Sea of Stars Review

Sea of Stars is a new role-playing game from Sabotage Studio. They are experts in making retro-style games. Their previous title The Messenger was reminiscent of the best classic 2D Metroidvania and Ninja games. Now Sea of Stars has come to shine beside all-time great games such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 of the 16-bit era. Although the game is nostalgic, it has been modernized so that the new audience is interested in it, and some shortcomings of the old games are fixed.

The story of the game takes place in the same world as The Messenger, but thousands of years before it, Where magic and legendary powers were used more than technology and science. Fortunately, you don’t need to know the story of The Messenger to enjoy Sea of Stars. The story in Sea of Stars is excellent, but it starts late. That is, just unlike the similar game, Chained Echoes which begins in a significant battle, Here you will see the slow start of a sibling’s adventure. Of course, this is something that even a great game like Starfield suffers from. However, when the Sea of Stars reveals its surprises, it becomes more engaging. Especially since you will meet with interesting and diverse characters who may not have the best dialogues, but overall they have depth.

The gameplay of Sea of Stars has the most popular features of games of its genre. As expected, the game is a turn-based role-playing, but it is far from what some might assume and is actually better than similar titles. For example, even though the battles are turn-based, they require precision and quick reactions like an action game. The action button in the game is essential in combat. For example, if you press it at the right time when hitting enemies, your character will hit them one more time. In the same way, you can defend yourself better when you get hit. Also, while using various skills (which are also introduced to you a little late), pressing the action button will give you more functions and advantages. In addition, during battles, you should be aware of the enemy’s weak points and attack based on them so that they cannot launch strong blows on you.

Such factors make you always focus on the fight and really enjoy defeating the enemies instead of just selecting the Attack option one after another. Especially when facing various and very interesting game boss fights. Bosses are the peak points of your journey, and they challenge you with their strange powers and attack patterns. Of course, the game is not too difficult. You don’t even need much grind for leveling up. The game encourages you to go forward like an adventure game instead of going through countless encounters. Even the enemies aren’t appearing random, and their position is always known and with a little consideration, you can even avoid them.

As we said, although the game appears similar to a classic JRPG, it also works like an action-adventure. It means that you have to search the environment in addition to combat and solve various puzzles. There are even platformer mechanisms, which makes the game superior to usual JRPG games with flat level designs. As you advance in the game by gaining new powers, the game puts more exciting obstacles and puzzles in front of you to overcome. Sea of Stars is a unique game that will easily keep you entertained for more than thirty hours without ever getting boring to the end.

The art of Sea of Stars greatly adds to its value. Although the music tracks are somewhat reminiscent of retro games, they have a modern vibe and pleasant melodies that add soul to your hero’s journey. On the other hand, the pixel art visuals are very detailed and are way more perfect than what you can see in any other game. The graphics never stop to be beautiful, and I confess that my jaw dropped when I understood that this two-dimensional world has dynamic shadows that change according to the sun’s position!

Sea of Stars is definitely one of the best RPG games made by an indie developer that can be standard for other games that want to have a retro style, for a long time to come. This title has a price of 35 dollars. fortunately, it was included in Game Pass and PS Plus subscription services from day one of its release.

The review code was provided by the publisher