# The Sea Eternal — user reviews > 43 indexed App Store user reviews of The Sea Eternal by Choice of Games LLC, rated 3.80/5 from 37 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-sea-eternal/id1086172057/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-sea-eternal/id1086172057.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 20 · 4★ 6 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 6 · 1★ 5 ## Newest reviews (10 of 43) ### 3/5 — Good *2018-05-27* This was really fun and enjoyable and was quite sad to only get 5 free chapters but over all was extremely enticing ### 4/5 — It’s almost perfect 👍 *2018-04-25* The game informed me that to buy it was $5:99, but when I attempted to pay, the price changed to $9:99. Otherwise, this game has a great storyline and is one of the very few that I actually wanted to pay for. I can’t wait to finish the current story and I'm really excited to try out all the different endings. ### 4/5 — this review probably has spoilers but *2017-12-30* i don’t really see the problem some people had with the diversity? i mean, Tamru being black and Faye being trans just made the story more inclusive and, no, the author wasn’t shoving their political views down your throats. for me, the idea that Tamru was getting hate when he was human for being black just showed how long he had been an immortal for. the ending i got was that Tamru and i went back to the land. it was such a sweet ending that i couldn’t bring myself to replay to see each different ending (but i probably will later). it felt short for me but that was most likely because there was so much else that i skipped to achieve this ending. thank you, author, for writing this. i really enjoyed it. ### 3/5 — Maybe, possibly, could be... *2017-02-23, version 1.0.0* Maybe this story could have been better if it was more fully developed in its descriptive text, and character development. Possibly the sorry could have benefitted from more meaningful and interesting choices. Many options did not seem to change the story much or in meaningful ways. It could be that mermaids just are not my thing but this story didn't really make me care. I wasn't pulled in. I struggled to play it a second time around. ### 5/5 — A work of art *2016-10-10* While a lot of Choice of Games games are fun and entertaining examples of genre fiction, The Sea Eternal stands above them as real literature. The game challenges the reader with questions of morality, identity, obligation, and change. Unlike a few other reviewers, I don't think the themes of race and gender were shoehorned in at all, but actually served to reinforce the themes of identity and transition. (For example, there's a pretty strong parallel between moving from human society to merperson society and transitioning from one gender to another.) If you don't want to grapple with these issues as a reader, I cannot recommend this game to you ... but I am going to tell you that you're missing out on something wonderful. ### 5/5 — Loved The Sea Eternal *2016-08-20* After playing Creatures Such as We, I found myself looking for more story-based games to play. I am indifferent to the theme of merfolk in general, but I decided to try this since this was written by the same author as CSW. I found myself loving this story way more than I did the former. I paid for the upgrade and ended up playing through it 3 different times. I want to thank everyone involved, especially Lynnea Glasser, in the making of this beautiful game. ### 2/5 — Racial Turn-Off *2016-08-04* As a black female, I found the emphasis on race as a concern for humans to be a huge turn off in this story, as many other readers have. The introduction of Tamru, for example: Why does the story get to decide his racial attributes for me? I had already created a mental image of a fair-complected Tamru in my mind before his character was introduced, and the sudden declaration of his race (and concern that Flynn would harbor prejudice against him because of it) was a huge turn-off for me (in addition to his character coming off as a thin-skinned whiner). So far, the story intrigues me, and I will continue reading as far as I'm able, but this one extraneous detail was quite off putting in my enjoyment of this game--so much so that I had to take a pause in my reading to write this review. I fear that I will encounter more moments of in-your-face "social justice" in future chapters. In truth, I would prefer to enjoy this story for the work of fantasy FICTION that it is and not be reminded of the unfortunate woes of real life meanwhile. ### 3/5 — These whales tho 🐋 *2016-07-24, version 1.0.0* Overall I found this Choice Of game enjoyable. I wish you could get to know more about these characters and the world, the game's too short to get that all in. Maybe the ending was left kind of open to allow the possibility for a sequel but who knows. Overall I think this game is average! Also eff these whales tho 🐋🐋 ### 4/5 — Good but Unfocused *2016-07-21, version 1.0.0* The story was well written, and the emphasis on gender/racial equality was good. I'm glad they addressed the issue in a setting that is so beautiful and rich. The game did try to tackle many issues at once; perhaps it would have been better had it chosen one topic to discuss and explore. Overall, I thought it was a good read despite the many philosophical issues it presented to its reader. ### 3/5 — Good but... *2016-06-16, version 1.0.0* It's trying way to hard to be pc And a lot of it did not even need to be mentioned in the story would have been better if it kept political things out of the story ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — CoG is starting to disappoint. *2017-10-13* After years of some cool games, it seems as though CoG’s once benign gender neutral policy for its stories is morphing into something malignant. This story felt like a screed on the author’s own sociopolitical views. The politics were unavoidable but what was far worse was that the story was just bad. Give it a pass. Check out Choice of Robots, Alexandria, or Choice by Gaslight for stories that have a sociopolitical view...but tell a good story along the way. ### 1/5 — I Really Wanted to Like It, But. . . *2017-08-26* I really wanted to like this game as it had a very intriguing premise, but it really gets too bogged down in being an author filibuster with their "message". This game is called a "choice" game for a reason, but there were many situations wherein I was unable to express my real feelings (and therefore 'choice') on how to respond to a matter, which quickly destroyed any sense of immersion this game had for me. I get it, the author wanted to tackle racial/gender/etc. matters in this game, but it came through in such a ham-fisted manner that this ended up reading less like an interactive story and more like a railroaded author tract. ### 1/5 — Disappointed *2017-08-18* Total in app purchases: rest of the game $9.99 AKA the whole game is $9.99. Downloading this just