Sea of Stars is a new RPG from Canadian developer Sabotage Studio that follows the classic role-playing game formula. Sea of Stars has a magnificent visual style and music, and some tracks were written by Yasunori Mitsuda, the composer of Chrono Trigger. Yes, that one.
5 years after the release of The Messenger, Sabotage Studio released Sea of Stars, the prequel to their debut title that was a classic metroidvania. In the prequel, the developers wanted to outdo themselves by making a larger-scale game of the RPG genre.
The game follows the story of 2 children born during the Solstice, the magician Valere and the warrior Zale, who use the magic of the sun and moon to take on their enemies. These two kids are our Heroes that, after many years of study and training, wove magical cloaks and set out to save the world.
This is our Sea of Stars PC Review. Beware of spoilers to the entire plot of the game!
Fortunately, our heroes will not be traveling all alone. At first, they will be joined by their childhood friend Garl who takes on an uneasy duty to keep them fed and happy. Some time later, pink-haired beauty Teaks will decide to tag along. She had found a magic book and became the last chronicler of this world: ancient artifacts convey their stories to the book and Teaks shared them around the campfire. She has a grand dream of becoming a true Chronicler and continuing the traditions of this ancient order.
You will also meet many other memorable colorful characters: a ninja pirate Serai, a mysterious alchemist and a highly unusual creature – a living glass. Each of them has an interesting story of their own. Thankfully, you can see and experience them to the fullest as you play through the game.
Without spoilers, the game arouses interest and pulls you in immediately as you go through the plot presented in several addictive stages. The story will constantly tease you with promises of more and manage to cut off at the most interesting moments, prompting you to play onward for another hour or two. Oh, 2 am already? Where did the time go?
In addition to the main plot, the game also features a great number of side-quests, stories related to the inhabitants of this world that further expand on the lore. Quests and puzzles award various items of all categories, some of which might even seem quite useless at times. Like the jar of Garl’s cookies! However, it turned out to be extremely important near the end.
And now the spoiler galore! You’ve been warned. If you don’t want to find out more about the game’s various endings, skip the text until the next screenshot.
The project of Sabotage Studios does not shy away from playing with widespread genre aspects or from moving away from canons, all in one breath. At the same time, the developers masterfully toy with clichéd twists and trite genre images. For example, we are presented with the “true heroes” but there are nuances. The game demonstrates incredibly trivial pirates but also ironically notes the fact. Players also encounter the GREATEST alchemist who turns out to be a simple ragamuffin squatting in a bulky archive and telling about the adventures.
As you play through the game, it turns out that the world of Sea of Stars is not the only one in existence. After all, traveling around and fighting the usual fantasy monsters will bring our heroic party to other worlds. A tropical island, caves, swamps and forests in addition to the lands of the undead or an underwater kingdom. Or maybe you’d prefer to visit a high-tech world filled with space ships, robots and cyberpunk-like guns? The game can sometimes dish out a 180 degree spin and toss you into a battle against cyborgs right after you’ve just been facing undead monstrosities.
It also turns out that in the attempt to save the world by defeating the Dwellers, our party will run into an even more powerful foe: the Fleshmancer. His appearance is a real surprise, as is the fact that he kills one of the party members only to open a portal and disappear with a sense of boredom, being uninterested in fighting… However, even that is not the entirety of the game plot’s twists and turns.
After all, you can attempt to save your dead friend, even if not for long. In the few extra days, the dying friend will manage to do the incredible. The exact details of what happened and what it means for the world is for you to find out.
There are a few available endings to this saga, but only one of them is considered to be the TRUE one. However, to achieve it and face the Fleshmancer, you will first have to finish the game with the bad ending (which reminded me of the Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross approach).
The world of the game is presented in the 16-bit style. However, don’t be fooled by its seeming simplicity, each location is made at an incredibly beautiful, thoughtful and well-presented level. Additionally, every location has its own unique design, style and even music.
Sea of Stars is split into two parts: exploration of the location and the journey through the global map. At first, moving through the global map comes down to choosing a location but over time you will discover a ship and even the ability to fly. It will speed up the movement process significantly and allow you to look for secrets. The locations will give you a greater degree of freedom, letting our heroes climb walls, jump over the ravines, walk on ropes, swim and even fall from any height.
To progress through the story, you will need to solve simple but exciting puzzles: move boxes, pull levers, press buttons, climb and jump, direct rays of light, that kind of thing. The ability of the Solstice Warriors to control the time of day will also come in handy.
The levels are built in such a way that you will always see the hidden chests from the corner of your eye. Reaching them will require logically thinking through the notions such as “what if I jump into this hole” or “maybe I should pull this lever?” There are secrets that will be obtainable later in the game. It’s too bad that you can’t mark them on the map and have to constantly keep their locations in your head.
At the very least, there is a bird that can tell you the amount of undiscovered secrets. It is worth it to carefully study the locations to discover numerous shortcuts, it will help you save a headache or two down the line.
There are also two simple mini-games:
- The Wheel. You and your opponent each choose two figures, each one with its unique attack and support abilities. Spin the wheel and the effectiveness to decide the effectiveness of the figures’ actions that turn. You will receive victory for destroying the enemy base. The Wheel championship is easily defeated by a combination of the mage and the archer figures, and later on by using the assassin and the monk.
- Fishing. There are many fishing points on the global map with different types of fish. They are all quite easy to catch and provide the same type of resources. The only reason for chasing variety is to obtain the reward from a passionate fisherman.
There are different types of enemies across locations. To fight against them, the game suggests wearing special jewelry that will make such battles easier. However, even without that little help, the fights are too casual as it is. Even if your heroes get badly wounded, you can always top up using food or return to the campfire to rest. Throughout the entirety of Sea of Stars, there will only be a handful of opponents that will make you sweat.
The simplicity of combat is compensated by the unusual mechanics. If you hold down the action key during an attack, your hero will deal additional damage or make a block. Abilities work on a similar principle. Your Poison Flurry will do more damage if you hold down the button at the specific time.
Enemies also love to use techniques but they can be interrupted through selecting the skills of different heroes with appropriate effect. Such mechanics make the gameplay depend on reflexes and the skills of the player. Over time, the heroes will become stronger by learning new abilities and colorful combo-attacks. By the endgame, you will have access to super-abilities that only cause one thought “That was epic!”.
Each one such skill even has a specific animated cutscene with the hero that employs it! Speaking of animations, the game is amazing in this regard. The whole world feels alive, every battle has that dynamic spunk going on, while bosses’ ultimates are something to remember.
A huge variety of locations, enemies, bosses, side quests, riddles and puzzles will keep players on their toes. The game can capture you for dozens of hours, even for the most hardcore players.
After going through Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross for the fifth time or more, I kept going because of the plot, the incredible riddles, battles, leveling up… and the plot again. I have always kept both Chrono games very close to my heart, and now Sea of Stars took place next to them. Its plot might not be as epic or convoluted, but it still is beautiful and touching in its own way.
