Sea of Stars

I’m pretty sure that I’m the resident Sea of Stars enjoyer at this site, so let me make the case for it real quick. It’s an homage to the RPGs of yesteryear, namely Chrono Trigger and the original Golden Sun, but it’s a lot more light-hearted and looser than either of those games. I’ll be the first to admit that Sea of Stars doesn’t tell the most compelling story, but it makes up for that with a vibrant and expressive look, as well as a battle system that I absolutely cherish. In it, opponents have a set of “locks” that can be broken by attacks depending on things like weapon types or elemental weaknesses. If you manage to break every lock, which can be a bit of a puzzle in and of itself, you stagger your opponent, delaying their moves or even resetting their process. This is a layer added atop a battle system that welds the timing of Super Mario RPG to the combination attacks of Chrono Trigger

If that’s enough to get you in the door, Sea of Stars takes you on a hell of a journey, and manages to succinctly do a lot in roughly 30 hours. Sea of Stars is easily some of the most straightforward fun you can have with a bite-sized RPG, and you can pick it up on Steam for $25 right now.