Curse of the Sea Rats | Switch Review

One debate has raged amidst the nerd community for as long as I can remember. Which is cooler? Ninjas or pirates? While the Ninja Gaiden series had me firmly planted as a fan of the former for the majority of my life, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag definitely tipped the scale for me. Petoons Studio created another entry into the “pro” column for me in terms of games. Curse of the Sea Rats drops a Saturday morning cartoon vibe into a gear-gated game with impressive flourish. It’s not quite perfect and offers little new to the genre (outside of co-op), but it has me already clamoring for a sequel.

Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest

There are four main protagonists in Curse of the Sea Rats. This quartet of convicted pirates has a new chance at freedom when the ship carrying them crashes on an island. The captain of the ship offers them all pardons in exchange for rescuing his small son, Timothy, from the clutches of an evil pirate named Flora Burn. Despite the eyebrow-raising question of bringing a toddler across the sea on a ship transporting convicts, it seems like a fair trade. There’s just one small problem: all of the pirates (both good and bad) have been transformed into rats.

You play as one (or all four) of the cursed heroes. You’ll explore the impressively-sized 2.5D world, acquire new abilities, locate keys to open new areas, and battle mustache twirling bosses. This all leads to a final confrontation with Flora and a final cutscene with more than one surprise.

The story here is clever enough to keep me going, but the real reason to play this one is its visuals and sound. All of the artwork in this game is hand-drawn. Exploring the island’s environments transported me back to my childhood while watching my favorite cartoons. But this time, instead of eating a bowl of cereal, I was controlling the characters on my screen. It looks that crisp, and outside of some minor slowdowns towards the end of the game, that holds up throughout. Curse of the Sea Rats also might have my favorite music score of the year thus far. Nothing ever feels repetitive, and the music is strangely relaxing and catchy at the same time. This is all rounded out with some incredible voice acting that rivals some of my favorite shows from my youth. I seriously felt like a kid again.

A Cutlass Swipe or an Ounce of Lead

Most of the gameplay in Curse of the Sea Rats will feel familiar to those who regularly play gear-gated games. What makes this one stand out is the ability to swap between each of the four characters at safe locations. All four of the pirate rats feel wholly unique in both characterization and fighting style. They each even have their own separate skill tree with individual abilities peppered into the standard ones, like increased health and critical hit percentages. This is clearly designed for co-op play, something I don’t think I’ve ever experienced with this kind of game. Sadly, I didn’t have time to play Curse of the Sea Rats with friends this time around, but only because no one was available to sit down with me for ten hours.

What’s odd about this setup (at least playing solo) is that there seems to be no incentive to play as any other character than the one with which you start. You’ll earn spirit energy for defeating enemies, which you cash in at save points. If you die along the way, you lose this currency, but can go back and collect it on your next start. As you progress deeper into the labyrinth, the enemies obviously get tougher. So why would I want to play with another that has zero upgrades attached to it?

Despite this fact, I wound up maxing out two of my characters’ stats by the end of the game and almost the remaining two as well. But this was only because I was worried I was going to need to for a crazy final boss fight. I barely played with the other three beyond my main, however. I’d simply swap characters at safe zones, upgrade that character’s skill tree, and then swap back to my tried-and-true. This task proved somewhat tedious, since I couldn’t simply upgrade abilities for other characters while playing as my primary. This is only a minor annoyance, however.

 

The Cabins Riot of Stuff Untold

The map in Curse of the Sea Rats is a lot of fun to explore. Uncovering a new area scratches the itch in just the way you’d want it to, and I rarely found myself stuck. With that said, a way to mark your map would have been a much welcome addition. I also wish there were more ability upgrades to reach new areas, as there were really only two to speak of. The rest of the map opens up when you find a required key. It’s not nearly as exciting to merely unlock doors as it is to earn that new pathway with a newly acquired skill.

My only other issue is just how trivial the bosses become, even by the end of the game. At first, they were completely satisfying to defeat, forcing you to memorize patterns, manage your health, and master new techniques. By the time I had uncovered half of the map, however, my initial character was completely overpowered. Outside of a couple bosses with cheap one-hit kills, the rest felt like their clever patterns and beautiful animations were wasted on my standing in one or two places wailing away at them until the fight was over. Not that I mind when a game takes it easier on me, but I almost never came close to death during these battles.

The game also adds some fun side quests to the mix. Most of these are more rewarding for the cute cutscenes than they are the actual items they drop. But it’s also fun going back to characters with the items they need as a way to revisit locations. Overall, the design of the map is quite nice. During one of the final sections of the game, it actually forces you to visit most locations for a story-related reason. This might have been the most brilliant addition to the gameplay, as I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that in this genre.

Curse of the Sea Rats Final Verdict

While I still have to hand the title to ninjas, Curse of the Sea Rats definitely revitalized my love for pirate lore a bit more. It’s far from perfect, but will satisfy your itch for this style of game, and the animations and music will make it very worth your while. I love it when a game feels fresh and familiar at the same time, and I’m definitely looking forward to the inevitable sequel.

To hear me talk more about Curse of the Sea Rats, be sure to listen to our April 5th episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Curse of the Sea Rats provided by SuperIndie.Games for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via Steam.