downloads the description and the link to buy the story!! ### 1/5 — Not what I paid for *2017-04-19, version 1.0.0* The first 5 teaser chapters offer a promising storyline and premise and lure you into a purchasing a Choice of Game product that, for the first time ever, did not deliver. There is no adventure, no solid character development, sloppy story line, flimsy premise, and a forgettable cast. What starts off as an interesting look on world of the immortal merfolk and their oppression turns into a gender educating, slightly racist and vaguely offending, genuinely uninteresting text based bore. Don't waste your money. ### 1/5 — Adds for days *2017-04-10, version 1.0.0* This app is free... until you have to buy it. With adds around every corner. ### 2/5 — I had high hopes... *2019-10-11* The game started off fantastic, really. I was excited how the rest would go. But then (SPOILER ALERT) once the player’s first love interest turns into a merperson, it’s all downhill from there. You feel like you don’t even have a say in what direction the story goes anymore! Then there’s the ending. Way. Too. Sudden. It just rushes into the conclusion, which is super dissatisfying by the way. Come on guys, you can do better than this! ### 2/5 — The ending is not what I played this for *2019-05-01* The ending doesn’t hold you accountable for any of your actions and made me feel bored with the story because it was all leading up to something too short. I played multiple times but never felt satisfied with any ending. My hope was that the author was working on part two or something but nope ### 2/5 — Treally subpar *2018-08-17* I support LGBTQ and am someone of color but this story pushes it so much that I instantly got bored. The choices are forced and it gives the average reader no real “choice”. It’s for a very niche group of people and I do not recommend this game at all. It was exciting at first, but quickly became a load of hogwash. ### 2/5 — Not worth $5.99 *2017-06-10* Disappointed. No real choice or opinion in the game, just what the author wants to cram down your throat. Not worth $5.99. ### 2/5 — Ending was a let-down *2017-04-13* I read this story and I was enjoying it so far, because of the mermaid adventure thing going on. I understand that the readers are all different and that's why you can choose to be female, male, straight, gay, etc. It's just that the story and characters focused a lot on it, even if it didn't really affect the plot. And (spoiler) when Flynn says he wants to be a 'she', and then it ends up happening, it was out of the blue, and pretty much ruined the story for me. All the characters just went with it (which is not realistic in the least). I respect those people, but when it's in the story and is just forcing me to go along with it, pushing the equality for that, it ruined the story and now I regret spending money to read the chapters. Since it makes you pay to read everything after chapter 5. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — i love this so much *2021-10-12* this was probably the first time a 1 star review made me want to download a game. seeing how some people were annoyed by the "forced sociopolitical agendas" or whatever i immediately knew i needed to read the story and oh boy i was not disappointed. as a non-binary individual it is so incredibly rare to see representation of myself anywhere in games or have the option to chose a non-binary character. thank you so much for giving me that option here. on top of all that the story line and writing are genuinely incredible and absolutely worth buying the full version. the only thing i wish i had was artwork to go with the story. ### 5/5 — A is for *2019-06-23* Amazing ### 5/5 — Wonderful *2018-07-05* Nice little journey :) ### 5/5 — Amazing! *2018-06-23* Just as "Creatures Such as We" this game delivers a philosophical and emotional experience that its difficult to match. ### 5/5 — Love it! *2018-06-02* I am a long long time fan of these games. I’m also transgender. I almost never find trans people in games when I specifically look for them, let alone stumble upon them. Everyone saying it is bad probably has an agenda :/ ### 5/5 — Really liking it *2018-01-19* A lot of the bad reviews are conflating "has any characters who are trans/queer/a poc" with "shoving politics down our throats." It's really good and well written and worth spending some time and money on!! ### 5/5 — Heart wrenching *2017-03-07* This story is a heart stopper from beginning to end. I love the non-stop pressure (as weird as that sounds) of choice, as your choice effects the story tremendously. I especially was ecstatic at how forward the racial and social issues were addressed, not beating around the bush. I did see how some people were upset over Tamru being black, though, I enjoyed the diversity. (As literally, the merfolk are blue. So what should the skin tone of a human matter?) I even loved the gender acceptance, and how real it felt with Faye, and how Tephra was heavily unaccepting of her choices, as this happens in life with these situations. Completely real. Completely forward. I'm in love. SPOILER Another thing I loved was the crushing fear and hopelessness I felt as the game ended with no one remembering a thing. I felt my throat knot up as I hit that "End" button, knowing the Merfolk would never get their memories back. I'm determined for a more righteous ending. SPOILER OVER The only bad thing I will say, is the unforgiving choices. As in, there is no way to try to go back a chapter and fix things, instead of playing through 3+ hours of reading/gameplay. Despite this, I will still play again, and again, searching out every possible ending, hoping to save the Merfolk and their memories. ### 5/5 — One of the better stories *2017-02-04* This game is rather short, but with plenty of replay value to go in a different direction. It has an interesting script that is better than many, just like the Heroes Rise and eerie estate agent stories. I played free until Chapter 4 and for once, was eager to see what came next, instead of being bored. I hope this author keeps writing. Recommended. ### 5/5 — Absorbing *2016-11-25* I got properly involved in the storyline. I cared about the world and the characters. The decisions and choices you get to make are often complex and carry quite a lot of weight to the characters. and morally / emotionally / . the choices feel meaningful. It really made me think carefully. I love the way it gave me a space to think about things in my own life as a human on earth. Although it's a fantasy story, it felt very relevant (but of course there isn't such a contrast between fantasy and relevance to our world !). I want to play it again now. I have enjoyed the works by this author very much :)! ### 5/5 — Wonderful *2016-10-26, version 1.0.0* You'll be playing this for hours! If you love text games with multiple endings this is for you! Great story! 10/10 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-19.*