The Ratoidvania Has Arrived: A Curse of The Sea Rats Review

By Manuel

Players: 1-4 (Local)
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC

There was a time when 2D Metroidvanias seemed to be coming out on a near daily basis. Thankfully that trend seems to have swung in the direction of roguelikes, but we have a straggler to look at today. Originally funded via Kickstarter back in 2020, Curse of The Sea Rats is a 2D Metroidvania that dropped onto PC and all major consoles last year. It's developed by Petoons Studio, published by PQube, and features some of the best animation this side of Cuphead. There's more to a game than just visuals though, so we're going to be taking a look at the Nintendo Switch version to see if this game is worth picking up, or if it's best being cast out to sea. Let's dive in and find out!

The adventure begins!

The amulet seems like a random addition.

Curse of The Sea Rats places you into the shoes of four prisoners of the British Empire who are currently shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland while on their way to face justice. It turns out that there were quite a few other prisoners on this ship too, and one of them was the pirate witch Flora Burn. Not only was is the ship wrecked, but Flora Burn also cast a spell to transform everyone on board into rats. She also kidnapped the Admiral's son for good measure. Forced to repair the ship and see to his men, Admiral Blacksmith is unable to recover his son himself. Since the four prisoners who are left aren't rotten to the core like Flora Burn, he promises to grant the four their freedom if they can rescue his son and bring Flora back dead or alive. Their adventure is barely starting when they learn that they're also in the possession of a piece of a magic amulet known as The Eye of The Serpent, which is also the source of Flora Burn's magic. They're tasked to recover the amulet by the spirit guardian found within their piece, and he also grants the four the ability to draw from the amulet's power in order to strengthen themselves for the battle ahead. Now they have two reasons to stop Flora Burn, but that's easier said than done. Joining Flora Burn are several members of her pirate that you'll have to face before completing either of your main missions. From there the story takes a few twists and turns, but never really goes too much further beyond what's been mentioned already. While the story is a bit weaker than I would've liked, Metroidvania-style games can often survive solely off of good gameplay. I guess my only big gripe with the story itself would have to be its odd inclusion of Asian elements, namely the amulet and its spirit guardian. While an interesting concept, it would've fit the setting a lot more if the source of magic was Western in origin. Not because I think that would've worked better per se, but because it would've stood out far less in the grand scheme of things. That's something a minor complaint though, so let's just move onto discussing gameplay.

I call this game a "Metroidvania" throughout this review, but developers actually refer to it as a "Ratoidvania" throughout all their marketing materials. No matter the name though, the core concept is the same. You have a vast, interconnected world to explore, and certain parts of it are locked off to you until you acquire a new item or ability that lets you progress further. Besides the Action RPG elements present throughout, that pretty much explains the game. Curse of The Sea Rats differs from this formula a bit as it's far less linear than most other games within the genre. I'm not really sure why the developers went this route, as it makes the world feel as if it was pieced together at random. You'll randomly cross into and out of new areas with little fanfare, and the lack of transitional elements between them feel like they were all created separately and then just stitched together at the last minute. Also, there isn't a whole lot that keeps you gatekept in this game besides the lack of a double jump early on. While you DO have an inventory to manage, most of the areas in the game open up via upgrades you only get after defeating a boss. There isn't an even item you pick up that teaches you these new moves, they just sort of appear. I know there's something tied to the amulet in universe, but it all feels like an afterthought. Because the game can be easily sequence-broken, the story is mostly told in "Meanwhile" scenes that often ignore whatever you're actually doing in game. You can see a scene involving a character, fight them randomly somewhere on the map, and then see them in the next scene with no mention of the fact that you just beat them within an inch of their life. I'd almost say that this game nearly plays like an open world Metroidvania, even though that makes no sense. It's just that this game seems to be a bit too open to exploration at times, to the point of not offering a well-balanced experience. Oh, and don't expect the four characters to have unique skills or abilities that change how they explore the world, because they don't.

Our four heroes!

Almost completed skill tree.

