Curse of the Sea Rats
- April 6, 2023
- Petoons Studio
Offering a fun piratical adventure, excellent animation and a fun, engaging story with full voice acting, Curse of the Sea Rats is a great single or multiplayer romp despite some stumbling blocks.
Get on Steam
Get on Xbox Games Store"Curse of the Sea Rats" is a 2D "ratoidvania" platformer with hand-drawn animations and 3D environments. As prisoners transformed into rats, you must fight dangerous bosses and explore the vast Irish coast to uncover secrets and capture the pirate witch who cursed you. The game offers a non-linear world with multiple areas to discover.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- The game features beautiful hand-drawn art and animations that evoke a nostalgic feeling reminiscent of classic Disney titles.
- It offers a fun co-op experience, allowing players to enjoy the game together, which enhances the overall enjoyment.
- The exploration is rewarding with a well-designed map, diverse biomes, and plenty of collectibles and side quests to discover.
- The controls are often described as clunky and unresponsive, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences.
- Combat mechanics suffer from issues like inconsistent hit detection and contact damage, making encounters feel unfair.
- The game lacks quality of life features, such as a proper inventory system and clear navigation aids, which can lead to confusion and tedious backtracking.
- story29 mentions
- 52 % positive mentions
- 34 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The story of "Curse of the Sea Rats" is generally viewed as simple and unremarkable, yet it manages to engage players with its charming art style and entertaining narrative. While some find the plot lacking depth and the character development basic, the inclusion of unique voice lines and side quests adds replayability and variety. Overall, the game offers a lighthearted and enjoyable experience, though it suffers from design oversights that detract from its potential.
“A fine story, wrapped in a beautiful art style that resembles the nostalgic feeling of classic Disney titles.”
“The story is cute and engaging, and some of the side quests are very sweet.”
“Curse of the Sea Rats is a comfortable, unique metroidvania game with a good story, characters, and stunning aesthetics.”
“The story is, quite frankly, bad and uninteresting.”
“The story is pretty basic, and some of the voice acting could've been done better for some characters, but I won't complain about it.”
“But the story is silly and if this is the first game for these folks, it's really pretty.”
- gameplay21 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Curse of the Sea Rats" has received mixed reviews, with some praising its charming art style and character diversity, while others criticize its clunky controls, unbalanced mechanics, and lack of essential features like a quest list. Players noted that the game struggles with recording inventory states upon death, leading to frustrating grinding for resources. Overall, while the game offers a nostalgic aesthetic and some entertaining moments, its mechanical shortcomings and technical issues detract from the overall experience.
“It's a simple game gameplay-wise with cute animation, great written characters, and at times hilarious dialogue (I recommend playing with David).”
“Each of the four characters you can play is highly different from the rest visually but also gameplay-wise.”
“Amazing and careful craftsmanship, hand-drawn cute graphics, and excellent gameplay supported by an above-average playing time makes this game great and funny.”
“The gameplay isn't fun to me.”
“I love the look of this game, but the controls and gameplay are just clunky.”
“Curse of the Sea Rats’ charmingly nostalgic art direction can only partially hide a metroidvania whose mechanical shortcomings are numerous, and whose substandard technical stability is irredeemable in its launch state.”
- graphics20 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful art style, reminiscent of classic Disney animations, and stunning hand-drawn visuals that create a vibrant and immersive world. Players appreciate the variety in backdrops and character designs, as well as the charming animated cutscenes that enhance the overall experience. However, some critiques mention that while the visuals are impressive, they can sometimes clash with gameplay elements, and the combat may feel repetitive despite the appealing aesthetics.
“A fine story, wrapped into a beautiful art style that resembles the nostalgic feeling of classic Disney titles.”
“The art style of this game is beautiful, and I love the small animated cutscenes where it feels like watching an animated movie.”
“I also must add that the visuals are absolutely gorgeous; there are so many beautiful vistas and backdrops with tons of variety.”
