Sabotage Studios has been on an impressive streak lately, with back-to-back hits, including The Messenger, a side-scrolling post-apocalyptic adventure, and its prequel, Sea of Stars, an RPG featuring the Children of the Solstice who must stop the Fleshmancer.
Sea of Stars is a success for the studio, selling over five million copies. It has also spawned a new expansion, Throes of the Watchmaker, which is due this week.
Throes of the Watchmaker is fleshed-out expansion complementing the base game
The expansion is considered a post-game adventure, focusing on Valere and Zale as they face new challenges. Set in the miniature clockwork world of Horloge, a cursed carnival threatens the residents, and our heroes are sent to deal with this new situation. Throes of the Watchmaker is a fleshed-out expansion that complements the base game immensely well.
The Sea of Stars expansion is a brisk 10-hour romp, changing several mechanics for the new area you’ll explore. Both characters have new powers to contend with and master. Zale will become a Juggler while Valere learns to be an Acrobat. Both roles are circus-themed curses and unlock new attacks, damage types, skills, and combos. To even begin this new content, you’ll have to have beaten the base game to enter Horloge. Once you do, though, Valere and Zale are reset to the base level and given new classes to master. It is a wise decision as it allows the developers to focus on telling this story while adding new mechanics that don’t break the game.
The new classes are more impressive than I ever expected them to be and somehow fall in line with their innate elements, too. Zale’s Juggler class is fire-based, so watching him juggling and then dealing massive damage by correctly inputting the corresponding buttons. Valere’s new Acrobat class is equally excellent to master, thanks to abilities which make her once again a heavy hitter.
Players gain access to a new playable character, the Artificer. The friendly engineer robot unlocks laser-shooting capabilities and joins Valere and Zale to save Horloge. With the rest of the party sitting this adventure out, the Artificer is an excellent addition to the team, capable of summoning the likes of cannonballs and trampolines to take on enemies.
The Watchmaker and the Fleshmancer forged an alliance in the past, which led to the creation of the Clockwork Castle. Together, they worked on the location, but the Fleshmancer secretly worked against the Watchmaker, crafting a cog to create Horloge. After making this new world, the Watchmaker knew something was wrong, which led her to shrink herself down to enter Horloge to see what was wrong. With the Dalocus created, the Fleshmancer’s trap was set, and it began to zap the strength from the Watchmaker and, in turn, created an evil clone of herself. Sealing away the copy in Horloge, the citizens of this new world must now face the threat while the Watchmaker tries to find a way to save them from the Dweller of Scourge.
Enter the Sea of Stars Once More
Picking up at the Solstice Shrine, Valere and Zale receive a note from the pirate Hortence, who requests that they join them on the Vespertine. You cannot pick up and play the expansion without prior knowledge of the world, the characters, and the story; entering without that knowledge will make following more difficult.
Throes of the Watchmaker uses some existing plot threads from Sea of Stars to tie into the new world you’ll explore. With the message in hand, the Children of the Solstice head to meet their friends and see why Keenathan is in a bind. It turns out that during a previous journey to enter the eponymous Sea of Stars, the Sky Council, which consists of giants guarding the entrance, denied Keenathan the approval needed to join.
It turns out Keenathan isn’t Keenathan. With no true name, the Sea of Stars was not accessible, but a suggestion from Teaks sets off the chain of events leading up to the expansion. We learn Horloge’s Watchmaker can engrave Keenathan’s name onto a magical pocket watch, which should make the name official.
Throes of the Watchmaker reminded me how much I loved the aesthetic of this world and its characters. The sprites are unique and filled with inspired designs, which help sell the circus aesthetic well. There’s so much charm behind everything on screen, and it’s elevated by a score that sets the tone for the adventure because the sprites have been redone to fit the circus theme of the expansion.
Sea of Stars suffered from a disjointed script filled with errors. Some of those errors were corrected, but many remained. The expansion isn’t nearly as bad, but it still suffers from issues where the writing is hit or miss. In some instances, the writing is pretty straightforward, but other scenes play out differently, with a fourth-wall break here and there.
Tons of circus-themed minigames are available to keep players busy, plus the return of Wheels from Sea of Stars. Most games are fun and worth completing if you want to unlock some great gear, which I highly recommend searching out.
Verdict
Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker is an excellent follow-up that further fleshes out supporting characters and backstory. This expansion is a wonderful companion to Sea of Stars and continues to remind players of its outstanding combat system and better soundtrack. What’s surprising about Throes of the Watchmaker is that it isn’t just a free expansion; it adds a lot to the lore of this world and gives fans an exciting reason to revisit this world and these characters for another timely adventure.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PC
