Sea of Stars

by | Dec 9, 2023 | Reviews, Video Game Reviews

There will be story spoilers near the end of the review. You have been warned

I identify as a “JRPG fan”. While I don’t play them very often any more, during my formative years, I yearned for the story driven adventure. The rag-tag crew of warriors, travelling across the land, building their might and magic to return peace and tranquility to the land. Among some of my favourite games on the SNES were Final Fantasy IV (which was called Final Fantasy II in North America), and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

Back in June, Sea of Stars appeared on my radar after its tremendous Steam Next Fest demo. It was gorgeous, polished, and I couldn’t wait to dive deeper into the world. Sabotage Studio had previously created The Messenger, which was an obvious labour of love from a dedicated team of folks who first and foremost loved games. I had fully missed the crowdfunding campaign, but I was beyond hyped when I was the release for the game was only a few months away.

Drawing on inspirations like Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger, Sea of Stars is a turn based RPG that features an active combat mechanic where you can deal extra damage, or defend damage by pressing a button at just the right time. Instantly I was engaged, getting the two hit strikes in one the early enemies gave a rush, and kept me from just mashing the A button the whole time, like I do in some other RPGs (cough Pokemon cough).

Adding another wrinkle of complexity, attacks have various attributes, like blunt or blade, lunar or solar power, and poison or arcane. Monsters across the world will charge their special attacks, but in doing so, leave themselves vulnerable to a specific combination of elements. If you can manage to hit all their vulnerabilities, you’ll interrupt their attack! Sometimes fully staggering an enemy is impossible, but breaking even just some of the locks will reduce the amount of damage they deal to your party.

While engaging, the combat system isn’t particularly deep. There’s no status effects, buffs or debuffs to worry about. Battle is about hitting hard and fast and exploiting your enemies weaknesses. There are combo attacks that you can build up to, but by the time your team is fully realized, you’ll have a handful of strategies that you’ll deploy over and over again, with the only changes being to hit those locks as they pop up. And when all else fails, Moonarang everyone to death.

Further to the combat, Sea of Stars features a lush and vibrant world. The colour is bold and bright, the lighting is dynamic and breathtaking. I couldn’t stop myself from taking screenshot after screenshot of the gorgeous vistas. There are so many moments in Sea of Stars that are just a visual delight. The environments are a joy to flow through, with a ton of different ledges and cliffs to grapple and climb. Most dungeons may be fairly linear, but they feel interesting. It’s also easy to move through, instead of trying to find the exact right pixel to press “jump” at. Sea of Stars also is very generous in that it never makes you backtrack. You either exit at the back of a dungeon, or, a shortcut is unlocked that enables you to get back to the entrance easily. Of course, as the game progresses and you explore more of the world, the options for travel get better and better.

The only thing that tops how this game looks, is how it sounds. Composer Eric W. Brown has done a phenomenal job in creating beautiful sounds for every biome Sea of Stars has to throw at you. The battle music keeps you pumped and energized, while the overworld music calms you down. The music lends to the world building as well, making each local memorable

The characters and dialogue was charming right from the get-go. From Garl’s unceasing optimism to Yolande’s fourth wall breaking jokes, I relished the characters and the stories they told to and with each other. Now, perhaps it’s just me, but in reading the promotional material for Sea of Stars, there was a fair amount of emphasis on the fact that you’ll have a ship to act as your home base. Much ado was made about this fact, but in my normal play through, I only really entered the “ship mode” and interacted with the characters like… twice. I used the ship a ton, it’s necessary to traverse the waterlogged world, but interacting with the characters took place at campsites and cities.

