Sea of Stars (2023)

Starting with the good things, Sea of Stars is a beautiful game with vibrant pixel art and charming animations. The game offers striking visuals from beginning to end.

The gameplay is decent good even, but gets old by the midpoint. Reminiscent of Super Mario RPG mixed with Chronotrigger. The games unique mechanic is a lock breaking system. You are given the chance to cancel enemy attacks if you hit them with a combination of elements usually from multiple characters. This is interesting but sometimes becomes myopic where combat is entirely reduced to these puzzles. By the final 20% of the game about 20 to 25 or so hours in, the combat elements felt like a real drag on the experience.

The game included puzzles and many secrets to find. Most puzzles involved manipulating blocks in some way but there was enough variety to keep it interesting. Most puzzles felt achievable to me and didn't compel me to go look up a walkthrough.

Character customization was limited and armour and weapons worked on a straight tier up system. I would have liked some cosmetic changes to different armour and weapons but there were minimal to no changes, forgivable given how good the game looked. Most character customization came from talisman slots similar to ring slots in the Dark Souls series. It never felt that impactful to me but perhaps a better player could utilize them more efficiently.

The game offers a number of custom difficulty modifiers which I appreciated. I wasn't particularly good at the game so the modifiers made it much more approachable and were also able to provide quality of life elements.

Unlike the company's first game, The Messenger I didn't find the humour landed as well with me. Though some parts are still charming and funny, the majority of the dialogue is forgettable or at worst cringeworthy. Hopefully this will improve in any ongoing projects from Sabotage Studio.

The story was serviceable if rather basic. The world itself is somewhat interesting but the game rarely delves into it as far as I'd have liked so it comes across as ultimately shallow. The games worst sin is how flat the characters are, with very limited characterization especially the main characters. Much of the story seemed centred around one character, who I personally didn't mind but if you don't like that character you probably wont like story much. Other characters you meet are interesting but again the game doesn't delve deep enough into them for my taste. Really the majority of the game is combat with limited breaks to go do other stuff.

I don't regret playing this game, and if you enjoy Super Mario JRPG style combat or beautiful pixel art I would recommend it. If a game having a good story or in-depth world is important to you probably skip it. Having played this and The Messenger I am still interested in what Sabotage Studio puts out next, though I hope they learn from this game's shortcomings.

I love this game!

I don't think it's perfect, but the sheer charm and passion this game oozes is amazing! From the amazingly expressive pixel art, its lighting and vibrant colours, to its 3 different versions of each of its banger tracks (day/night/pirate shanty), to its meta shared universe with their previous work Easter egg lore dumps. It was impossible for me not to love this game

The combat is something akin to a mix of Chrono Trigger and Paper Mario. Turn-based but with an active component for extra damage/damage reduction.

The story is pretty troupey but I'd say the characters and the world will endear you regardless.

This game was leaving gamepass at the end of August 2025, and I learned this on August 18th, and from the 18th to the 30th, I was pretty religiously playing this game. I had a really fun time. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but the combat was fun with just the right amount of depth. Timing attacks was pretty fun, if a little too strict. The world was very beautiful and I liked the characters and the worldbuilding. The biggest drawback is the story, it is laughably bad. Two of the main villains have 0 reason for being evil and the overlooking evil baddies for a lot of the game have 0 depth to them. There is an interesting story that is going on in the background, but even that falls apart during the true ending of the game. Speaking of the ending, the regular ending is once again a laughably bad story part, but after getting everything needed for the true ending (which was fun to do, it was mostly sidequests for the main characters that had fun boss fights, the only annoying parts was collecting the collectibles to unlock the true ending but even then it wasn't too bad since there is an in game mechanic to help with that ), the true ending itself wasn't even good. Overall, almost the whole time I was playing the game, I was really enjoying myself and enjoying how fun the combat was and marveling at how nice everything was to look at.

The one thing in the looks department that was weird was like the hand drawn cut scenes that happen throughout the game. They aren't bad, but they are such a whiplash from the pixel style of the actual game, that I really don't think they should have been included.

To talk about the DLC, I was left dissapointed by it. Once again, the story is incredibly lackluster. The problem with the DLC compared to the base game is that the level design is so boring, it's all basically go to a room, do a puzzle, fight an enemy. In the base game, there was more exploration offered. Also, the special cut scene of the DLC is laughable for how hard it is to achieve it, I'm happy I didn't bother going through the steps. The actual combat itself was still as fun as the base game, but I thought during the final boss it was kind of dumb how they revert back to their original powers instead of keeping the DLC powers.

