting for players to spontaneously explore and discover the game’s appeal, we can also see that the official team behind *The Forgotten Sea* is actively accelerating this process. They are no doubt aware that creating a new gameplay experience with no precedents to draw upon inevitably requires a period of adjustment. In response to feedback from players, the project team has been actively addressing and making adjustments.

Since the PC open beta began, there have been several server downtime updates. They also maintain a special open beta column called “Letters from the Project Team,” with each post running several thousand characters long.

There isn’t much emotional appeal or “playing the victim”—instead, the focus is on listing the issues raised by players exactly as they are, then responding to each one individually. Everything is laid out clearly, from solutions and implementation difficulty to specific release dates.Without evasion or concealment, the team firmly addresses the feedback players provide and gradually polishes away any rough edges that might detract from the experience.

The back-and-forth surrounding the “Choose One of Six Black Vouchers” incident is a prime example—the in-game mechanic where new players could select a crew member using a Black Voucher appeared too early, causing players’ selections to potentially overlap with the guaranteed rewards from the newbie pool, which significantly limited their options for building teams in the early game. This caused quite a stir in the community for a while.

But before long, the project team offered a solution in a letter: they would immediately modify the core gameplay logic to provide an option that allows players to keep their selected crew members indefinitely; they also promised to introduce a feature in the future that would let players who had already selected crew members revert their choices; subsequently, they rolled out an additional server-wide bonus, giving players a "Black Voucher: Choose 1 of 6 Crew Members" gift box.With that investment in place, public opinion turned around almost instantly.

As for the issues players raised early on—such as how difficult it was to obtain Big Face Coins and how lengthy the character progression chain was—the developers have added new ways to obtain Seashells, lowered the level-up requirements for Golden Fruits, and reduced the number of tags needed for class changes…They’ve also been quite generous with open beta rewards: throughout the entire S1 season, players can earn rewards totaling up to 450 draws, as well as a *Identity V* collaboration profile frame, free costumes, and more.

The list of similar adjustments continues to grow as the open beta progresses.

If you’ve been following the developments surrounding *The Sea of Forgetfulness* throughout July, you’ll have noticed that this series of moves has actually served as a turning point in the game’s reputation. Although there’s still some debate among players about whether *The Sea of Forgetfulness* is actually fun to play, very few people now question the development team’s commitment.The official account’s “Hardworking Mouse” character has largely solidified its image.

This is actually why I have even more confidence in the future performance of *The Forgotten Sea*—in an era where long-term sustainability is key, *The Forgotten Sea* has demonstrated its depth and substance.Whether it’s player communication, agile iteration, or long-term operations—these “fundamental skills” that are the hardest to master—*The Forgotten Sea* has executed them solidly, ensuring that its core player base remains firmly in place.

Furthermore, we can see that with this open beta, *The Forgotten Sea* has also created a number of impressive cross-cultural collaborations.They teamed up with Alan Walker to create an electronic-style game theme song featuring Stephy Chang; collaborated with comic artist Ashley Wood to introduce crossover characters, highlighting the game’s trendy DNA; and partnered with *SpongeBob SquarePants* to bring Krabby Patty into the game.

These moves sparked extensive discussion during both open beta tests for the PC and mobile versions, propelling *The Forgotten Sea* into the public spotlight with its distinctive style—this ability to break through niche boundaries and create buzz will not be easily forgotten, and it will continue to prove its power in future updates.

If you can drive new player acquisition and player retention, and maintain the retention of your core players, you’ve essentially addressed the most fundamental challenge of F2P games.

What’s more, this game has already established a strong sense of identity for itself: from its one-of-a-kind puppet-style art to the open-world events that evoke a sense of gentle intoxication, people have already come to recognize the distinctive name *The Forgotten Sea*.

Once you’ve mastered the most difficult part—capturing people’s minds—and taken that first step onto the poker table, there will be plenty of opportunities for future success.

Conclusion

As for *The Sea of Forgetfulness*, it has a solid foundation of game content; the team behind it has weathered market cycles and navigated the ups and downs of the industry, and is well-equipped to channel those experiences into the fuel needed to move forward.

This flagship will eventually set sail on a long voyage.