I believe a good JRPG can be one of the cosiest experiences in gaming, and after playing the demo for Sea of Stars, I felt transported - Ratatouille style - back to my childhood playing on the Super Nintendo. I spoke to developer Sabotage about how it captured the spirit of the '90s classics so well.
French indie outfit Sabotage doesn't have a long, illustrious track record. Its first game, the The Messenger, was great, but still a far cry from a grand globe-trotting fantasy adventure like Sea of Stars. And yet, it's swinging for the fences with its second title, invoking some heavyweight classics in the genre and aiming to exceed them. From the short slice of the game I've played so far (a demo still available on Steam), I think it might be able to pull it off.
I roped in Thierry Boulanger (creative director and writer) and Michael 'Miko' Lavoie (environment artist) from Sabotage to walk me through some of the process that has gone into making this highly promising game. Unsurprising given the leap in graphical fidelity from The Messenger to Sea of Stars, but manpower was key.
"The Messenger's dev team was seven people. This time it's around 26. The plan with The Messenger was that if it works, we get to make 'The RPG'. It was a good bootstrap project for the company. Smaller scope, less risk and an easy sell. It feels like it all happened in the proper order of things," says Thierry.
NOSTALGIA TRIP
While the demo skips on narrative introductions, jumping straight into an early town and dungeon, it wears its inspirations clear and proud on its sleeve. Anyone familiar with the two Squaresoft SNES-era classics Chrono Trigger (now on PC) and Super Mario RPG (being remade for Switch) will feel immediately at home, with elements of both clearly apparent.
Denne historien er fra October 2023-utgaven av PC Gamer.
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Denne historien er fra October 2023-utgaven av PC Gamer.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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BITING BACK
The tooth is out there in adventure TEETH OF GLASS
SMOKE ALARM
THE INVISIBLE SMOKE FACTORY is back in a Flash
MECH ME OVER
Move over Mario, here's mech-based platforming in ARMORED SHELL NIGHTJAR
"I like Pillars of Eternity better than Baldur's Gate III"
PILLARS OF ETERNITY deserves a bigger space in the CRPG pantheon
"A harrowing dark fantasy about hapless, bright-eyed children"
Spelunking into hell with MADE IN ABYSS: BINARY STAR FALLING INTO DARKNESS
THE IMMORTAL LOCK
A massive, meaty game in a single horrific Quake map.
NEW MANOEUVRES
Building a dedicated sim racing space in an average family house
OVERWATCH 2
Save me space girl.
REET GOOD TIME
THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE is a riotous recreation of Yorkshire
THE PLUCKY SQUIRE
How many games let you make friends with a MtG card?