Symphonic Rain
Symphonic Rain
Game
Game2017
SeaBed
Developer Paleontology
SeaBed is a yuri mystery visual novel released in 2016 by Paleontology. The story centers the character Sachiko, a woman struck with hallucinations of her missing childhood friend and romantic partner, Takako. Sachiko seeks the help of Narasaki, another childhood friend and psychiatrist. Programmed by AKIRA, it was written and illustrated by hide38, who based the game on his four-panel comic about Sachiko and Takako. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
202 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 30, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
93
LovedLoved
165 positive · 12 negative
95% range 89–96%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 165 | 12 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 9 | 0 | 16 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
183 of 195 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
94% recommend · 170 yes, 11 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 181 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (1,106 of 1,143 positive).
Players describe SeaBed as a slow-paced, emotional yuri mystery kinetic novel about loss and memory. [1][2][3] Some find it too slow and boring, struggling to stay engaged with the lengthy descriptive passages. [4][5][6]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
I think for the right person, Seabed can be an amazing experience, a masterpiece even… I, unfortunately, was the wrong person to read Seabed because this bored me to death. By the end, it just felt like a complete waste of my time, which is a rarity because even the most horrible pieces of media I’ve experienced have some kind of takeaway that makes it worth experiencing despite the bad. For context, Seabed had been …
- [1]
I went into SeaBed expecting nothing more than a Mystery VN with Yuri elements in it. And if you boiled down the tremendous amount of detail, narrative and developments down to its very core, those two things can describe this VN, although not doing the VN any of the justice it deserves; that's like calling a five-star restaurant's three-course meal simply "food." SeaBed is a somewhat lengthy Kinetic Novel (i.e. …
- [2]
SeaBed is a story about dealing with loss, and coming out stronger on the other side. The main character, Sachiko, suffers from hallucinations of her former girlfriend, and seeks treatment to return to a more normal life. We follow her journey as she dives deep into her own psyche and ultimately comes to accept her past and move forward. The game is a kinetic novel where the player makes no choices, but simply …
- [12]
Spoiler Free FIrst of all, I want to say I feel very fortunate to have discovered this visual novel in the sea of lowbrow anime smut. SeaBed is a very unorthodox work for the VN medium. It reads like an actual paperback novel with very descriptive and vivid prose, there are no anime tropes or clichés (despite the game using anime style art), its characters are extremely realistic and their actions and thoughts are …
- [3]
첫째: 선택지 없는 진게 속터기제 느린 키네틱 백합물임 둘째: 사랑하는 사람을 잃은 슬픔 때문에 망가진 기억의 비밀을 파헤치는 스토리 둘다 끌릴 요소가 아니라면 잘안맞으실듯함. ----------------------------------- firstly: it's a very slow paced kinetic GL VN secondly: the storytelling shifts between unreliable and fragmented memories following the lose of a loved one If neither appeal to you, I don't think you're the target audience.
Summarised from 34 of the 201 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
SeaBed sits at 93% positive across 177 opinionated reactions from 2 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Reviewers primarily praised SeaBed for its characterizations and emotional impression. Writing for Inside Games, Shijima Ren recommended SeaBed for the romance between its two female leads. Pete Davison of Nintendo Life hailed it as a "masterpiece" with "evocative" descriptions of everyday life. Commending the game's depiction of grief and dynamic narrative perspectives, Marcus Estrada of Hardcore Gamer said that SeaBed was a "distinct experience" from other yuri visual novels. Both Davison and Estrada commented on the largely adult cast, stating that the characters acted in a grounded, believable manner. Critics commented on the slow pace of the story, and some saw it as a drawback for…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 202 · most liked firstI went into SeaBed expecting nothing more than a Mystery VN with Yuri elements in it. And if you boiled down the tremendous amount of detail, narrative and developments down to its very core, those two things can describe this VN, although not doing the VN any of the justice it deserves; that's like calling a five-star restaurant's three-course meal simply "food." SeaBed is a somewhat lengthy Kinetic Novel (i.e. there are no choices for the player to make that affect the path of the story)…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →in 40-50 years, when i am dying in a hospital, i want to re-read this to make sure it's the last thing i read before i die
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Introduction A Yuri-themed kinetic novel told through the perspectives of three separate characters Which took me around 30 hours to finish reading. The game itself is set up like a book with a wall of text that starts from the top then moves down as you read occasionally fading out to show you when a picture in the background has changed facial expressions. The story itself can get kinda confusing because not only does it change perspective between three separate characters it also jumps…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A all age game developed by Fruitbat Factory. A yuri themed mystery kinetic novel with a good visual and story. The game have not voice acting, but contain a great soundtrack. About game structure, even you set in fullscreen, still will appear two black columns in the sides (at least for me).
