It’s still only November, but I’m ready to call it: Sea of Stars developer Sabotage Studio wins the award for Best Free Update of 2024. If you haven’t played the turn-based RPG yet, which is inspired by Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, and a little bit of Diablo, now is definitely the time. Combining a smart, funny story, some unique twists on combat, and a seriously beautiful visual style, Sea of Stars has just been effectively remade. Battles are better, the prologue has been expanded, new difficulty settings are available, and you can now play the entire campaign with friends thanks to co-op mode.
In our own Sea of Stars review, contributor Lowell Bell hands it 9/10 and calls it “a spiritual successor to some of the greatest JRPGs ever made.” You play as Valere, Zale, and Garl. Valere and Zale are two elemental Solstice Warriors on a quest to unlock their full powers and defeat an ancient evil. Garl is their old pal and a fantastic cook who tags along to keep up their spirits. Played from a classic, semi-isometric perspective, although combat in Sea of Stars is turn-based, it’s also real-time.
Valere, for example, attacks enemies using a throwable, circular dagger. When it boomerangs back towards you, if you hit block at the right time, it will ricochet off Valere’s armor and hit her opponent a second time. Keep up the rhythm, and you can chain together a huge combo.
More than a year and 8,500 user reviews since it was released, Sea of Stars still has an impressive ‘very positive’ rating on Steam – and now the entire game is bigger and better. The new Dawn of Equinox update overhauls basically everything.
Combat has been totally reworked, and battles are now partly driven by ‘Mystery Locks’. Essentially, when you encounter a new enemy type, you have to use your own abilities to reveal their weaknesses and the ways to counter and break their spells. There are also three difficulty settings available when starting a new game, the entire prologue introduces the battle system much more quickly.
Most importantly, however, Sea of Stars is now playable, start to finish, in three-player local co-op. One person plays Valere, one Zale, and one Garl. If the RPG didn’t already feel like the ultimate fantasy world road trip, it definitely does now. Keep in mind, that the entire update is free. You can also get Sea of Stars on sale right now for $23.44 / £19.76. Just head here. It’s also available on PC Game Pass.
Otherwise, try some of the other best turn-based RPGs, or maybe the best fantasy games on PC.
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