Andrew Watson

The game is fun, when it actually works. I have a decent PC - high end hardware, but a few generations old. It's effectively as powerful as modern non-pro consoles. I've never experienced a more poorly optimized modern game than this. Unless you're rich or play on console, don't attempt playing this (or if you do, just accept that you might need to refund it). To put it in words Randy Pitchford would understand, if you aren't rich, he doesn't WANT you to play the game. I'd honestly not expect a patch to fix this given how the head of the studio is acting. Hopefully this review will age poorly and the game will be fixed. But it's not fixed now and the studio doesn't seem like it wants to fix it. I'll just stick to games made by people who actually want players to play their games...

I feel like I got robbed. Not only is this just a glorified user manual with some basic mini games thrown in, but it costs $10. Those two things combined make this the worst launch "game" I've ever seen. If it were free, sure, it'd be worth a try. If it was an actual game, then sure, I'd say try it. But it's neither and it's frustrating. There's a recipe for success for these console tech demos: Astro's Playroom. Why Nintendo, the masters of platformers with some of the most recognizable characters in the world, didn't just copy what Astro's Playroom did is baffling. Throw some Nintendo characters in a short platformer tech demo and this would be a no-brainer even at $10. Nintendo went from having the best "tech demo" ever made (Wii Sports) to having the worst one ever made (Welcome Tour). If this is a preview to how Nintendo is going to treat the Switch 2, I'm worried.

Sea of Stars is a great game. Music bangs, gamplay solid, environments beautiful, with a near flawless story. If you like JRPGs, you will almost certainly like this game. The art style in particular is amazing. The characters have pretty interesting backstories, even if you have to theorize on a few characters a bit (which I always love). I'm very interested to see where the studio takes this universe next, assuming they stick with it. I could gush about how much I like this game for a long time. Instead, I'm gonna be critical and mention the two things I dislike about the game. They by no means make this a bad game, but it's hard to love a game as much as I do this game and have these two things I dislike. First is the endings. Minor spoilers, but both the true and "normal" ending seem very rushed. All is well, the day is saved, but suddenly something completely unexpected happens and characters have like half a game's worth of character development in about 5 lines of dialogue. Unless I missed something, there was no foreshadowing that, no build up to what the consequences of certain actions were. Yes, some of the things that happen were foreshadowed, but some just seems to pop out of nowhere. Just, bam! Here's some things, go do whatever you gotta do right this second. It feels like the writers needed to get certain characters to a certain spot by the end of the game, but couldn't figure out how to get them there slower. Instead, suddenly they know they have to do this thing out of nowhere, fully accept it, and do it without making a big deal about it. The true ending handles this a bit better, but not much better (the true ending is the far better ending, though still feels rushed). Second is the first ending's boss. It's way, way to easy. The true ending has a better boss, but if you walk off the beaten path more than once near the end of the game and know the basics of the game's mechanics, you can stomp the first final boss into the ground with little issue. I know the true final boss is harder, but the first final boss should also be at least a minor inconvenience rather than a literal stepping stone. Kinda makes the whole buildup pointless. And narratively, having the first final boss not even remember who you are seems like a missed opportunity. But those are my only complaints. Everything else, especially the end game content (which you SHOULD NOT spoil yourself on), is fantastic! I'm very much looking forward to what this studio releases next.