The term “Metroidvania” has now acquired almost sacred status. This is of course mainly due to some fantastic representatives over the past few years, and it’s also a genre where indie games have thrived quite a bit. Curse of the Sea Rats is the latest adventure to fall into this category, and it puts you in the role of a rat fighting your way through a large map to break the curse that made you, well, a rat has (hence it is called ‘ratoidvania’). Although it takes a while to start, I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it ended up being, because although the game has some issues that cause it to lose some integers, it’s still enjoyable overall.
You turned into a rat a pirate rat to be more specific, and that’s the central theme that I found brilliant. The mix here is perfect and allows you to unleash an extremely colorful and original design. To break the curse you have to rescue the captain’s kidnapped daughter, and so begins the journey through countless rooms where the map will quickly become your best friend to help you get through a level and of course sometimes go back. Because if there’s one thing a Metroidvania is known for, it’s not being able to get past certain paths you’ve already seen until you return later in the game.
The same is true here, where the double jump, which allows you to reach rooms you couldn’t reach before, becomes your best ally. In general, I find the map and navigation well designed, but not perfect. Some unnecessary backtracking when you die is the big problem with the game, it gets pretty frustrating having to run back through rooms to make another attempt at a boss or passage. There is also a balance issue in the game that becomes very noticeable after a few hours of gameplay. The hero, or rather each selectable hero, because there are four of them, has its own skill tree, and before you complete it, both enemies and bosses are much more of a challenge now than later in the game. . Once you get a few skills under your belt, the game’s difficulty drops dramatically. Most of the bosses in the game are a breeze, and the only way the game needs to provide a challenge is through the classic scenarios where a failed jump will kill you instantly.
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The frustration of having to go through many rooms again is becoming more and more noticeable. The same is also true of the route to the in-game store where you can buy items, since these locations are scattered at fairly long distances and while you can buy a handy whistle to teleport there, there’s no way to go back , where you are left from You came at the beginning
The environments that you move through are very beautiful and I’m very impressed with the variety they offer us. It’s a great point, both in terms of design and graphics, and a big part of the reason I made it to the credits was the environments I found. Because although the map is one big interconnected maze, it’s varied in a good way. Even the music manages to add to the atmosphere, but a tiny negative finger must be pointed at the annoying sound effects when the rats are forced to scream with every jump or hit. Unfortunately, I also have to point out that the game crashed quite often, and since I’ve already made it clear that repeating a level is frustrating, when it crashed it was even more annoying.
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In addition to some jump’n’run sections, you’ll find plenty of action here. The screens are full of enemies and there are also many boss fights. As with much of the game’s content, it’s all well done but lacks the polish that would make it a well-rounded title. The enemies have a good variety, but are often more of a nuisance to get rid of than fun challenges to confront. Likewise, the controls aren’t precise enough, so jumping off platforms can be tiresome. Many of the game’s boss battles are perfectly fine, but the greatest satisfaction in the game lies in the exploration thanks to the many beautifully designed and exciting environments visited.
Curse of the Sea Rats has many qualities that make it a good game and if some of its shortcomings were fixed it could be a game not to be missed. There are too many moments holding it back to really stand on its own, but having played it quite a bit over the past few days, it’s also clear that it’s been a very enjoyable adventure in many ways. With a little more tweaking, Petoon’s Studio would have won by a landslide victory.