“Someone will love the game for co-op and visuals, but not me, sorry devs.”
“The combat is rather basic, and the environments clash with the art style at times.”
“The plot and story are not that interesting, and the game constantly mocks you for dying.”
- music13 mentions
- 69 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its fantastic quality and ability to enhance the immersive experience, with a soundtrack that beautifully complements the various biomes and settings. Players appreciate the sweet, mellow tunes and the engaging original soundtrack (OST), which they find memorable and enjoyable enough to listen to outside of gameplay. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature that significantly contributes to the game's atmosphere.
“The music is fantastic.”
“Speaking of sounds, the game has great sound effects but an even greater soundtrack.”
“This OST transported me into the world, and I'll for sure listen to the amazing OST some more in the coming weeks.”
- character development5 mentions
- 80 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The character development in the game is highlighted by its vibrant and well-animated designs, which are praised for their personality and artistic style. However, while the character aesthetics are impressive, the combat mechanics can feel repetitive and simplistic, with most enemies easily defeated, though boss encounters offer some variety. Overall, the character design stands out as a strong point, contributing to an enjoyable gaming experience.
“Each character design is bursting with personality and animated to perfection.”
“And again, the character design is absolutely fantastic; I really loved it.”
“[Enjoyable art and soundtrack, excellent character design, overall satisfying combat].”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its humor, featuring hilarious dialogue and well-written characters that enhance the experience. Players appreciate the clever references and amusing item descriptions, all complemented by charming hand-drawn graphics. Overall, the humor adds a delightful layer to the gameplay, making it an enjoyable experience.
“It's a simple game gameplay-wise with cute animation, great written characters, and at times hilarious dialogue (I recommend playing with David).”
“Amazing and careful craftsmanship, hand-drawn cute graphics, and excellent gameplay supported by an above-average playing time makes this game great and funny.”
“The world hides lots of references and funny item descriptions.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, players report a generally stable experience with minimal major glitches, although some initial mechanical difficulties were noted. After a period of play, most users found the game to function reliably.
“There were some glitches, and it was hard to figure out some of the mechanics at first, but then we played it for weeks.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly when attempting to retry boss battles, which can detract from the overall enjoyment and pacing of the gameplay.
“It makes trying again on a boss tedious.”
“The grinding feels endless and repetitive.”
“I spend more time grinding than actually enjoying the game.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the game highly replayable, with many expressing enthusiasm to revisit it in the future, particularly after forgetting key story elements.
“This even further increases replayability, and I'm excited to come back to this in a few years when I've forgotten most of the story.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is commendable, with users reporting smooth performance and minimal issues, though one player experienced a single bug that required a force quit, resulting in slight progress loss.
“The performance was excellent, with no crashes and only one minor bug that required a force quit, resulting in minimal progress loss.”
“The optimization of the game is impressive, allowing for smooth gameplay even on lower-end systems.”
“I appreciate how well the game runs; it feels polished and responsive, enhancing the overall experience.”
Critic Reviews
Curse of the Sea Rats: A Graphically Stunning Ratoidvania – PS4 Review
Curse of the Sea Rats is a comfortable, unique Metroidvania game with a good story, characters, and stunning aesthetics. It lacks challenge and a difficulty selector, but supports up to four-player couch co-op, so you can save the Admiral's son together.
80%Curse of the Sea Rats Review – Avast, ye vermin!
Curse of the Sea Rats is a competent 2.5D Metroidvania that offers an absolutely delightful style. The story and gameplay are basic at best, with design oversights and shallow combat that unfortunately drive this simple narrative. Still, the small package comes with a fun four-player coop that complements the classic cartoon animation and critters throughout the journey. This platformer won’t rattle the scene, but it’s a great game for families to play.
65%Curse Of The Sea Rats Review
Curse of the Sea Rats’ charmingly nostalgic art direction can only partially hide a Metroidvania whose mechanical shortcomings are numerous, and whose substandard technical stability is irredeemable in its launch state.
50%
