Secret Paths to the Sea

Secret Paths to the Sea is a puzzle game developed and published by Purple Moon. It was released for Windows and Macintosh systems in July 1998.

Plot
Like its predecessor, Secret Paths in the Forest, the player is summoned to a magical lighthouse where they will listen to and solve the problems of a group of girls, all younger versions of some of the Whistling Pines kids. Before them, Bronwyn, an Irish girl from the mid 1800s, discovered the lighthouse and a diary detailing her adventures with it. Like the Book of the Secret Paths in the first game, it serves as an in-game manual.

Gameplay
Just like Forest, three characters can be summoned to the lighthouse tower room, which is customizable by clicking on the various elements in the room, by selecting their portrait in the Treasure Box in the lower left corner of the screen. The treasure box screen also displays how many stones the player has collected from each path. Clicking on a girl in the room will place her on the pillow in the middle of the floor and play an animatic of her problem. After it's over, the door on the right side of the screen will sparkle. Clicking on it will take the player to that character's secret path. Each path contains several puzzles as well as rippling portals that play animatics furthering each girl's story.

Solving puzzles on the paths will reward the player with stones. When 5 or 6 stones are collected, the stones will thread themselves into a necklace upon returning to the lighthouse and clicking on the pouch. Dragging the necklace to the girl will play an animatic of a folk tale with a story relevent to her problem. Like in Forest, there is no reward for collecting all of the necklaces.

The puzzles in Sea range from simple logic puzzles to sliding block puzzles. Several puzzles' difficulty can be changed by clicking on the oyster shell in the lower left corner of the screen. The more pearls the oyster has, the more difficult the puzzle is.

Reception
SuperKids, a website that reviews educational software, claims that Sea is "every bit as unique and enjoyable as its predecessor", while noting that children that crave more active activites or have short attention spans might get bored of it.

Trivia
According to SuperKids, a Friendship Adventure based on the game was featured on the Purple Moon website around its release. The initial part contained 7 illustrations.

Purple Moon signed a sponsorship deal with Sea World in conjunction with the game's release. As part of the deal, the two companies held a contest with the grand prize of a trip for four to Sea World. Sea World also had a sponsored section on the site.

This is the first game with Viva's second voice actress, Jessica Fairwell; she replaces Avellan Nydia, who had voiced her in the first three Purple Moon games.