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SeaBed is a story about dealing with loss, and coming out stronger on the other side. The main character, Sachiko, suffers from hallucinations of her former girlfriend, and seeks treatment to return to a more normal life. We follow her journey as she dives deep into her own psyche and ultimately comes to accept her past and move forward. The game is a kinetic novel where the player makes no choices, but simply follows along with the text. The story is engrossing enough that I would often lay in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've never read anything like this. Seabed is a VN that ends up feeling like a dream. It's hard to tell what is real or not because a lot of things don't really make sense, and it's hard to make sense of it even when everything ends. Every chapter has an insane amount of descriptive detail, and the story has a comforting repetition to it. Some segments can be frustratingly longwinded, but at its best it's like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket on a cold morning. I don't recommend this VN to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think for the right person, Seabed can be an amazing experience, a masterpiece even… I, unfortunately, was the wrong person to read Seabed because this bored me to death. By the end, it just felt like a complete waste of my time, which is a rarity because even the most horrible pieces of media I’ve experienced have some kind of takeaway that makes it worth experiencing despite the bad. For context, Seabed had been on my radar since the early 2020s, which I only got this year because it was…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →첫째: 선택지 없는 진게 속터기제 느린 키네틱 백합물임 둘째: 사랑하는 사람을 잃은 슬픔 때문에 망가진 기억의 비밀을 파헤치는 스토리 둘다 끌릴 요소가 아니라면 잘안맞으실듯함. ----------------------------------- firstly: it's a very slow paced kinetic GL VN secondly: the storytelling shifts between unreliable and fragmented memories following the lose of a loved one If neither appeal to you, I don't think you're the target audience.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm giving up on SeaBed after finishing Chapter 3. That's around 15 hours at my likely slow reading speed. I don't recall minding Tolkien's meandering descriptive passages and exposition on supporting characters when first reading The Lord of the Rings, and yet I cannot fathom what purpose over half of SeaBed's passages serve, if not incessantly prolonging the actual development of the narrative in order to create some illusory impression of deep, meaningful writing. While a small handful of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just simply could not get immersed in the story as I have with other visual novels I've played. I'm sure it does get better later on, but after 30 minutes of playing, I realised this was not a style of storytelling I was personally a fan of and wasn't worth the money I had spent. This visual novel is for people who enjoy reading a lot of books. This has detailed and lengthy dialogue which can be hard to keep focus if you are not accustomed to it, so if you're new to visual novels/don't read…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm starting the Yuri visual novel Seabed. Going in blind and know nothing about it. Let's see what is up with this game.
neutral · AI labelView post →It's hard to describe this game without spoiling it. It's best read when you have no idea what it's about. It's slow, descriptive, and told in a roundabout way that will have you asking questions the whole way while trying to cling onto some hope for a happy ending that seemingly already failed to come. It's hardly even a yuri novel if you've read ones in the past, as there's very little falling in love or big arcs characters go through. Rather, it's about reflecting on the happy past and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the poetry of the monologues, dialogs, and imagery is healing and reminds me of some of the best parts of SeaBed and Caligula Effect 2. i feel like i came out of the game a better person. i know i will never forget this beautiful game, even if i tried. if you know japanese, please play it.