Overall, I would rate the base game like a strong 8/10 because of how fun it was to constantly play and how nice it was to look at everything, but the story was just worse than non existent. I would give the DLC a 7, it's free DLC which is awesome, but it has the same story problems as the base game, and the levels were not as fun. Overall though, a great great game and am looking forward to what this studio makes next.

As I've gotten older (into my late 30's) it's been harder and harder to find a game that feels like it's worth finishing.

Sea of Stars captured this feeling, along with scratching a nostalgic itch I didn't know I had. I loved everything about this game. I found myself able to play an hour or so before bed every night, and it was just difficult enough to make things interesting, but not so much that it got my heart & head racing on trying to figure out how to beat a boss.

Graphics - While it's pixel-based, the colors from this game really pop, and all of the levels are beautifully designed. (My favorite part was actually travelling into the Sea of Stars for the first time -- what an acid trip of colors lol)

Soundtrack - An 8-bit masterpiece. I recommend headphones for this one.

Overall Gameplay - Delightful level design and tons of puzzles on each level to make exploring satisfying.

Combat - Traditional JRPG turned-based party combat system, where you can time both your attacks and defense to increase damage given/decrease damage taken. Again, the dynamics are intricate enough to keep things interesting, but not so difficult you're having to replay boss fights over and over again.

Story - This is what brings it all together -- this story was amazing. For the first time in years, I felt compelled to finish a game for no other reason than just to see how the story ended. There were twists, turns, and surprises along the way that I just didn't see coming.

TL;DR - I recommend this game if you love old-school games like Final Fantasy, Super Mario RPG, Golden Sun, etc. It’s one of those rare games that reminds you why you fell in love with gaming in the first place.

Sea of Stars really did its homework. As you play it, the seasoned RPG player can pick out dozens of influences, but it doesn't just mash together a bunch of popular ideas, it integrates them all beautifully and even improves a number of them

The most obvious comparator is Chrono Trigger, which in terms of gameplay and aesthetics, Sea of Stars both honours and builds upon.

Unfortunately the story in Sea of Stars is a major weak point, so the enjoyment of playing it really comes down to how slick the experience is. It's never a chore to play, even when the objectives get a bit repetitive towards the end.

Ultimately I spent a lot of my time playing this wondering how much more incredible Chrono Trigger would have been if it had 30 years of games before it.

Woo boy, is there anything that can kill my interest in an rpg faster than terrible, forced jokes coupled with 4th wall breaks as part of the main story?

I’m not sure but I think I need a moment to forget what I just read. Sabotage Studio is great at nailing game mechanics but they really, really need a new writer.

I just started this game last night and I am SERIOUSLY impressed! The pixel graphics are gorgeous, the music is PHENOMENAL, and the combat is really engaging. Two hours in, it seems like the kind of game that has the perfect balance of a simple game that I can play to wind down after a long day, but just challenging enough to keep it interesting.

Idk who recommended this one to me but you're the real MVP today!

The Dawn of Equinox update is out today. c:

I backed this game, but never got very far when it finally released over a year ago. I'll get back to it eventually, especially since these updates look great. I'll probably wait for the DLC next year.

The entire game is now playable as 3-player couch co-op, the prologue has been revamped, there are new relics, speedrunner modes, updated difficulties, and more.

I'm very sad that I have to pass on this game.

I play turn based games to avoid the intense focus needed in a shooter or action games. So, when a developer adds a mechanic that requires me to time my button presses it fundamentally undermines why I play turn based games.

I want to get lost in the strategy without a need to be locked into any specific moment in combat.

This is obviously a personal preference and I can see why someone would love this game. If there is a way to turn this off please let me know.

Well, I just got my Platinum Trophy for Sea of Stars and WOW - what a game. Honestly if you are a turn based RPG fan, you owe it to yourself to play this one!

There was a Relic I received towards the end of the game called the "Artful Gambit" relic that is necessary for a trophy and WOW - it made the last few bosses wildly fun and tense, highly recommend turning it on for boss fights when you get it!

Play Sea of Stars, if you haven't yet! Check out my playthrough here!

Sea of stars is an excellent RPG clearly inspired by SNES greats - with obvious influence from chrono trigger, star ocean, and Super mario RPG. The game's art is gorgeous, full stop, and it completely nails the 16/32-bit vibe it is attempting. The story is somewhat hit or miss, with pacing issues and underdeveloped characters, but some interesting beats and fun twists.

