Hands-On With Sea of Stars

https://open.spotify.com/episode/58Hk899zzD8nvmrcIO4C7l

Within the last few weeks, there was a news story saying that someone at Sega made a comment about how the pixel art style for video games did not have long-term potential and naturally Sonic would have to evolve past that. Since that comment was made, Sabotage Games released Sea of Stars, a pixel art JRPG-style game akin to Final Fantasy that is among some of the best modern pixel art games in recent years.

The game follows Valere and Zale who can harness the power of the sun and moon to fight monsters in turn-based combat. The combat is immediately evocative of games of the past like Chrono Trigger and Golden Sun (with a bit of Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga) and it is fairly responsive, even if the dodge/parry mechanic is a little tough to hit. That said, as the game evolves and as the party's level develops, the battle system feels more responsive and more fun. If there is a downside to Sea of Stars, it is that it is a little front-loaded with exposition for the first hour or so and it's not even spaced out where that happens with the tutorials, however once you get past that and the tutorials the game really picks up.

Sea of Stars is a worthwhile play for anyone who wants to try the latest retro-inspired roleplaying game. It's also reasonably short considering I completed the game in about 25 hours and that was with leaving it running while I got up to do things so it's not a massive time commitment in a world where Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield are massive 100+ hour experiences. It is included in Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus or can be purchased for $34.99 on PC platforms and Switch.

★★★★★