positive · AI labelView post →Most personal and impactful story I've seen in recent times
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →when i read how the Qianse devs said they didn't mind people viewing the game as a "doujin work on SeaBed", i was like going whoa. can't believe a silly article i wrote in a day would inspire so many cool things. i am looking forward to more SeaBed-inspired yuri. the world needs more of that.
neutral · AI labelView post →I haven't seen anyone really saying the actual story of SeaBed is lackluster, rather its often just slow and a bit mundane, and I think the relative positivity echoes that both in steam reviews and outside reviews, so rather than restating other reviews, I'll instead talk about what got me through this game. It's always the more abstract stories that affect me the deepest. Oneshot, Omori, Signalis, Silent Hill 2, Fromsoftware's entire modern catalog, Hollow Knight, so on and so forth.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to lead off by saying that I do not feel like I am making any objective claims here. I believe things like this are matters of preference. So please do not take anything I say about my opinions on Seabed personally, as so many people tend to do. I have seen people create an entirely new tier category called “SeaBed”, set above all the other tiers when making their yuri VN tier lists. Because of that, I figured it was going to be a masterpiece. And while I try to be careful about…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Time is an illusion caused by the second law of thermodynamics. It is unnecessary to distinguish the different speakers in this novel's dialogues. The current temperature of my room is 25.3C as i write down this sentence. A second window on my Windows 11 computer is playing an Indian film without subtitles. Specifically it is in the Odia language. Not all Indian films are Bollywood films. India has more than 20 official languages and Bollywood films only refer to films in the Hindi language. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Spoiler Free FIrst of all, I want to say I feel very fortunate to have discovered this visual novel in the sea of lowbrow anime smut. SeaBed is a very unorthodox work for the VN medium. It reads like an actual paperback novel with very descriptive and vivid prose, there are no anime tropes or clichés (despite the game using anime style art), its characters are extremely realistic and their actions and thoughts are easy to relate to. At its core, it's a very powerful story of love between two…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A story that slowly and methodically splits your heart down the middle. Amazingly written and with a bit of mystery to chew on. Impeccable sense of atmosphere, evokes the feeling of being carried by an ocean current of memories before it all comes to rest on the sea bed.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →are we sure SeaBed isnt a horror game it can pump anxiety through my body like nothing else
neutral · AI labelView post →This game made me feel like I was drying up to death on a wheelchair suffering from dementia but in a good way
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SeaBed Complete Collection is out on Steam • Ported to Unity • Widescreen support • Switch-exclusive bonus scenes added • In-game Audio Novel player • KR & CN translation The new version will automatically inherit the game progress from existing saves.
neutral · AI labelView post →SeaBed is a great yuri/mystery visual novel and I can easily say that it's my favourite visual novel that Fruitbat Factory have localised. I went into it completely blind since I purchased it in a Fruitbat Factory bundle and was surprised to find a world with memorable characters and a great mystery. The game mostly focuses on the two main characters, Sachiko and Takako, and their memory issues. Sachiko has hallucinations of Takako in her everyday life after her sudden disappearance while…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →prepare yourself to have your heart crushed into a million pieces
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't really believe that I'll be able to adequately describe my love for SeaBed in words, but like every game which makes me feel this way, the best I can do is try. I put down SeaBed for an exceedingly long time when I first attempted to get through it when I bought the game back in May of 2024. I thought it'd be a great time killer for a trip that I was taking. (Kinda funny, considering how frequently travel is brought up in SeaBed.) For one reason or another, I put down the VN after my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🌊🛏️SeaBed Complete Collection is now available on PC!! - New engine, widescreen support. - Korean, Simplified & Traditional Chinese support added. - In-game Audio Novel player. - Previously Switch-exclusive bonus scenes added. store.steampowered.com/app/583090/S... #yuri #visualnovel #TGS2024
neutral · AI labelView post →Heartbreaking and gay
