Game Review: Sea of Stars

When I played and reviewed The Messenger back in August 2022, I remember being completely taken back by the sheer nerve of Sabotage studios.  A small indie studio based on in Quebec Canada, coming into the industry not for the fame or fortune, but to simply deliver video games that take us all back to our youth.  Retro games were the heart and soul of the upbringing behind the people who worked at the studio, and the desire to take that style they grew up with and modernize it in a way that pays tribute but also delivers something new is an approach that defines every game the studio aims to deliver. There was never better an example of that design philosophy than with the studio’s debut title in 2018; The Messenger.  Utilizing both 8-Bit and 16-Bit graphics to deliver a challenging metroidvania platformer which benefits from clever writing and tight responsive controls; Sabotage Studios received critical acclaim on all fronts.  I myself am one of the many people who touted the praise of the title for truly achieving its objective in delivering a retro-inspired game which showcased modern day design principles. After wrapping up my time with Messenger I was quite happy to put Sabotage Studio on my radar for any and all future titles, just because I knew whatever these folks were capable of putting out was fully deserving of my attention. Fast forward to 2024 and here I am yet again, prepared to tout high praise to Sabotage studios for delivering on their philosophy yet again. 

Sea of Stars serves as Sabotage Studios’ 2nd major release into the industry.  It serves as a retro-inspired, turn-based RPG title which takes inspiration from classic titles like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG.  Announced in March 2020 through Kickstarter, production on Sea of Stars followed soon after the success of The Messenger with consistent development updates provided by creative director Thierry Boulanger and other members of the development team as development progressed. One interesting difference in the development of Sea of Stars vs The Messenger is Sabotage Studios were keen to self-publish the title despite keen interest from other publishers; citing a desire for complete control on the production of the title. After 3 years of production, Sea of Stars finally released on August 29th 2023 across all major console platforms. Upon release Sea of Stars received widespread acclaim from both audiences and critics; with a OpenCritic score of 98% and receiving Best Indie game award at the years respective Game Award show. By December 2023, Sabotage Studios had reported the game had been played by other four million players across all platforms. 

The narrative of Sea of Stars takes place within the same universe of The Messenger, however set eons before the events of that title.  The game’s central characters are Zale and Valare, young heroes with the gift of Eclipse Magic, bestowed to them upon their birth during the Summer and Winter solstices respectively.  Trained since a young age to become Solstice Warriors, Zale and Valare graduate from Zenith Academy high above their home town of Mooncradle.  Their duty is to rid the world of Dwellers, a foul race of otherworldly monsters who were cast upon the world by the long-banished Fleshmancer.  Eclipse Magic is the only means of banishing the Dwellers from the world so Zale and Valare set forth on a journey to banish the last remaining dweller to bring peace to the world.  Assisting them on the journey is their life long friend Garl, a warrior cook with a heart of gold and a mysterious assassin called Serai who knows more than she let’s on. While their quest seems simple, the path ahead of the Solstice Warriors and their crew is rife with peril and danger.  In the shadows, a sinister quartet known as the Acolytes plan to unleash more Dwellers upon the world in the hopes of bringing the Fleshmancer back to their realm once more.  As their journey progresses, the stakes grow ever increasingly dire for the heroes as the world sits upon the brink of extinction with time running out, the answer will take the heroes through Sea of Stars itself.

The narrative scope of Sea of Stars is broad in a lot of respects, however it’s hard not to feel like its depth is never really fully tapped by the story’s ending.  In terms of world building, there’s a lot of ideas at play in this game which I feel are not given much needed time to establish themselves.  I cannot fault Sabotage Studios for having a concept and running with it. The whole idea of being heroes who venture across the world, forming friendships and helping people wherever you travel; it’s pretty fundamental stuff you will find in a lot of the old RPG’s that the game is clearly drawing inspiration from.  There’s enough originality here to help the game make an impression and stand apart from those games as well.  However, my major gripe comes with how little time or focus is given to multiple elements of the game’s world and its story. The game runs through the motions, taking you from point a to point b at the behest of the narrative, but it often feels once you’re done with an area, it’s relevancy to the world all but dissipates. The same argument can be given to some characters and their own storylines.  You can tell Sabotage had strong ideas, but I felt throughout the course of the game that they were never really given the appropriate opportunity to be fleshed out before being relegated to the background to keep the plots pace moving. Zale and Volare are sadly my biggest gripe when it comes to the game’s story. Despite being the games two central player characters, they feel the most underdeveloped when compared to the rest of the cast.  They have no definition to their characters that there’s little to differentiate them apart from their designs and powers.  I know there’s an argument to be made that as players character, maybe the lack of definition is to allow you as the player to inhabit the role easier to self identify, but to me it’s just another wasted opportunity to leave a compelling impression when your games two main characters are have as much depth as a bathtub.  Despite my major grievances with the plot though, I can’t fault the originality and ambition on display, it’s clear Sabotage were intent to do something unique here, it’s just a shame its ideas aren’t given much room to breath. One element I do want to give credit to before I proceed from the narrative though is its humor and its references to the wider universe it shares with The Messenger.  Like The Messenger, Sea of Stars weighs into its humor quite well and it’s still a reliably sharp element of the games writing.  There are also notable moments which call out to the wider universe that the two titles share and it’s interesting to see the long-term plot Sabotage seem to be teasing here for any potential future titles.  

