During Nintendo’s surprise December 2021 Indie World presentation, one exciting stand-out was Sabotage Studio’s newest game, Sea of Stars. The studio behind the highly lauded platformer The Messenger released a trailer for Sea of Stars, which appears to be heavily influenced by classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger. Sea of Stars even boasts a beautifully-rendered, retro, pixeled art style. With anticipation already mounting, when will Sea of Stars be released?
Sea of Stars’ release date is sadly a while off. During the initial announcement, Sea of Stars release date was revealed to be “Holiday 2022,” which could have meant November or December. A more specific date has yet to be announced. In June of 2022, however, Sabotage Studios announced on Twitter that the release date of Sea of Stars had been pushed back to 2023. Notably, there is no other information narrowing down the window of release to a specific quarter. Sea of Stars was initially announced as a Nintendo Switch title, but it has since been revealed that it will also be coming to PC via Steam.
The credibility of Sabotage Studio’s love letter to retro JRPGs is already through the roof. The trailer also revealed a special guest composer for Sea of Stars, befitting the genre the game pays homage to Yasunori Mitsuda, who composed the score for Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and the Xeno series.
Sabotage Studio’s debut game was The Messenger, released in 2018. The Quebec-based studio enjoyed a subsequent barrage of awards for the game, including Best Indie Debut at the Game Awards. These awards and the breakout success of The Messenger laid the groundwork for Sabotage Studio’s foray into the world of JRPG homage. While we wait for the release of Sea of Stars, our preview with the developers earlier this year should lend some insight into the progess they’ve made and some potential stumbling blocks that may have come up with the ambitious project.
