Developer: Petoons Studio
Publisher: PQube
Release date: April 6, 2023
Available on: PC, PS$, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Curse of the Sea Rats is a hand drawn 2D metroidvania with 3D backgrounds. The game takes place in 1777, where a crew of a ship has been cursed by the witch Flora Burn. Players choose from four different prisoners to play as. Combat takes place in real time, featuring swords and pistols as the heroes battle pirates on an island. A mystical wizard helps you level up your abilities, and there is some fast travel between discovered gates. A playthrough can take up to 12 hours, and the game has multiple endings.
PROS
Beautiful, hand drawn animation
Good platforming and combat
Engaging characters
Multiple endings
CONS
Various technical problems
Multiple game crashes
Confusing map
Some controls (like crouching) very finicky
Lot of retreading ground for fetch quests
Repetitive enemy types
In all, Curse of the Sea Rats should have been a very fun metroidvania. It’s well animated and the characters are distinctive from each other. Enemies are a different story, as you’ll see plenty of the same type over and over again as you’re off on yet another fetch quest. A poor map doesn’t help you find your way easily, though some fast travel does open up through discovered portals. Some of this could be forgiven, if it weren’t for the technical mess the game is in currently. Glitches, unresponsive controls, and outright game crashes occured too frequently. Hopefully the issues will be resolved with additional patches, as it could be a very fun game. As it is, players may do better to hold off for a sale.
6/10 stars
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