From a gameplay perspective, this is where Sea of Stars showcases the usual Sabotage quality at every turn. Wearing its inspiration proudly, the turn-based system that is implemented in the game’s main combat system is easy to grasp and fun to master. Combat in Sea of Stars revolves around elemental opposition.  Enemies in the game have an array of strengths and weaknesses which you will have to match against with either physical attacks or elemental abilities.  Each member of your party has their own assigned element and a collection of skills to utilize. One key way the player is expected to match these elements against one another is the lock system. Enemies will spend a round or two to prepare for larger, more powerful attacks and the game will display elemental/physical attack icons above them.  By matching the icons with the respective elemental or physical attack, you can break their preparation for the larger attack and give yourself a window to lay more damage in. Other elements of the system include timed attacks, in which you can match an attack with the press of a button to give extra damage or reduce the damage you take. It’s a simple system on the surface, but getting the grasp of it and perfecting your timing on the attacks and skill sets pays off well for overcoming a potentially difficult battle you find yourself in. What helps add to this system is the variety of enemies and bosses you will come up against during your journey.  Enemy variety is one of the key aspects of the game and there’s a lot of differences that make fighting foes a constantly shifting challenge which is fun to learn and adapt to. 

Outside of combat, the main gameplay as with most components of the game pay tribute to old-style RPG’s when it comes to navigation and exploration.  Movement in the game is multi-directional and there’s a lot of open room to explore as you work through the games varied locales. What helps encourage the flexible navigation too is the depth of things to find and interact with. There are treasure chests, rainbow conch shells and combo move scrolls all tucked away in the locations that you will have to find or use later-discovered abilities to unlock.  There no sense of difficulty or challenge behind exploring the areas too as the game actively encourages you to dive into these areas and find these collectables. Other additional gameplay elements come in the form of side activities like cooking or Wheels.  Garl will offer the party the ability to collect ingredients and cook food that can assist the party during combat by replenishing HP and MP points. There a great variety of recipes to find and the higher quality food offers even more buffs to benefit from in the later portion of the game.  Wheels is a side-game within the adventure in which you can challenge NPCs to a table-top style game using figurines.  It’s a very quirky and in-depth activity that again further showcases Sabotage’s dedication to flesh out every avenue of the game’s functional components. 

The foundation behind the gameplay is the games general visual and level design.  As was the case with Messenger, you can clearly see the retro art style imbued within all aspects of the game’s visuals. One thing I always give Sabotage credit for though is the retro art style never limits the scope of the game.  Each locale in the game is realized with a great sense of vivid detail and color.  There’s a lot of thought given to the practicality of the level and wider world design too.  Navigation and exploration are helped with how inviting a lot of these locales turn out to be and there’s enough effort on display here to help make these environments truly memorable. The visuals are only one aspect of what helps give this game a clear identity. The games score is also the other integral part of its identity. Composed primarily by Eric W. Brown along with additional tracks composed by Yasunori Mitsuda of Chrono Trigger fame, the musical score behind this game gives each level and sequence a remarkably appropriate impression to hang on to.  Eric was known for composing The Messenger prior so he was the perfect fit for a retro-inspired collection of tracks the game required.

I think Sea of Stars while not without its flaws is another incredible notch on the strong track record Sabotage Studios is creating.  Its heart is in the right place and it serves as an incredibly engaging game which emulates all the best aspects of the age-old RPGs of our earlier days, all with that added Sabotage flair.  It’s narrative while notably unfocused, still showcases a clear ambition with a writing style which reflects all the unique tones of the Sabotage writing team.  It’s gameplay and level design are the main driving force of the title and reflects all the tight and well-conceived design principles Sabotage Studios are known for.   It all comes back to that idea that the studio aims to both emulate the retro games of our youth in a way that feels modern and pushes the format forward; like The Messenger, Sea of Stars embodies that design principle at every turn