We had the opportunity to test a demo version of Curse of the Sea Ratsa platform, adventure and combat game in the pure tradition of metroidvania. The developers at Petoons Studio created the characters, sets and animations by hand, which is a real originality these days. Is that enough to make it a good game? Answer in our first impressions below.
On the animation side, if the fluidity is generally there, there is still a certain rigidity in the movements of the characters during the fights.
On the story side, we are in the presence of four prisoners of the British Empire who have just been transformed into rats by the villainous pirate and witch Flora Burn. As if that were not enough, the latter has as a bonus kidnapped the daughter of the captain of the prison boat which was taking the four loufiats to undergo judgment. As you have already understood, our four convicts will set off in pursuit of the witch to try to defeat her in order to regain their original appearance and above all to recover the child to return him to his father who, in exchange, will offer them regain freedom.
Visually, Curse of the Sea Rats offers handmade graphics and this brings a certain cachet to the title. However, the realization is uneven and if the characters are really well done, there is in the sets encountered through the different levels a lack of detail, depth and finish which contrasts a little negatively. On the animation side, if the fluidity is generally there, there is still a certain rigidity in the movements of the characters during the fights. If it’s voluntary, to give an “old-school” air to the game, it’s successful, but a bit more flexibility would be appreciated. On the sound side, on the other hand, it’s good with discreet melodies during the exploration phases and other more rhythmic ones during the encounter with a boss. The sound effects are as they should be, simple and effective.
the gameplay of Curse of the Sea Rats stick to the genre metroidvania and we will have to explore, fight and collect resources to improve the skills of our heroes (in a global way, which makes it possible to pass from one to the other without asking questions). Each character has several attacks (simple, ground, aerial and special) that you will need to know how to combine well to survive. Speaking of which, the enemies we encountered in this press demo weren’t exactly tough and compulsively pummeling them by sticking close to them still knocked them down even though our meager initial life bar didn’t really help. the mistake. It is moreover by chaining fights (the enemies respawn if we return to the level) that we will collect enough to advance our character through a skill tree that can boost our offensive and defensive abilities. It will thus be easier to approach the bosses, who, if they are not very delirious in their attacks, have a huge life bar which empties rather slowly (unlike ours…). Finally, there are also objects to recover that allow our heroes to access places that were initially inaccessible and this forces us to revisit the previous places to see if nothing has escaped us. To avoid wasting too much time, it is possible to unlock “Ancestral Gates” to teleport from one point to another.
Our first impressions: Could do better!
Finally, Curse of the Sea Rats remains generally pleasant to play and offers a pleasant experience. However, as it stands, it only brings a “déjà-vu” experience which lacks the little technical and magical spark that could make it unavoidable. The good news is that the studio still has a few months to polish its baby since the release is scheduled for 2023. To be continued.