I'm not really sure why the developers went with a four-player co-op mechanic in this game, but it seems to be the source of a lot of my issues with the single player experience. Let me get this out of the way right now, I have never heard anyone playing a 2D Metroidvania say anything even remotely like: "Man, this would be so much better if three of my friends were playing it with me!", but this game gives you exactly that. The entire thing can be played in multiplayer, but only locally. Sort of like Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, but a lot worse. I can only imagine that the entire game is balanced around this co-op mechanic, since the initial difficulty as a single player is insane. I died from regular monsters immediately after my first save, and it took me about 10 tries to beat the first boss that's only a few more screens down from that same checkpoint. I honestly thought I was doing something wrong, and very nearly just quit the game then and there. If I wasn't playing it for the purposes of a review, I definitely would have done just that. I'm getting ahead of the story a bit, but when I eventually tried out multiplayer with a friend, I noticed that the enemies weren't scaled to be more difficult. Basically this is a multiplayer game that you can accidentally turn into a hardcore experience if you choose to do it solo. After that annoying first hour, I decided on a plan of action. I put on a movie to break up the boredom, and grinded the same early enemies over and over for literally 90 minutes straight. About 20 levels later I went off into the world and finally felt that the game was playable. It still wasn't all that easy, but I didn't have as many annoying deaths anymore. It was also at this point that I discovered that while levels area shared between all the playable characters, acquired skills are not. This means you have to build up each character's skill tree if you want to use them, since basic characters mean an even harder time with the game. While they are all obviously there more for the multiplayer experience, this means that it makes little sense to move to another character if you've already in the middle of building one up. Basically, choose a character you like, and don't switch until you're done with the game. Oh, and don't worry about missing character-specific dialogue by only playing as one of the four. I eventually also learned that each character reads the same lines, just in their own accent/voice. The multiplayer mechanic ruins what could've been a great single-player experience, and it honestly didn't even have to be that way if the developers put some thought into balance across all modes of play.

The game does look amazing though.

Is this a Pirates of The Caribbean reference?

Let me actually talk a bit about the four playable characters before we continue, as they are an interesting lot. I've already mentioned that they're pretty much the same when it comes to core abilities, but there are some other things that set them apart. David Douglas is a soldier in the American Revolutionary Army who is the all-around balanced character. His "magic" involves him shooting his gun, and he gets the most balanced physical stat bonuses from his skill tree. He's also the only character who is able to heal himself without the use of consumable items, a very important skill to have in this game. Buffalo Calf is a Cheyenne hunter who fights with knives that can be used at close or long range. She's the fastest character by far, and her jumping attack is the only long range one. She also has thunder magic that can stun enemies. I personally found her to be the most unplayable though, since her jumping attack always threw me off due to it being so different from everyone else's. She's also by far the weakest of all the characters in terms of HP and defense. Bussa is a fugitive slave from Barbados, and he's the strongest one of the bunch. He gets the most strength and HP bonuses in his skill tree, and is the only character who can actually block attacks. I don't think I'll mention this elsewhere, but there's an entire parry mechanic that I never properly was able to use because it requires precise timing to pull off. I preferred using Bussa at some points because he simply blocks attacks instead of trying to parry them. Why this couldn't be a mechanic spread across all the other characters is something I'll never understand, but at least one of the four is more useful in defensive situations than the others. Akane Yamakawa is a Japanese spy, and stands out as the weirdest of the bunch. Actually, like I said earlier, all the random Asian story elements seem completely out of place here. Akane in particular makes no sense at all since Japan was in the middle of its isolationist Tokugawa period, so that makes Akane's presence the epitome of an anachronism. (Yes, I know this is a game about cartoon rats, but everything else makes decent historical sense but this.) That aside, she's the most technical of the four prisoners as her naginata attacks slow, but has a much farther reach than any other weapon. I initially picked her as my main character in my first runs, but that was also because I wanted to see how bad of a stereotype she would be. I eventually settled on using David Douglas and Bussa more than the others. They were definitely most suited to my play style, and it was with them that I eventually beat the game. While I personally didn't care for either Buffalo Calf or Akane, I will admit that their presence means that there's probably a character here for everyone.

This area is the absolute WORST!

I hate the spiked areas.

