Sea of Stars Review [SPOILERS]

December 28, 2023

Platform: Xbox Series S

Total gameplay time: 25 hours, 52 minutes
Review Score: 10/10

Sea of Stars is a JRPG released by Sabotage Studio in 2023. It is also one of the best games I have ever played. The game takes inspiration from past JRPGs like Golden Sun, the Chrono series, and many others, and beautifully modernizes it to create an experience that is familiar, yet entirely new. Major plot spoilers are hidden below.

World/Characters

Sea of Stars does a very solid job of world-building, telling an overall good story of the Solstice Warriors, Valere and Zale, as they try to save the world from The Fleshmancer. There are multiple plot twists that add entirely new layers to the story, such as The betrayal of Brugaves and Erlina, the arrival of Resh’an and explanation of his relationship with Aephorul (aka the Fleshmancer), and the origins of Seraï. The story beat that hit me the hardest was easily Garl’s death. After being nothing but selfless and happy all game, he sacrifices himself to save his friends. Using a Flask of Borrowed Time, the Warrior Cook is able to stay alive long enough to complete one final heroic act, doing what he does best, making bread in order to awaken the Sleeper, allowing the Solstice Warriors entrance into the titular Sea of Stars. After this task is complete, Garl dies surrounded by his friends while flying on the Sleeper’s back. A sequence follows that shows every character that he interacted with grieving his loss, showing how his kindness truly affected the world around him. The devs did a great overall job in handling this part of the story and the depiction of loss and how it affects people. The writing is somewhat standard for a JRPG, but there are many likable characters such as Garl, Teaks, and the pirate crew.

Combat

The combat system is turn-based, with a clock system that counts down how many turns an enemy has until they make a move. Enemies can also have locked actions, in which the player must use specific attack types in order to break the locks and prevent them from executing. This adds a level of strategy to every battle, and the player must think carefully about what action to take and when to take it. There is also a level of skill involved with combat, as the player can time button presses to deal extra damage as well as block incoming attacks. One particular attack that can be super effective if mastered properly is Valere’s Moonerang. If you are able to time your button presses, you can reflect the Moonerang over and over again to deal massive damage. In my experience, I was able to win multiple boss fights through effective execution of this move. The combination of skill and strategy makes combat very engaging. Enemies are placed on the overworld similarly to Chrono Trigger, which I much prefer to Final Fantasy-style random encounters.

Other Gameplay

The other gameplay element of Sea of Stars is exploring the world as you progress. The game does a great job of having an interactive world to traverse. Throughout various areas, the player must jump and climb their way through the environment in order to proceed. On the way, the player can find hidden items and pick up ingredients for cooking. There are also puzzles to solve in the game’s numerous dungeons. They require a decent amount of thinking, but I didn’t find any of them super frustrating. Another element is the aforementioned cooking. This is the main way to acquire healing items, and it is done by going to a campfire and using ingredients. Different recipes can be found in the overworld and purchased from shops.

Graphics

Sea of Stars has some of the most beautiful graphics I have ever seen in a video game. The entire game has beautifully detailed and animated pixel art, and gorgeous backdrops across the game’s world. There is also very well-done dynamic lighting, which is showcased through the Solstice Warriors’ ability to change the time of day. I played the game on Xbox Series S, and was constantly using that system’s capture button to take screenshots of the game just because of how beautiful it is to look at.

Music

The soundtrack to Sea of Stars is incredible. Most of the tracks were composed by Eric W. Brown, with contributions from Yasunori Mitsuda (composer of the Chrono series, among others). The battle themes are very exciting, and the overworld themes are very atmospheric and add on to the sense of adventure. In particular, the Dweller battle theme does a great job of creating a feeling of dread during those key battles. Mitsuda’s influence and contribution can be seen in tracks such as the Great Archives and Coral Cascades themes,which remind me heavily of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross respectively. The game also has variations/remixes of existing themes that play at different points in the game, such as the pirates’ Bardcore band covers of many of the game’s songs. Another very nice detail is the music changing with the day/night cycle, similarly to various Pokémon games.