Sea Of Stars is finally here and it’s great—a wonderful blend of old-school RPG and modern sensibilities that taps into the nostalgia center of my brain rather effectively. Canadian developer Sabotage has put together a fantastic retro-RPG that brings me back to days spent adventuring in Final Fantasy III and other old-school JRPGs like Chrono Trigger.
The game has a gorgeous pixel-art art-style that’s reminiscent of older games but is far crisper, more colorful and more detailed than anything we had back on the Super Nintendo.
I mean, just look at this:
It’s gorgeous!
Sea Of Stars is out now on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC, though PlayStation gamers who have a PS Plus Extra or Premium subscription can play it for free, which is a nice perk.
In any case, as wonderful as the game’s graphics, gameplay and clever turn-based combat are, I wanted to give a shout-out to the original soundtrack from composer Eric W. Brown. Brown previously composed the OST for Sabotage Studio’s previous game, The Messenger.
Brown had a little help this time around. Japanese video game composer Yasunori Mitsuda, known for his work on the Chrono, Xeno and Shadow Hearts franchises, composed over ten of the game’s tracks. Two of Brown’s musician friends—Vincent Jake Jones and Reece Miller—lent their talents to the game’s original soundtrack as well.
You can listen to a handful of the game’s tracks here, and there’s an option to purchase the digital soundtrack on Steam. Of course the best way to enjoy this music is while adventuring as Valere and Zale, wielding the magic of the moon and sun on an epic quest to take down the evil Fleshmancer.
Here’s the launch trailer:
Sea Of Stars raised over $1.2 million on Kickstarter when the Quebec-based developer launched the crowdfunding campaign in 2020, significantly more than the team was looking for. Three years later, backers will be pleased to see what a gem the final product has turned into.
Currently, Sea Of Stars sits at 88/100 on Metacritic for PC, 91/100 on Switch, and 90/100 on PS5 and Xbox Series X. It has a Very Positive user review score on Steam.
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