He Zhong Zhi Hai

The medium of video games has, in its short lifespan, been praised for its ability to create new worlds and experiences that seem increasingly lifelike. Every year, new AAA games are released that push the bounds of graphical fidelity, physics simulation, and emergent world design. It stands to reason that eventually we could create a virtual world that is every bit as realistic as the real world, containing people who are almost real; people who live almost-real lives, work almost-real jobs to provide livelihood to their almost-real families, have their own almost-real belief systems, and create their own almost-real art. If that were to pass, what would be the boundary between that almost-real world and our entirely-real one?

Video games usually let the player get away with a lot

Enter our four protagonists, who have been randomly selected to take part in the beta test of a groundbreaking new full-dive VR title, Sea in a Box. Told simply to explore the world and see what they can find, the players quickly realize something isn't quite right with this game. Even accounting for advances in technology, the level of detail in the game world surpasses anything that could be created by a team of developers, no matter how well funded. And then they discover... just kidding, no spoilers.

The sea in the box

Coming into a movie with (at time of writing, I really hope this has changed by the time you read this) less than 100 popularity on AniList, I was a little concerned Sea in a Box would be another in the sea (I swear that wasn't on purpose) of low-effort online-exclusive web novel donghua that have flooded out of China in the past several years. But instead I found a tightly-written suspenseful mystery that keeps you on your toes throughout. Each twist logically follows the last while still feeling completely out of left field (except a few that were pretty obvious). The final story, when fully revealed, takes some long-existing ideas that have been largely done to death and manages to combine them together in a novel and thought-provoking way.

What goes into making a game world?

Assisting in this is a well-crafted atmosphere. It's certainly not a horror movie, but the tension is built and released well without breaking immersion. The art is pretty good, and some of the more important scenes are quite beautiful, though there are a few that have some awkward CGI. The official English translation (included as hardsub) is passable, but to my knowledge there is no unofficial translation.

Spooky

It's just really sad to see this movie so overlooked. It's a true hidden gem, at least on the English internet. Maybe this got the love it deserves in China.