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yuri? Mystery? SeaBed is, as it says on the store page, a yuri-themed mystery visual novel. It is not, however, about yuri, or in other words, how society views lesbian relationships, or how characters come to terms with being gay, or anything like that. The yuri is basically taken for granted. The focus of the story is directed mostly at the mystery aspect, and the slice of life scenes, which make up the majority of the game. That is not to say the slice of life scenes are filler, or don't tie…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I thought very hard about what I could say to recommend this without spoiling or giving away what makes it special, and well, there's not a lot. It's beautiful. When you finish it, it might keep you up at night thinking about it. It might make you get up at 7 AM to write this review. And you might never want to forget it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Expects you to survive on breadcrumbs for the first couple of chapters, but assuming you don't starve it rewards you with the worlds most bittersweet chocolate cake at the end. It's hard not to stay awake at night in bed thinking about the characters for weeks after playing. Breathtaking resolution
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rest in peace Karolis Januševičius, aka Conjueror. Some may question your decision, but no one will question the great contributions you've made to the english-speaking visual novel community.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SeaBed is a pretty great yuri visual novel, the story is amazing and once you start reading, you can't really stop anymore. Preordering this was a great idea, and I'll continue to preorder fruitbat titles (if I have the money atleast) till the day they die, wich probs won't happen, right? On a different note, the emotes and background are AMAZING. You won't regret crafting the badges, that's for sure! Make sure to check out this masterpiece! <3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SeaBed, developed by Paleontology and published by Fruitbat Factory, is a contemplative and emotionally rich visual novel that delves deep into themes of memory, identity, and loss. Released in late 2017, it stands out in the genre for its quiet, introspective storytelling and its nuanced portrayal of complex relationships, particularly focusing on a yuri romance narrative. Unlike many visual novels that rely heavily on player choices and branching storylines, SeaBed presents a linear, kinetic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Immersive, but not exciting. Since this story is described as a "mystery," I expected more answers at the end. It was definitely psychological, and I do like psychological stories, but ones with more action and plot. Most of the game is reading about the the protagonists' traveling experiences, and descriptions of day-to-day life. It can be soothing and relaxing to experience after a long day, even therapeutic, but at the end my major feeling was relief that it was over and I could move on…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am depressed now. Thanks
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SeaBed is an underappreciated gem in this now flooded market of visual novels. I didn't know what to expect when I started reading. And honestly, it was hard to get into at first. The prologue would simply not hook me. But once the plot points started dropping, I was fully dedicated to the story. This is not something you rush, however. Take your time reading the story. It's a slow burn, not something you speed through and binge in a day. The time I spent reading this was one hell of an…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Without love, it can't be seen.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →nothing can last forever. nothing will ever disappear.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super cute and nice anime pc game! Im realy enjoing it! You can buy and play it! I love my bed!! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1460933556 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1652652550 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1472068628
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(While it says I only have 5 hours on record, I played through most of this VN in offline mode, so take that in mind). Seabed can be a rather confusing and even frustrating experience at first if you go in expecting a traditional narrative structure. The story jumps from one place to another, usually placing its focus on scenes that are mundane by nature: a day at school, an afternoon shopping, maybe a trip or a car drive. In a traditional story, these scenes would be considered "filler", as…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So far, the game is amazing and makes me want to travel far away but then I realized I have no money nor qt girlfriend. EDIT: this game ruined my christmas. It's been 3 days and I can't get it out of my mind.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is amazing. It is everything that people say it is, though I can't recommend it to just anyone. Some have been disappointed, calling it slow and meandering. They're not wrong, I think that is very true of SeaBed. I think those people have been misled by the psychological mystery novel label. In my opinion what SeaBed is first and foremost is an Iyashikei. A very very slow Iyashikei slice of life. It does have an amazing and touching story but it is all packaged inside a slice of life…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🌺SeaBed is part of the new Humble Bundle yuri game bundle! Check it out for a bundle of highly rated yuri-themed visual novels! www.humblebundle.com/games/yuri-i... #visualnovel #seabedvn
