Sea of Stars Review
Sea of Stars is a turn-based, fantasy RPG that harks back to many old 16 bit era JRPGs. Originally funded through a kickstarter campaign, the game leans heavily on nostalgia ultimately feeling like a loose copy of times gone by.
There is a lot to like in Sea of Stars. The art, music and overall feel of the game are fantastic. The pixel art is well polished and player animations fit the style well. Individual levels as well as the over world are well designed and full of interesting detail.
Combat on the other hand remains frustrating throughout. Enemies have some weaknesses but the overall strategy of most becomes dealing as much damage as possible and hoping you don’t die. I felt like I had to head back to the campfire after most battles due to high enemy damage and limited access to healing.
The game provides some balancing items in the form of Relics. Relics change key aspects of the game including one that heals the party after every battle. While the Relics allow finer control over the level of difficulty it is a shame that the raw experience remains unbalanced.
The biggest let down of the game is the grind. The story itself is fairly linear and each area boils down to a process of battling some enemies then deciding to either continue to slowly gain XP or attempt to run past the various battles. This left me feeling frustrated as I moved through the map looking for paths to sprint past the various enemies as quickly as possible.
Overall, Sea of Stars reminded me that turn based RPGs were once an enjoyable genre. With so many turn based franchises moving towards real time combat there is a gap left for deep, interesting turn based RPGs. Sadly however, Sea of Stars didn’t hit the spot. The game is by no means a flop but misses the mark enough that it becomes hard to recommend to others.
Rating: 2/4 - I want to play less games like this