Sea of Stars plays as if a classic SNES era JRPG was picked straight out of its time and refined and polished for 30 years. As someone who struggles to dive into JRPGs but loves games like Chrono Trigger and the Mario RPGs, I felt right at home. There is a sense of simple, yet refined engagement at every corner.

The battle system is superb utilizing timed commands alongside the lock system for interrupting enemy attacks, as well as flashy combos in a similar vein to Chrono Trigger's dual techs. It's simple and there aren't a lot of moves, but I felt engaged on every turn in every single battle, big or small, as it made each encounter feel like a little puzzle box complete with the action-based skill expression timed commands offer.

The story is pretty great. While I've heard some criticism regarding the main characters, Zale and Valere feel like two parts of a whole rather than being super strong characters of their own, allowing most players to project themselves onto them. It was a great choice to have equally important male and female leads support each other in that way. For me though, and probably most others, the supporting characters are the stars, specifically Garl. There is an amazing message here about an average, yet wildly enthusiastic adventurer and beyond loyal friend having a profound impact on the people around him. He's easily one of this game's biggest triumphs.

Last but certainly not least is the thread that critically connects these incredible moments and engagements. The world design is absolutely lovely. Something as simple as interacting with ledges and platforms while dismissing random encounters allows the world to feel less like a flat canvas and more lived in. Instead of rushing through overworld zones in a haste to get back to battles or more story beats, fully exploring the world and solving its puzzles and mysteries was a great joy of its own I was not anticipating. The loop between exploration and puzzling dungeons becomes pretty predictable, but hardly an annoyance, as the majority of puzzles hit a sweet spot, avoiding both mild annoyance and outright frustration.

This game is brimming with style, adventure, and passion, while refusing to be bogged down by any potentially alienating design choice. I can't quite give a perfect score here as the loop of play is a little too predictable and the story didn't follow through on the exact amount of pay-off I was hoping for (it still does quite well), but Sea of Stars is still nothing short of rock solid; and incredibly enjoyable and comfortable JRPG I would recommend to anyone, even those uninterested in the genre. I'm even more excited to dive into this studios back catalogue with The Messenger. This might be the beginning of the building of an incredible library of independent games dedicated to the unforgettable classics that came before.

I think 2023 might be the year the choise-based narrative adventure (or whatever you wanna call it) is starting to hit its peak. First The Wreck, then Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, then Stray Gods & The Cosmic Wheel of Sisterhood and now Goodbye Volcano High (this list is in no way complete) offer such diverse approaches to what cyoa storytelling in video games can look like and I love them all so much for it.

With this meta commentary out of the way, let me say that I had a great time with Goodbye Volcano High. It has great production value, really lovely animations and character designs and an emotional core to it that I so love to see in games revolving about teenage angst & joy & everything in between. It's raw in a way, less filtered and adjusted by what is considered the "adult" perspective on the world, which here just means a perspective that takes itself too seriously to acknowledge the absolute messyness and intensity of our emotional landscapes. I love that about it. It's also a really charming and funny game! I had a lot of audible "aawwws" and laughs while playing this. Big hugs to all the queer characters on their own little journeys, they were joyful to witness. So yea, it's great, it rules, please play it if it seems appealing to you, and fuck all the insecure manbabies hating on this <3