Story spoilers begin here

So, great visuals, great sound, great characters, great locales, what’s not to love about Sea of Stars? Well, the story is one of duty, loss, betrayal, but all underpinned with a sense of optimism. When childhood heroes betray you, or when the very best of us is the one to pay the ultimate price, it plays on some very emotional moments. The heroes never give up, even when things seem bleak. Ultimately, I got the feeling that the heroes struggles were somewhat meaningless. The solstice warriors are the only ones who can save the world from these terrible monsters, and only during a solstice, but when your order is betrayed and your mentor just gives up, the heroes are left to fight on their own. And while they do ultimately kind of succeed, the larger conflict feels so much more grand than the journey we go on. While we toil against our little villains, there is a much larger conflict that we’re just a small part of, and it made me feel like our sacrifices and pain was ultimately for naught.

In the same vein of Van Hohenheim and Father from Full Metal Alchemist, a pair of immortal beings (the Alchemist and the Fleshmancer) are waging a centuries long conflict. Once the best of friends and confidants, they grew apart as one descended into ‘forbidden’ arts, while the other, taking the high road, ultimately faded into obscurity. This conflict lies above our heroes in Sea of Stars, and I actually got Tales of Symphonia vibes from the story here. The solutions the heroes sought out were considered impossible by anyone who had experience, but they were too ignorant or dumb to know that. This is highlighted when one of the heroes grabs a flask and hurls it at an abomination, shattering an ancient covenant between the two immortal beings and ultimately causing the death of a party member.

Approaching the end of the story the first time, it feels like some of the characters just got bored and left of their own volition. The Alchemist who seemed so invested in you just, snaps his fingers, leaves you with a puppet, and walks away. The Fleshmancer who was so intent on growing world eating abominations, likewise just, disappears after you defeat his final champion. The Alchemist says “Time to go” and they just leave together. The heroes ascend into godhood, and the credits roll.

There is a true ended, locked behind completing several tasks that will scatter you to the corners of the world again. This time, when you confront The Fleshmancer, you actually take them on directly instead of their champion. A little more satisfying, for sure, but again, the end of the fight just has The Alchemist pull them up off the ground by their hand, and gently nudge them into a portal. The solstice warriors ascend to Godhood and fly off to deal with the world eaters. No real resolution to the conflict of the Alchemist and Fleshmancer, just… an end. The only real difference is a single life saved, which doesn’t really matter in the scope of centuries. I’d expect a true ending to be quite a bit different, with an actual resolution. I enjoyed that the true ending boss was different, but the broad strokes of the story remained the same.

One more criticism comes in the form of Teaks. Not her character specifically, but just the fact that she has a magic book. Heaven forbid she be knowledgeable from her years of dedication and study. Nope, she just has a magic book that spells out the history of certain objects for her. I did enjoy the lore she injected into the story, but I wanted her to be so much more, and actually be competent because of her skills and knowledge, not just the holder of a magic book. She was treated as cargo, and I feel like her character could have been so much more.

Story qualms aside, I still really enjoyed Sea of Stars. Like their previous game The Messenger, it’s obvious that Sabotage Studio is a group of talented and dedicated video games lovers. I still had a blast playing Sea of Stars, to the point where I actually sought out the true ending. While the ending disappointed me, it doesn’t take away from the fact that Sea of Stars looked and sounded great, and I still really enjoyed the adventure. It’s one that I would recommend to anyone who professes a nostalgic love for JRPGs, especially the ones that served as inspiration for this game. There’s plenty of room in the story for a sequel, so I’ll keep my eyes on Sabotage to see what they come up with next.

The Messenger

by | Dec 2, 2023 | Reviews, Video Game Reviews

There’s something special about the indie scene. In a world where media content is seen as products and the priority for many people is to make a return on their investments, the indie scene stands out as a place for passionate people to create the games they want to play, and to showcase their love for the medium.

Sabotage Studio embraces that ethos. Created by just 12 people, The Messenger is a celebration of classic retro-platforming in the same vein as Ninja Gaiden or Metroid, or Castlevania. The inspirations are clear and their reverence for the past is obvious.

