Sea of Stars: Impeccable game design meets mediocre writing

In theory, Sabotage Studios’ Sea of Stars sounds like the perfect JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) – glimmering with bright colours, lovely mountains and valleys, exciting combat, and beneath it all, an immersive SciFi/fantasy story. When I purchased the game on Steam after googling ‘best turn-based JRPGs’ and reading the game’s brief, my expectations were sky-high, and after playing the game for eighty hours (not proud of it) over several months, I’m not sure if they were completely met.

I’m not quite sure why I had high expectations. Perhaps it was the prestige the game had, having won ‘Best Independent Game’ during the 2023 Game Awards. Perhaps it was because of how stunning the promotional videos looked. Perhaps it was the first few minutes, with the cut-scenes, and the nostalgic Chrono Trigger homage (Chrono Trigger being a quintessential ’90s JRPG). The premise sounded refreshing and just what I needed after finishing a series of rather disturbing psychological horror games.

The protagonists Valere and Zale are solstice warriors – through harnessing the power of the moon and the sun, respectively, they have to take down the evil Fleshmancer. They start the game young and spend the prologue preparing at Zenith Academy with their mentors. After that, when they mature, there are whole worlds they must traverse to discover the Fleshmancer’s reality, and why he took a turn for the worse.

It felt slightly stiff to begin with, and overall unrealistic given that the protagonists were pre-teens in the beginning

While all of this felt compelling, issues started popping up quite early. It was precisely when the characters began exchanging dialogue. Not the gameplay, not the combat, not the narrator, but the dialogue. It felt slightly stiff to begin with, and overall unrealistic given that the protagonists were pre-teens in the beginning. Valere and Zale had no unique personality traits that you could ascribe to them, and their best friend Garl, who had no magical abilities, seemed way too positive and happy-go-lucky. The delivery, then, came off as clumsy, as I could not imagine anyone speaking this way. The strange part was that this was only an issue with the dialogue – the narrative voice was fairly well-written and served the game well. The game still looked stunning, however, and after shelling out some 20 quid, I shook off this feeling and decided to give the game a real chance.

What followed was an inconsistent experience – equal parts of fascination and mild annoyance. As Valere and Zale cleared Zenith Academy and left for the real world, their friend Garl joined them in their quest. Following this, they began with some mountains, hills, and valleys, then moved on to beaches and port towns, and finally, graveyards and ghosts. Several other playable characters joined the journey throughout. A lot of monsters to defeat and difficult bosses to play, and sure, some form of an underlying story and mystery.

But that was it – there was some form of a story. Not an entirely clear narrative, but glimpses of something. As for why this was the case, I’d look no further than the character-work. Valere and Zale specifically continue to have no distinctive traits. No signature dialogue or food-related pet-peeves. All they seem to know is their quest, and despite the major sacrifices they have made to dedicate their life to this cause, they never have any doubts, let alone a crisis of faith.

A popular theory is that Garl, the human, is the actual protagonist, while Valere and Zale are deuteragonists. This might explain some issues, as Garl does have more of a clear characterisation. He is the ‘Warrior Cook’, who can brandish pan and pot lids as a shield to induce blunt damage. He also continues the same happy-go-lucky gimmick we see in him as a child, despite losing an eye to a monster right before Valere and Zale went off to Zenith Academy. His lack of magical powers informs a struggle to match up to Valere and Zale. Moreover, I spent most of the game anticipating Garl to betray Valere and Zale, finding his innate positivity too unrealistic to be genuine.

Garl never betrays Valere and Zale, and despite his endless positivity, he seems to have no other characteristics or quirks going for him

However, this isn’t as convincing an argument as it seems. Primarily because Garl never betrays Valere and Zale, and despite his endless positivity, he seems to have no other characteristics or quirks going for him. Not even any foreboding moods, or mild jealousy or slight angst. No, he just loves the life of adventure and exploration, living under the shadow of his magical friends for an indeterminate amount of time. Whether or not Valere and Zale are deuteragonists to Garl doesn’t matter, then, because Garl arguably isn’t a compelling enough protagonist on his own.

Between this annoyance, however, lay a rather immersive and exciting experience. In truth, as long as no one was speaking, and I wasn’t focusing on the primary storyline, it was highly enjoyable. The main highlight was the soundtrack, which I can still hear after a month of having finished the game. Each area in the game has a distinctive soundtrack, informed by classic JRPG instrumentation. Composed by Eric Brown, Yasunori Mitsoda, and Vincent Jake Jones, the music is ever-so-versatile and always catchy enough to find a way into my ears. From sea-shanty-inspired tunes to thumping electronica, sometimes I felt like going back to certain game locations for a few minutes just to hear the music.

There comes a point where, especially the bosses, can feel somewhat exhausting

The combat was also largely compelling, with each playable character as well as enemies having certain strengths and weaknesses. This allowed for combat to be intuitive, as opposed to randomised, and more strategy-based as a result. Lacking personal experience in FPS games, I tend to prefer when combat is informed by strategy, rather than the player’s own dexterity. This was reminiscent of the combat in RPGs like Omori and Undertale, which also operate on strategy and in-game combat theory (such as through enemy or player emotions and intentions).

However, there comes a point where the combat, especially involving the bosses, can feel somewhat exhausting, as breaking the enemy’s locks (by hitting targeted weaknesses) becomes impossible due to arbitrary timers. Causing 3 venom damage and 4 blunt damage under one turn through a character that can perform neither is truly implausible. However, not addressing locks will result in an enemy using a special attack, which could either do not much of anything, or KO all your characters, causing you to restart the 15-minute process all over again. Perhaps this could be solved by tediously grinding through difficult enemies to level up, but after a certain point, this is also challenging, as the XP requirement to level up rises exponentially. I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you don’t like to grind in your RPGs, most of the game will not be fun.

The visual experience of this game is also fabulous – highly beautifully crafted, and playable on a rusty Dell Laptop without any lag. This game is definitely playable if you don’t have specific gadgets dedicated to gaming. The traversal is often three-dimensional, with mountain-climbing and grappling hooks, adding a high degree of visual depth. After a certain point, you can also freely explore the game’s open world to finish achievements or do side quests, which makes the game rewarding for completionists.

In truth, while I did truly enjoy all of the above parts, it did feel like all of this beauty was covering up the deeper inconsistencies of story and character within a game. At times, it felt more like an action/adventure game than an RPG, and while I deeply enjoy action/adventure games, this didn’t fulfil my main expectation: a SciFi/fantasy story with compelling world-building, characters, and plot-lines.

Sea of Stars was fun, but not much more, which is fine if that’s what the game promises

To its credit, there is a newly released DLC (‘Throes of the Watchmaker’) which better explores Valere and Zale’s weaknesses – Zale’s innate desire to be great, and Valere’s forced calmness. The DLC also has the same advantages as the game, with a larger focus on puzzles and strategic combat than exploration. It is truly impressive to see the game designers reflect on the game’s flaws and partly address them through this means. However, the majority of the main game is still riddled with the previously mentioned issues, and thus, Valere and Zale’s apparent flaws seem a tad random as they never pop up during the main game.

Overall, Sea of Stars was fun, but not much more, which is fine if that’s what the game promises, and understandably grating if you’d like to experience much more. I’d recommend this game for its stunning visuals, amazing music, and also to beginners with limited gaming equipment. With that, I’d also recommend having lower story-based expectations. In the end, I am excited about what Sabotage Studios do next – I just hope they spend slightly more time on substance and keep up the style.