Sea of Stars

December 15, 2024

Solstice Magic

Sabotage Studio presents us with a beautiful RPG inspired by great classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger.

It introduces fresh mechanics that keep the genre interesting in today’s gaming landscape.

A good game, although I found it a bit too long, with unnecessary filler and some parts that felt forced, it was still an interesting experience.

Recommended for players looking to get into this genre, though it might be too easy for veterans.

What I liked the most

The gameplay has details that make the character control experience highly enjoyable:
- It’s not possible to jump in places where the character would unnecessarily perish or get stuck.
- Characters can swim and move across different types of terrain, which players perceive thanks to the smooth animations.
The art is impressive: very rich pixel art with a great variety of sprites and smooth animations, showcasing the immense talent of the team. It also includes a series of animated sequences at key story moments, which are a delight.
The “Wheels” minigame is one of my favorite aspects of Sea of Stars. This is the kind of side quest I love: it’s original, features quick rounds, and is easy to master. Although the difficulty curve is very linear, it’s still very enjoyable.
I can’t overlook the musical aspect, which is also spectacular. You can feel the passion they’ve poured into this, and the participation of Yasunori Mitsuda (composer of the Chrono Trigger OST) makes it outstanding.
The story’s atmosphere is kind and pleasant throughout the game.
The turn-based combat includes real-time skill mechanics. These are optional but keep players engaged by offering the chance to deal extra damage to enemies.
It has a local co-op mode!

The story has potential. The first part of the game felt very engaging and made me want to learn more and more. However, later on, there are very flat parts that become repetitive or only exist to level up the characters.
To further improve the movement experience, I would have liked abilities like using the grappling hook or wind power not to stop the character’s movement.
You can’t escape from battles. Sometimes you’ll revisit areas where it adds no value to engage in combat again. Adding an option to flee these kinds of encounters would have been a nice touch.
Some missions are extremely simple, systematic, and therefore boring, such as the Vespertino one.
The character’s movement on foot across the map feels unnecessarily clunky.
The ultimate ability animations cannot be skipped.

Inside “Clockwork Castle,” stepping on a mechanism that automatically triggers a battle, my character somehow remained in exploration mode, unable to leave the level or fight.
In the Battle Arena, in the silver category, just as I was about to defeat the last enemy, the console threw a fatal error, forcing me to restart and return to the last manual save point.