The timing-based combat system is engaging but often repetitive, and doesn't really come into its own until you have a full complement of characters to swap in and out. I didn't have the trouble that some have complained about with the arbitrariness of timing hits and blocks for the most part (though I immediately flipped on the relic to let you see when you've done it correctly, and I'd recommend doing so to anyone having trouble). I actually enjoyed playing with the artful gambit relic a bit more than I'd anticipated - a gameplay option that punishes you severely for missing timing but rewards you in equal measure for doing well, and I wish it was accessible earlier in the game. If I had any major complaint about the combat it's that certain attacks are way overbalanced if you have a handle on timing - Valere's Moonerang and Seraï's Venom Flurry were both extremely optimal for both groups and single enemies if you can time enough hits, and by the end I was fully sick of bouncing a blue moon off of Valere over and over again, and would often play suboptimally just to avoid it.

Sea of stars was unfortunate enough to come out at the same time as another throwback JRPG, Chained Echoes, and has drawn many unfavorable comparisons to that game, but I think that is a bit unfair. If anything, the games complement each other well - Chained Echoes is a bit messy but shines in the tactical layer of combat, the overarching story, and mechanical complexity and variety of builds and skills, while Sea of stars is gorgeously rendered, more action-oriented, and an overall more polished experience, if a bit less ambitious and novel.

I 100% completed the messenger shortly before playing this game, and while there are some fun tie-ins, I don't think it's at all necessary to enjoy Sea of Stars. Honestly, the relationship between the two games is a bit odd: without spoiling things, it essentially helps you immediately guess the ending, and also accounts for certain characters that otherwise appear to abruptly exit the plot with no explanation. The inclusions are cute though, and callbacks in the soundtrack in particular made me smile, so I'd say it mildly enriched the experience.

I would play this game if you are interested in a polished, gorgeous throwback RPG, that is very faithful to the SNES/GBA era in ways both good and bad - the 2D art and simple but satisfying combat shine, but the flat plot and tedious treasure-box hunting would also fit right into titles of that era.

This is an interesting one to review because every aspect of the game was really great with one or two frustrating flaws.

I thought the combat system was very good, the locks system is brilliant and introduces a layer of surprisingly deep puzzle solving to every encounter, and I kept discovering new techniques even into the final boss (e.g. I had an epiphany when I figured out how to optimize healing by benching hurt party members, wait for a healers turn, then switch all hurt members in at once). The most challenging fights require careful decisions around which party members should be active vs benched, when to use regular attacks to build up a reserve of magic, when to consume magic, when to use combos to build ultimate meter (ultimate attacks being the most valuable magic-source for locks), that add up to a level of strategy that traditional JRPG battle systems can't match. However, the super-mario RPG action mechanics for a few of the attacks became a huge PITA especially as the game wore on, Lunarang I am looking at you.

The soundtrack was musically pretty good, but it sounded really bad. Authenticity to 16bit audio felt a little unnecessary here and wasn't handled super well, as most tunes just sound painfully thin.

The items system is a stroke of genius. I hate items in RPGs. If its possible to get through the game without ever using or crafting items, I will. Sea of Stars reinvents the idea by eliminating most items altogether. Instead, you cook meals at campfires and can use them to heal in battle, the catch is you can only hold 10 meals at a time, requiring you to be careful about when to use them until you find the next campfire. Each of those 10 meals feels meaningful and has a strategic purpose, and its a brilliant way to fold healing items into the gameplay loop while eliminating the rote inventory management and hoarding mentality that typically comes with items in RPGs.

Exploration was wonderful, a lot like Golden Sun but with an element of verticality that was impressive for a 2D topdown game. However, you don't really unlock a good fast travel system until the very end of the game, and it was such a pain to get anywhere! If I had known the fast travel system existed, I would have waited to complete side quests until the end of the game and saved HOURS of backtracking.

For me, the biggest flaw with this game is the writing. It's not great and it too often gets in the way of the gameplay. There are too many lengthy cutscenes, a strange obsession with the character Garl, and truly boring main characters. It has its moments but they are too few and far between. For a game that proclaims to recapture the nostalgia of the great 16-bit RPGs, they really drop the ball on one of the key elements (for me anyway) - being an edgy badass. These characters would sooner sob into their self-prepared parfaits than show a bit of confidence or style.

Another game I decided to drop.