I don't want to harp too much more on the gameplay, but I still have more I want to say about it. I had a really hard time beating this game, and there were several times I wanted to throw in the towel and just write the review based on the bits I had played. Whenever I'd stop playing though, I'd remember how great the game looked, and then come back to it only to find everything I disliked hadn't gotten any better. This vicious continued until I beat the game, but it was not the most pleasant of experiences. While the game did charm me right off the bat with its unique setting and premise, and admittedly great cast of characters, I found that the gameplay only got worse as it progressed. I briefly talked about difficulty earlier, but what really got to me were the instant death traps that are littered throughout the game. Each time you die you are respawned at the nearest checkpoint. You lose a bit of your spiritual energy (what you use to gain new skills), but are otherwise left to go back to whatever it was you were doing before you died. The problem is that there is no manual save system in this game, going to a checkpoint acts as an autosave. If you were fighting a boss, used all your items to try to defeat it, were defeated and forced to respawn, then you can kiss all those items goodbye forever. You can of course buy most things again, but that means more grinding for money if you don't have it. I eventually resorted to save scumming to avoid this, and I always hate when poorly implemented gameplay mechanics force me to do this. Oh, and you can actually get that lost spirit energy back if you go back to where you died, but good luck on getting it if you died on a big bed of spikes. Speaking of which, things like spikes and bottomless pits are very common and do damage in terms of percentage, so even a fully powered up character will die thanks to a few badly timed jumps. I hate when a game has rather stiff, heavily animated jumping mechanics, but yet requires lots of platforming. Nothing ever felt right whenever these sections came up, and I still have nightmares about areas like the Wind Cliffs. Taking into account the excessive grinding needed to make the game playable, the instant death traps everywhere, and the overall wonky difficultly, I can't help but wonder if the developers realized they only had a 5-7 hour game on their hands and decided to pad its runtime with all the nonsense I just pointed. I for one would've preferred if they'd simply gone for a tighter, more balanced experience overall, but I guess that's just asking for too much.

This game literally has Rat Dracula in it.

There's stats, but they're not important.

If there's one thing I can't fault the game on, it has to be its visuals. Curse of The Sea Rats features animation that rivals what you see on the big screen, and it rarely skips a beat. I mentioned Cuphead earlier, and while that game uses a totally different animation style, this is right up there with that game visually. Who knows, maybe that was an inspiration and lead to the game being made ridiculously hard. Anyway, I very much love the art style, and think that all the characters, both friends and foes, look amazing. You can easily go for a "sameness" to things if everyone is just one thing (in this case rats), but Curse of The Sea Rats avoids this pitfall perfectly. I also loved the small details to be find in the game's world itself. The foreground eyes the curiously look at what you're doing when you're in a cave, the extra undergrowth when you're in the forest, the farm girl in the fields who actually wears the scarf you help her grandmother make, and dozens of other small touches like that really bring everything to life. I will readily admit that it was the visuals that drew me to this game initially, and it was the visuals that kept me around long after most of the magic had worn off. Many other games have used movie-quality animation before, but Curse of The Sea Rats almost feels like something you'd get if Don Bluth worked on a video game. Wait a minute.... That's already happened.... Well, you know what I mean. Seeing as I spent much of this review pointing out the many faults in gameplay, I can't help but wonder if that Kickstarter back in 2020 might've been put to better use making a movie instead. Seeing all the love put into the art and animation, I wonder how amazing this game could've been if the developers had done the same when it comes to everything else. Not all is totally perfect visually either. While the game did run great for the most part on the Nintendo Switch, there were some areas where the framerate dropped significantly. This was mainly in the outdoor farm areas, though thankfully these areas featured no enemies. Unfortunately the same can't be said when it comes to multiplayer. There is a quite a bit if you're playing multiplayer, and that's just sad when you consider that I'm pretty sure the game's balance was wrecked implementing a mechanic that barely functions.

