And of course in the tavern you may think "ok let's give Wheels another round now that the story's done". This idea that even when you're 'done' with the game maybe you want to hear more music, or didn't cook every meal, maybe I can still fish, or maybe I can figure out that cryptic clue now. But even for players that want to get on and complete the quest, when you're finished you might want an excuse to go back.
Some players maybe, but a lot of players you wouldn't expect them to be "oh yeah I care so much about Wheels that I'll spend hours playing it".
It becomes its own meta, its own way to play the game. For example there are a number of retro-inspired RPGs on the market, so does this extra scope help in terms of getting noticed and fans being excited?Ībsolutely. I read it somewhere, I think on the official game page! How important are these extras in terms of enhancing the impact of the game. We saw in official details you mentioned 'wheels', is that the game? We hope our take is fresh enough - either through re-thinking things or keeping others that have aged well - and giving a distilled contemporary version of what was great about those ideas, while also bringing what's interesting today. It's all these things you can do for 0 minutes or 10 hours, depending on how you're feeling. It's all optional, but we heard from the demo where it was just navigation and combat, "can I do more, is there a reason to stay, like fishing and so on". It'll have its own layer of collectables and the ability to customise things a little bit. There'll also be an official small game that you play when you go to taverns and things like that. So you can go "oh I've been wanting to make this". Also it let us look at those systems, so if we send you to do something you'll stumble upon other things that you can grab, use later and so on. The battles looked fun, creative and dynamic.Įven in the mechanics you've shown there's a lot of room for experimentation in things like the cooking, is that an example?Ībsolutely. Depending on a character's abilities you can parry attacks, pick up enemies to throw them together, gather power to unleash magic and more. The camera zooms in and off you go, into skill-based encounters that bring the likes of Super Mario RPG and its conceptual successors ( Mario & Luigi, Paper Mario) to mind. You can climb and jump around the environment, while battles are triggered in the world without any cutaway to a battle screen. There's a lovely flow to them, with Sabotage modernising the genre and stepping away from grid-based movement. With cooking, fishing, a minigame called 'Wheels' and more, what we see is a game that will feel alive.Īnother standout impression from the gameplay was the game's movement, traversal and battles. We spoke a lot about the importance of side quests and minigames for fleshing out the experience, optional goodies for those that want more. Sea of Stars, courtesy of fan support and funds raised, is looking like an impressive RPG not just in terms of its core game but also the smaller details. As we'd go on to discuss this not only allowed the team to expand from around 8 people to more than 20, but it gave the game its true scope. Thierry Boulanger, president & creative director at Sabotage Studio, was taking us through the preview and explained that the company had put all its profits from The Messenger, along with the Kickstarter funds, into the project. The success of the studio's first game, alongside a Kickstarter campaign that was a triumph, has allowed the studio to truly make the game it wants. This time we have an RPG with varied approaches - a lot of gameplay is top-down and relatively close to the action as you move through towns and dungeons, sometimes it zooms out for world traversal and so on. While Sea of Stars has some ties to the studio's breakout hit, they're in the same 'universe', the gameplay and feel is a major diversion.
While the acclaim of The Messenger, and the publicity heft that Devolver Digital can bring, would tempt many studios to do a simple follow-up and spin the wheel again, there's much to admire about the approach of Sabotage. It was published by the powerhouse Devolver Digital, but Sabotage is self-publishing its next title that will have been 4+ years in the working by the time it arrives later this year - Sea of Stars.
In that case developer Sabotage captured the imagination of retro gamers and those looking for a strong - and hugely entertaining - challenge. The Messenger made a notable impact when it arrived back in 2018, with its sharp design and Ninja Gaiden-inspired gameplay also giving way to a major twist and very modern design.
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