Got pretty far, actually. But halfway through Serai's world and I just couldn't take it anymore. SoS seemed right up my alley but turned into a major disappointment.

It looks GORGEOUS and most boss fights are pretty cool, but I liked nothing else. The combat gets boring, it can be unbalanced at times, music sucks, story is awful, characters have no charisma (Garl is the worst) and I absolutely HATED how every dungeon is heavily focused on traversal puzzles. Exploring in this game is a chore.

I got no joy out of Sea of Stars, unfortunately. A lot of people are comparing this to Chained Echoes, but I totally disagree. If you want a cool retro JRPG experience, I highly recommend CE over SoS.

Overall it started off stronger than it ended.

Pros: the music, pixel art, gameplay, fighting, GARL!

Cons: the fights got stale, the game overstayed its welcome, but the biggest con was over underutilized the world building was as well as the characters. The plot was all over the place and there wasnt a lot of payoff for things that were set up, ESPECIALLY the ending. So many unanswered questions. To get the true ending you must 100% complete, no thanks. I watched a video instead.

I'm disappointed I didn't like this more. It felt like a true homage to 16-bit JRPGs and probably better then most that came out in that era. The pixel art is top notch and music is well orchestrated.

In a way, I feel like I've sadly aged out of this genre. The characters and dialog feel like it was meant for kids. The gameplay is very linear, the combat slow and not particularly challenging, and the scrolling dialog scenes left me impatient. None of that is very unusual for the genre. I'm sure I would have loved this game as kid and I can understand why others give it positive review now. It's just not the type of game I want to sink many hours into at this point of my life though.

Sea of Stars es un juego de rol por turnos inspirado en los clásicos del género, especialmente en Chrono Trigger, uno de los referentes más influyentes de la época de los 16 bits. El juego nos cuenta la historia de dos niños del solsticio, Valere y Zale, que tienen el poder de usar la magia del sol y la luna para realizar la magia del eclipse, la única capaz de hacer frente a las monstruosas creaciones del malvado alquimista conocido como El Carnicero. El juego se ambienta en el mismo mundo que The Messenger, el anterior título de Sabotage Studio, pero mucho tiempo antes, por lo que no es necesario haberlo jugado para disfrutar de esta aventura.

Sea of Stars destaca por su cuidado apartado gráfico, que combina el pixel art con efectos visuales modernos, creando un mundo lleno de vida y detalle. La exploración es muy fluida y dinámica, permitiéndonos nadar, trepar, saltar o interactuar con el entorno de diversas formas. El combate es por turnos, pero con un sistema de sincronización que nos permite aumentar el daño o reducir el recibido si pulsamos el botón de acción en el momento adecuado. Además, podemos realizar combos entre personajes, usar objetos, bloquear ataques enemigos y aprovechar las ventajas y desventajas de los diferentes tipos de daño. Los combates no son aleatorios, sino que se producen al entrar en contacto con los enemigos que vemos en el mapa, y no hay transiciones a un campo de batalla separado, lo que hace que la acción sea más inmersiva.

El juego también ofrece una gran variedad de actividades secundarias, como cocinar, pescar, navegar, escuchar canciones o jugar al famoso juego de mesa llamado “Ruedas”. Cada sistema está diseñado con respeto a los clásicos retro, pero también con una visión moderna que los hace más accesibles y divertidos. La historia está llena de personajes originales y arcos argumentales que nos llevarán por un viaje épico, emotivo y a veces humorístico, explorando temas clásicos de la amistad y la aventura, pero también sorprendiéndonos con giros inesperados y eventos propios de una producción de Sabotage.

Sea of Stars es, en definitiva, un auténtico homenaje a los JRPG de 16 bits, pero también una obra con personalidad propia que sabe innovar y ofrecer una experiencia fresca y satisfactoria. Si os gustan los juegos de rol de corte clásico, no podéis dejar pasar esta joya indie que os hará disfrutar de principio a fin.

A very good RPG, didn't quite reach the 5 star or 10/10 rating for me. I loved the aesthetic, the animation and colors are vibrant and beautiful. Character and enemy design were likewise terrific and each location felt unique and interesting. I think individual parts are stronger than the whole, I didn't quite get into the world building or story as much as I'd hoped. I'm also not a huge fan of hiding the true ending behind a bunch of side quests, but that's a minor nitpick.

Sea of Stars doesn't shy away from the fact that it's heavily influenced by Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Secret of Mana and Golden Sun - heavy hitters, though I don't think it rises up to any of those in terms of quality, it's pretty darned close. Huge fan of timed hits in turn-based combat!