While I have very little to say about the music in Curse of The Sea Rats, besides it being the epitome of "just there" music, I do want to discuss the voice acting a bit. I often complain about the lack of voice acting in indie releases as I think it's something that can make a game feel a lot bigger budgeted than it might be. I almost feel like the voice acting here is a way to bring me back to level ground regarding my thoughts on that very idea. The voice acting in Curse of The Sea Rats isn't bad per se, but it's of a quality that I think draws more attention to the fact that this isn't a AAA release, instead of hiding it. Some lines will never sound good no matter how they're delivered, and this game's script seems full of them. Throw in a constantly whining child that pops up in far too many scenes, and a lot of really horrible accents, and you have audio that would be destined for memes if this game reached a bigger audience. There were a lot of aspects of the game that let me down, but I think sound hit the hardest. I can understand messing up the gameplay and overall balance, but I was really hoping for something better sound-wise considering how much care was put into the visuals. Maybe they blew the entire budget there and just had to make due with whatever scraps were left over. While I guess we can only speculate there, I guess I can at least rest assured that things could've been worse musically. At least the main soundtrack isn't bad, it's just not necessarily good either.

These areas ran rather horribly on the Switch.

This is a very obscure reference.

I beat Curse of The Sea Rats in a little over 10 hours or so. I imagine people looking to 100% the game will take a bit more time, probably around 10-15 hours depending on skill. I'm not really sure all that time I just mentioned was spent actually playing the game though. I mentioned the grinding sessions I had earlier on, and literally watched an entire horror movie instead of looking at the screen because the act of grinding just felt that pointless to me. (Shout out to Ti West by the way! Awesome movie!) Add in the annoying instant deaths of Rama Cinnamon's boss fight that added about 45 minutes to my playtime (Don't get me started on THAT mess!), and suddenly the time I spent with the game feels a lot more hollow. I'm not one to complain about a game's length most of the time, but so much of it feels like unnecessary padding. Thankfully other parts of the game charmed me so I was willing to grudgingly accept the issues I had throughout, but it was still annoying nonetheless. There is a lot of content here for Metroidvania fans even in spite of that, and the low $19.99 price tag is quite appealing. It's definitely more than worth its price of admission, even if there's a bit more filler here than I like to see.

The first boss was the worst...

I LOATHED this boss fight.

Recommending Curse of The Sea Rats is rather difficult, as I honestly don't know exactly where I stand on it. Parts of the game are amazing, but the things that don't work happen to be in important areas like gameplay and difficulty balance. It still is a rather unique game though, so it's probably a no-brainer that fans of Metroidvanias will want to pick this one up. Otherwise, I can only really recommend it for those who like the art style, setting, or characters. After all, it's not every day that one stumbles across a multiplayer pirate-themed game that features rats! Everyone else might be better off looking elsewhere, especially since there are dozens of great 2D Metroidvanias already out there. 

Check Out Curse of The Sea Rats on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/curse-of-the-sea-rats-switch/

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Story: B-
Gameplay: C
Graphics: A+
Music/Sound: C
Value: B

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ Several unique elements, such as art style and setting, make this game stand out in the rather crowded 2D Metroidvania genre.
+ The cartoon-style graphics, and silky smooth animation, make Curse of The Sea Rats one of the best-looking games in recent memory.
+ Features four unique characters that are sure to cater to just about any gameplay style you may be most comfortable with.
+ Co-op multiplayer in a Metroidvania is rather rare, and you'll find exactly that here.
+ Non-linear gameplay, complete with lots of items to find and sidequests to complete, mean you'll be invested in this one for a while.
+ The pirate setting, and the fact that everyone is an anthropomorphic rodent, makes for an entertaining experience.

+/- I suspect the game's balance issues are due to it being made with multiplayer in mind, but realistically how viable is a local four-player, co-op Metroidvania?

Cons:
- Though the game's world is fairly large and expansive, it feels haphazardly linked together, with it being harder than it should to traverse between areas.
- There is very little reason to switch between characters unless you're playing multiplayer.
- The difficulty seems to be all over the place, perhaps due to the non-linear gameplay and multiplayer options.
- While the art style and animation are amazing, that level of detail doesn't seem to be given to the game's sound and music.
- There were some performance issues on the Nintendo Switch, especially while playing multiplayer in some graphically intense areas.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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See you after the bathroom break!

#CurseOfTheSeaRats