Curse of the Sea Rats review

Not quite ship-shape, but not bad enough to walk the plank.

Irrefutably, Curse of the Sea Rats is a visual delight. When Barcelona-based Petoons Studio first began crowdsourcing, there was a conscious emphasis on character design and animation. Concept art showed a quartet of anthropomorphic rodents, as well as enemies and locations that resembled a Don Bluth film. Each character was hand-animated at 24-frames-per-second, reflecting the fluidity of a traditionally animated blockbuster. Meanwhile, play hinted at a Metroidvania-style adventure inspired by Hollow Knight, Guacamelee, and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Nearly three years later, Curse of the Sea Rats has now reached release. All the beauty once pledged by the marketing team is here. When any of the game’s combatants move, they don’t look like stiff marionettes. Instead, clothing and hair toss about with every step, and determination is conveyed through a confident stride. Bosses intimidate by lithely lifting weighty objects while ghostly ally Master Wu Yu radiates an ethereal, blue glow. Likely, the wing-flapping albatross in one background is a reference to Disney’s The Rescuers. There’s an appreciation for the studio’s hand-drawn, artisanal animation from the 1960s through the ‘80s that is unambiguously evident.

An Appropriately Cartoonish Tail

Narratively, the game offers an 18^th-century context, detailing a prison ship transporting detainee pirates from the Caribbean back to Great Britain. But during the vessel’s journey, a pirate witch named Flora Burn uses a magical talisman to turn the human crew into rats. The ship crashes near the Irish coast, sending Flora fleeing with the admiral’s son. The despondent leader asks the four different detainees to help find his child and capture the witch- promising clemency if they are successful.

Expectedly, players step into the roles of the four rodent rescuers, with each character boasting their own attack style and special skills. I opted for Buffalo Calf, a Cheyanne Hunter who can toss a trio of daggers while jumping, which offers the benefit of a ranged attack. But Akane Yamakawa, a naginata-wielding fighter is another viable choice. American settler David Douglas and Bussa from Barbatos offer alternatives but their short blades mean that you’ll strike from dangerously close to foes.

Having to Share the Cheddar

Gather some friends and Curse of the Sea Rats can offer a local cooperative game. The benefit here is that each additional ally can draw the attention of enemies while a partner moves in for the kill. Individually, progress can be complicated by foes who make a beeline toward the solitary hero. But instead of scaling difficulty for each additional participant, Sea Rats forces teams to split up any found resources. This proves to be an unsatisfying form of balancing. But as disappointing as that design decision is, the inclusion of online play would have ultimately been a net gain.

No matter which whiskered rogue you select, there are some basic similarities with movesets. Each character can guard or parry against adversary attacks. But because enemy tells occur in an instant and your defensive stance is little more than a short animation, getting the timing down is unnecessarily difficult. Unless you’ve polished your reflexes to ninja-like speeds, evasion through dashes and double-jumping will probably be the best approach.

Fighting Tooth and Nail

Alternately, you can grit your teeth and grind through Curse of the Sea Rats. Fortunately, you’ll level up at a respectable rate, gaining additional health and currency that can unlock abilities on a skill tree. However, know that the game feels unavoidably laborious at first. Early on, coming into contact with some foes will deplete half your health bar. As such, you’ll probably cycle through killing a few subordinates before retreating to the safety of a save point to restore any lost vitality.

Sure, that’s a basic formula for most metroidvanias. But here, the first few hours show such little leniency that you’ll rarely risk venturing out to reconnoiter the next fast-travel node or location where you can power up. Typically, I’m making the auto-mapping component work as fast as possible.

Some of the game’s problems seem connected to Sea Rats’ sinuous animation. The system doesn’t appreciate cancels. As such, jumping toward an explosive-tossing enemy means risking the possibility of unavoidable damage, which can be aggravating. Collision detection is a bit unconventional as well. You won’t just receive damage coming into contact with weapons and claws. Instead, grazing a shoulder as you attempt to leap over a charging boss will steal your health. Collectively, these design quirks make the game’s partiality for enemy respawns all the more aggravating.

Ahoy, Stilted Voice Acting Ahead

Yet, as stiff as Curse of the Sea Rats can often be, the game does get better. Leveling up your character gradually offsets many of the annoyances. Dying doesn’t even seem overly punishing. Yes, you’ll have to backtrack to the location of your death to reclaim your currency. But as long as you weren’t carrying a king’s ransom into a boss battle, it’s never an issue. And beyond the gorgeous visuals, Max Ballet’s soundtracks might be a bit repetitive, but there’s exquisiteness in his melody and instrumentation.

Yes, Curse of the Sea Rats can feel formulaic much of the time. Exploration plays out like a dozen or more of the game’s Metroidvania peers. And It’s coupled with fighting that feels stiff, contradicting the elegance of the game’s animation. Ultimately, it’s the aesthetics that keep Sea Rats’ head above water. If you’re fine with that, a functional and mildly fun adventure awaits.

Curse of the Sea Rats was played on PC
with review code provided by the publisher.