Looks can be deceiving. I fear that the 8-bit graphical style will immediately turn players away, especially considering it’s up against hundreds of games that use full 3D models, cel-shaded characters that pop off the screen, and fantastic dynamic lighting effects. Thankfully, The Messenger gets you into the action right away. You move, you jump, and you swing your sword. The key hook of the game is the cloudstep manoeuvre, which allows you to make another jump if you manage to smack something with your sword while in midair. Those mechanics will take you through most of the game, with only your skill and timing being the barrier to progressing. Movement is satisfying, and when you’re fully kitted up, The Messenger can flow through the level in a way that just makes you feel like you’re a ninja.

The Messenger‘s story is simple and fast. A foretold demon appears to destroy humanity, but a hero from the west appears to stop it. He hands you the scroll and tells you to deliver the scroll to the mountain, all the way to the right. And with that, you’re off, racing along various biomes, slashing and jumping over any obstacle that gets in your way. The soundtrack by Eric W. Brown (or Rainbowdragoneyes on Spotify) is absolutely brilliant. It’s fast, frenetic, and feels nostalgic while being entirely new. Every new biome and encounter has thematic music, and every new track becomes a fast favourite of mine.

As you make your way through each of the biomes, you’ll see ledges you can’t reach, and goodies that seem impossible to access. Like any metroidvania game, you’ll obtain a few upgrades to improve your manoeuvrability as the game progresses. A rope dart (it’s a grappling hook, come on) that lets you grab ledges that are out of reach, a wingsuit that slows your fall, and climbing claws that let you cling to walls. There’s a great feeling of discovery as you enter each biome. What upgrade will you unlock? What new enemies or boss will you need to overcome? What story will the shopkeeper tell? All of it kept me engaged and pushing forward.

The dialogue in The Messenger is consistently high quality and hilarious. From the shopkeeper’s long-winded diatribes, to the stories she tells, to the death screen quotes negging you, all the text feels like it’s coming from a group of passionate individuals. Every interaction with the shopkeeper felt like its own reward, and the dialogue with the bosses often subverted my expectations.

At first, The Messenger is incredibly linear. Just keep running right. If you haven’t seen the gameplay trailer, you may not see the big twist coming, but a few hours into the game you unlock the ability to travel to the 16-bit future. Complete with new soundtracks, new art styles, and a sweet new hat, The Messenger opens up. Now you can backtrack to all the places you couldn’t reach before, and the feeling of freedom comes in strong.

Unfortunately, with the feeling of freedom, the feeling of discovery goes away. The biomes are changed, especially with the new aspect of time travel, opening new paths that were previously unavailable to you, and there are a few wholly new areas, but the pacing slows way down. You’re now tasked to collect 6 music notes, and they’re spread all over the world. With only cryptic messages to lead you, it can be a frustrating slog revisiting old biomes, searching for the fork in the path that will lead you to the item that the game wants you to get.

Even worse, the shopkeepers dialogue dries up. It’s hard to overstate how much of a reward getting new quips and stories from the shopkeeper was for me. After you’ve unlocked the ability to time travel, the dialogue becomes few and far between. It’s a dramatic shift in pacing that was jarring and disappointing, but in no way prevents me from recommending continuing on with the adventure. After the 16-bit era is unlocked, the characters you blazed by in the first half of the game come back, and their characters are developed. Going from single line villain’s to having tragic backstories and even helping you on your adventure, making it to the end of each plot line feels satisfying.

I died a lot while playing The Messenger. The little demon assigned to keep you alive would periodically let me know that my deaths were nearing triple digits. I never felt like The Messenger was being unfair. The gameplay and controls are so tight that when I died, I knew it was my own faults, and with enough practice and skill I could overcome whatever trial was keeping me down. The checkpoints are fairly generous, without making me replay long sections of a level over and over again.

Unlike many games releasing today, The Messenger felt like a product of passion. Sabotage Studios wanted to create a fun game that paid homage to the games that made us who we are today. Many games released today make me feel like I’m playing a product, one that’s designed to suck money out of my wallet, or just another game in a franchise. I’ve always despised the games as a service model, and The Messenger is a breath of fresh air. It’s just a good, fun video game.