neutral · AI labelView post →Finished Seabed last night and I'm still kind of just in shock and awe honestly. What a fucking game
positive · AI labelView post →This yuri visual novel is a masterpiece. It has really likable interesting characters, chief among the game's central couple of Takako and Sachiko. You find yourselves caring deeply about the characters from the get-go, and then they end up embroiled in a mystery that you desperately want to understand because you care so much about them. The mystery is expertly crafted, with each chapter of the story unveiling just enough for you to understand things a little bit more, but it keeps you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ARTWORK: well drawn and there are lots of CGs available. However, no animations are included, and the still character images along the story could use a greater variety of facial/body expressions. STORY: the main forte of the game. The game is a linear story about 15 hours long - no story choices are offered in the game - plus side mini stories, that are skillfully written, delve pretty deep on the related subject matter, and is overall very enjoyable to read. However, long wall of texts,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Warning: This VN is very slow-paced. SeaBed is an immersive yuri themed mystery kinetic novel that can easily take around 19+ hours to complete. With 93 unique CG’s, developed characters and multiple soundtracks, it’s easy to get absorbed in the story. In SeaBed, you play and switch between three different perspectives. Sachiko the designer, Takako the adventurer, and Narasaki the psychiatrist. All three girls were childhood friends; however, overtime, Sachiko and Takako naturally fell into…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not many Visual Novels on the English market nowadays have superb writing as with what SeaBed offers. Maybe that is perhaps because that SeaBed is less of a visual novel and more like a fantastic piece of literature (with music and pictures... but, like, not like a visual novel). Why is this so? There is definitely more behind the narrative than other visual novels (and especially with the limited selection of yuri visual novels offered on Steam). Although I would like to explain further on…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the most touching and beautiful stories I have ever experienced. I bawled my eyes out multiple times. I was thoroughly charmed by the characters, writing style, presentation, and soundtrack. I don't expect it to appeal to everyone as it has a very slow pace, which some might find boring, and it can be confusing. The story expects you to really think about what you're being shown and what it could mean - a lot of the time you aren't sure whether what you're seeing is real or where it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SeaBed is an intriguing mystery VN about love and loss. The story keeps you off balance most of the way through- you'll be wondering, is this a real event, a dream, a flashback, a hallucination? Is this even a reliable narrator? It can get unsettling in a good way, especially those dream like moments, but there's also a lot of sweet and moving writing here that can hit pretty close to home. The art and music are both lovely and add to the experience. I was mostly satisfied with how the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i've thought about seabed at least once a week since i first played it in 2022 and i've reread it at least once per year since and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ranking this is inherently loose to find the "top" answer. But I gotta say the last hours of Seabed are the *longest* emotional moment I've experienced in a video game.
positive · AI labelView post →possibly, the greatest visual novel ever written
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, do play it slowly. Do not rush through the story, and it will hit so much better. I have been crying cuz i didnt want it to end but all good things come to an end.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The lack of dialogue tags supplements the theme of dreams and memories; vague, half-forgotten and murky things, mingling and entangling with the past, future, and present, unsure of what is what, in an ever-changing kaleidoscopic shape. Don't worry too much about "who exactly is saying what." If it's not stated then it's something that is not necessary. Another point, edit: SeaBed is interesting in part because it presents opaquely fluctuating motions that accelerate until reaching an omitted…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Show me your: 🎮 Current game ⏭️ Next game 🔥 Best game you've played this year 🤔 Most anticipated game The premise of SeaBed looks like something from my core. That's why it's the one I have expectations the most
neutral · AI labelView post →Messed me up so bad, Would recommend 👍
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A slow VN to get into but it will make you cry
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just go read it. For Linux users: There's ending video and It can't be playback in Proton 11.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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