Sabotage Studio has announced that its retro-inspired turn-based RPG Sea of Stars will release on Nintendo Switch.
This is the next game from the developer behind The Messenger, which is set in the same universe. It will tell the story of the Children of the Solstice, introducing you to Valere and Zale who are fated to become Solstice Warriors. Their Sun and Moon powers combine allowing them to perform Eclipse Magic, with which they must fight the monstrous creations of an evil alchemist known as The Fleshmancer.
The game’s soundtrack has original works by legendary composer Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Inazuma Eleven, Xenoblade Chronicles) as well as those from Sabotage Studio’s own composer Eric W. Brown.
The developer has outlined the game’s features below:
- Engaging Turn-based Combat: Pressing the action button in sync with the animations increases damage output while reducing incoming damage. Along with timed hits, combat features multi-character combo attacks, boosting, and a strategic “locks” system offering options to play with different damage types in order to hinder enemies while they are channeling powerful attacks or spells, all in an immersive take on the genre; no random encounters, no transitions to separate battlefields, and no grinding.
- Unshackled Traversal: Swim, climb, vault, jump off or hoist up ledges as you traverse seamlessly through the world with a navigation system based on platformer expertise that breaks free from the classic bound-to-the-grid tileset movement.
- A Story Rich Adventure: Dozens of original characters and story arcs will take you on a captivating journey. Sometimes epic, sometimes silly, and other times emotional, Sea of Stars does its RPG duty of exploring classic themes of adventure and friendship, while also being chock-full of the unexpected twists and events you’d expect from a Sabotage production.
- All Fun, No Tedium: Enjoy combat without fear of hitting a wall and having to grind for experience or items; in Sea of Stars, defeat requires a change in battle plans, not hours of repetition to better the odds in a rematch.
- A World You Can Touch: There are many ways to hang out in the world of Sea of Stars if you feel the need for a change of pace in your adventures. Sailing, cooking, fishing, stopping by a tavern to listen to a song or play the infamous tabletop game known as “Wheels”…every system has been designed to deliver an experience that pays respect to retro classics, while rethinking in some areas to offer a smooth and modernized experience.
- Radiant Lighting: Dynamic light effects pairs with a world-influencing day/night cycle to make every area feel truly alive, pushing the traditional visual limits of classically-styled 2D pixel-art games; the only way to properly tell the story of heroes conjuring the powers of the Sun and the Moon.
Sea of Stars will release digitally on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch worldwide in Winter 2022.
