Sea of Stars

Sea of Stars is an upcoming role-playing video game by Sabotage Studio. A prequel to The Messenger (2018), it is set to be released for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on August 29, 2023.

Sea of Stars is a role-playing game (RPG) centered around two heroes named Valere and Zale, who use the power of the sun and moon to fight against an alchemist. Gameplay includes elements of puzzle-solving and turn-based combat, with players able to control up to six player characters. The game is inspired by role-playing games such as Illusion of Gaia, Breath of Fire, and Chrono Trigger and features sailing mechanics, side quests, and combat focused around finding the "elemental weaknesses" of enemies. Sea of Stars is located in the same setting as The Messenger, but is set thousands of years before the events of the latter game.

Development
Sea of Stars was announced on March 19, 2020. First launched as a project on Kickstarter, Sabotage intended to develop an RPG that was more ambitious than The Messenger. Creative director Thierry Boulanger said that Sabotage wanted to expand and tell a new story in the same game world, using a new genre unlike the metroidvania style of the first game. He wanted to include "higher stakes" with six characters and exploration that differed from the linear nature of The Messenger. The game was scored by Eric W. Brown, who previously composed for The Messenger under the alias of "Rainbowdragoneyes", with 10 guest tracks from Yasunori Mitsuda. Sea of Stars is scheduled to be released for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on August 29, 2023.