Ocean's Heart is an indie Retraux action-adventure game developed by max Mraz and published by Norcurrent. It released on Steam on January 21, 2021 and on Nintendo Switch on February 10, 2022.
In the southern reaches of a distant archipelago, Tilia lives with her father Mallow — a member of the Volunteer Navy that helps civilians across the sea — and her older sister Linden on Limestone Island. Although the three of them spend their days running a tavern, Tilia is a skilled swordfighter who dreams of going out on adventures helping people like her father does.
She soon gets her wish when Limestone is attacked by pirates, who raid a nearby ruin for unknown reasons, set fire to the town, and kidnap her best friend, the herbologist Hazel. Mallow sets out to rescue Hazel from the pirates, who fly a black flag with a white hourglass, but he himself goes missing for six months. Tilia must set out to find her father and friend, a quest that will put her on the trail of the Hourglass Pirates and their collecting of mysterious artifacts associated with the mythical Sea King. Along the way, she can also fulfill many requests from common islanders who seek her help upon seeing her Volunteer Navy uniform.
This game has the following tropes:
- First Town: Actually the First Island, Limestone Island, which is where Tilia lives.
- Good Morning, Crono: The game begins with Tilia waking up late and having to rush out to do a task for her dad. The reason she woke up late is apparently because she was up all night helping Hazel gather mushrooms.
- Join or Die: The pirate council had been building up a large force of pirates before the start of the game's story. Those who refused to join had their ships attacked and sunk.
- Shout-Out: The entire game is modeled after The Legend of Zelda games, especially the 2D ones. Some specific ways this plays out:
- The setting, an archipelago that once experienced The Great Flood, is very similar to The Wind Waker.
- Tilia's outfit looks like a feminine version of Link's Champion's Tunic from Breath of the Wild.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tilia is a swordfighter who wears a boyish tunic and goes on an action-packed adventure to rescue her loved ones and defeat a band of pirates. Her best friend Hazel, in contrast, is a non-action herbologist who wears a dress and who gets kidnapped by those pirates.
