Analgesic pioneered their style with this game. Sure, Anodyne before it was very unique but Even the Ocean defined the studio with its maritime colour palette, foreboding atmosphere, and humanistic storytelling. Even the Ocean's narrative contrasts the surreal and fantastic with the unassumingly human. The characters interact with amazing things and concepts but still come off extremely human.

The gameplay may be the best from the studio. Running around as Aliph– it's a joy. The play is extremely good although the game never reaches a difficulty level I would prefer. The loop of story-location-factory is infectious and the game is just the right length too.

Analgesic's game are usually rich with theme but as textured as this story is, I don't think it is tight as their other works. There are subthemes about being the model minority and grief that stand out. There also seems to be a theme in heteronormativity? Maybe not? It's a vibe I get. A lot of the themes didn't come back around though. They're mostly contained to specific acts of the story. They must be doing something right because even after 7 years since I last played this, I remembered many moments, lines of dialogue, and bits of the story. I especially remembered Hank & Carl, the two jovial neighbours like something out of an 80s sitcom. They weird me out, I don't trust them.