Sea of Stars is a turn-based RPG inspired by the classics. It tells the story of two Children of the Solstice who will combine the powers of the sun and moon to perform Eclipse Magic, the only force capable of fending off the monstrous creations of the evil alchemist known as The Fleshmancer.
~ Sea of Stars description on Steam
Summary
Found this game while randomly browsing Instagram, and noticed there’s a demo for the Switch. Since I hadn’t used it in a while so I guess I should try it. Damn! It’s amazing! Such refreshing gameplay, never played a game with turn-based combat this good.
The world is looking amazing with beautiful pixel art visuals. The random NPC interactions make it very fun to explore.
Even though the demo doesn’t let you progress much there’s equipment to find and a leveling system that improves your stats.
It features exploration puzzles, fishing, cooking, and more! For instance, I listened to a story by the campfire and also caught a fish!
Founded on Kickstarter and developed by Sabotage Studios this Indie game has a lot of potential!
Combat
Once I read through “How to play” I noticed some very interesting game mechanics.
The first thing that popped into my eyes was the timing hits and blocks. This is a pretty interactive turn-based combat, after you select your attack you can click at the correct timing to enhance it! You can do the opposite to enemies’ attacks, by clicking to block or dodge at the right time you can reduce the damage taken.
Some skills actually use this mechanic to make the attack much more powerful. For example, “Moonerang” allows you to keep clicking at the correct time to bounce it to another target!
As you progress to each encounter you also have combo attacks using multiple party members! I’ve found a scroll that teaches a new combo attack as well.
The playable characters have HP, MP, ATK, DEF, M.ATK, and M.DEF stats. These will improve as you level up and get better equipment. Each character has a weapon and armor slot, along with 3 extra slots for accessories.
Attacks have types and some enemies are more vulnerable or resistant to specific ones. This is especially important when enemies are preparing special attacks that you need to cancel out by using a combination of different attack types.
I usually skip turn-based combat games because they either end up being too easy/boring or because they require you to master strategies. Sea Of Stars seems to be the perfect mix for me. The combat can get hard but the quick action elements add a sprinkle of fun to it.
Exploration
Exploration of the Sea of Star’s world takes a very modern approach while respecting retro games. You can climb, jump off ledges, swim, and even push objects around with a burst of wind provided by the Mistral Bracelet.
The world has some chests that you can get to by doing some of the actions mentioned above. On top of that some materials are scattered around that you can just pick up.
You can chat with NPCs in the world and most of them seem to be very funny and in a good mood. Some are shop owners where you can buy equipment, cooking ingredients, and snacks. In addition, you can sell the things you find.
Visuals and Sound
The visuals are amazing! I always enjoyed pixel art but together with the dynamic lighting made possible by Sabotage Studios‘ custom-made render pipeline, this game has an extra charm.
Moreover, the skill effects feel super polished and bring the art of the game to a whole other level. Unfortunately, I played on the Switch’s small screen and regret not using the Dock mode and the TV.
The character design is very well done, each character, monster, and NPC have a unique style!
The UI/HUD looks very polished and felt intuitive. However, I had missed the option to cycle through characters when in menus like equip menu or items. I provided feedback on this in the studio’s Discord server and Thierry, Co-Founder, and Game Designer pointed out I had just missed it…
On the sound part, I enjoyed the sound effects and music. It’s a great piece of bitpop, and you can listen to the soundtrack here!
Story
The story during the Demo is very short. You start by meeting a pirate on steroids that destroys you in an arm wrestle fight. After that, you get to go on an adventure to search for a very important item inside a wizard’s lab. Obviously, I’m oversimplifying but as a self-proclaimed “story-rich adventure” I’m very curious to see where our characters go from there.
The story is portrayed by small bubble chats between the characters without voice acting. And they don’t drag on too long therefore still remain informative and interesting to read.
Conclusion
Unexpected gem! It got my attention due to the very good-looking pixel graphics and made me stay because of the freshness of the turn-based combat. Each time I finished an encounter I WANTED MORE!
In short, I definitely recommend trying the demo on the Switch if you have one, it takes around an hour. I’m not responsible if you want to play the full game afterward.
Sea of Stars is set to release on Steam, Switch, and PlayStation on August 29th. And you can expect a full review whenever I get my hands on it! While you wait you can read other reviews!
If you want to get the game you’ll be able to do so on Instant Gaming!