Soundtrack is excellent (especially in the late part of the game). Garl rules!

Just finished up Act 1 of this game and here are some random thoughts:

• The art, character design, environment design are all really pleasing
• Soundtrack is absolutely stuffed with amazing tunes (the boss theme is ingrained in my brain)
• I like the RPG mechanics, locks are a cool system, and the Paper Mario style mini games for attacking and defending is a nice touch
• I was not sold on the story in the beginning, but after finishing Act 1, I am more on board
• The names of characters and dialog are extremely hit or miss, there are times where I groaned from reading something

Great game so far excited to keep going.

Played about an hour and a half over the past two days. Enjoying it, a bit of classic JRPG with the kinda slow character/story development at the start but honestly it’s opened up way quicker than I expected.

I beat the first boss(Slug thing) and made it I guess to a semi open world area? Went fishing which was a fun little mechanic.

I’ve enjoyed the aspect of jumping into the water and the climbing ect it feels a tad bit more modern in that sense.

The combat also has a dodge and a double damage aspect with good button timing.

So far I’m enjoying it.

Combat: Good. The button presses let it be more involved than the standard turn based game JRPG. Another plus is that the game does not need you to grind levels to beat enemies or bosses. it is a bit disappointing that there are not a lot of skills and most equipment don't give other bonuses except for the usual stat raise. in the later acts, fighting standard enemies felt repetitive and I'd rather avoid combat if possible.

Graphics and Sounds: Great. The pixel art aesthetic sometimes made it hard to distinguish interactable elements in puzzles and height of some platforms due to the perspective and shading.

Story and Writing: Disappointing. Some moments felt rushed and unpolished especially towards the later acts. (Garl's talk with the council threw me off. The way that scene was handled made me feel like he was just making stuff up)

I really wish I could just delete these from the game.

Even though I enjoyed this demo, I was a bit wary of the full game because of the price and how much it tried to be like Chrono Trigger, a game I wasn't the biggest fan of. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry, as I loved this. Combat is a lot more involved than CT, with being able to restore mana on normal hits (and on blocks if you have the accessory), button prompts for nearly every ability, managing your live mana, choosing your turn order, and managing your combo points. Later on, you can even use items as a free turn every round, making the game significantly easier if you want, but it was already easy enough without item abuse. The dungeons are also pretty nice, with some puzzles and great pacing. Sadly, the puzzles in here end up not really stumping you for more than a second, at least not until the optional end/postgame. I had hoped they also had a few fewer rest spots to force better food/resource usage. All the bosses had unique designs, and there are a lot of them! While they don't get too complex, there is a lot of variety in each encounter, making it very satisfying to fight.

Speaking of difficulty, the game is a bit easy on the baseline. There are some relics (pretty much accessibility options with some QoL) that do increase the difficulty, but the first one I found in the early game (4 or 5 hours in) was after I had already spent my gold, and then later on I just misattributed it to being the super expensive item, missing out on it. Meanwhile, the more interesting one was near the end of the game. I know it's partially my fault, but maybe the relic purchases shouldn't have been tied to the main game currency, or just give one of them early on for free like they do for others. I guess I'll just do a NG+ run with the relic later on.

The main cast here is all great, and I loved one of the later characters. You could tell they put a lot of effort into the animation of that character. The story was good, but I don't usually place too much stock in them, so YMMV. It did get me engaged for nearly the entire run-through, with twists I didn't see coming. You don't need me to say it, but the music is great, and I can already see myself spamming the boss music. There were a surprising number of references to the Messenger in the back half of the game. While you don't need to really know any of the story from there, it's nice to pick up on things you would miss otherwise.

Random other things...

• They really love to give you fights with limitations, like 5+ times at least, and I loved all of them (I want more JRPGs to do this)
• I enjoyed exploring here and felt the rewards were worth it. They include skills, cooking recipes, ultimate weapons, and rainbow conches (the main collectible)
• Traversal for everything but the main map (slow as fuck) was fun, especially when you get a certain upgrade
• The "sidequests" early on were mostly just random NPCs having little side stuff to do like clearing a field or feeding specific meals but, they got better towards the end
• The minigame might have a little too much RNG early on, and it's easy to abuse a strategy, although I still enjoyed it for reminding me of other similar games
• Cutscenes were used sparingly, but I felt they were effective
• I liked how it was a low-level numbers game
• This ending is going to be so divisive that some people are going to HATE it