Curse of the Sea Rats

Pure NintendoSophie Hiner

8/10

Curse of the Sea Rats is an action-packed platformer adventure that's fun to play and explore, which makes the game very exciting (albeit very frustrating, too). But does it do enough to stand apart from the countless other metroidvanias available for the Switch?Read More

Game RantSam Stewart

7/10

Despite jarring bugs and inconsistencies, Curse of the Sea Rats is a well-designed game with a clear direction. Petoons Studio succeeded in making an accessible Metroidvania that can be enjoyed by gamers of varied skill levels. Its art, simplicity, and smoothly escalating challenge make it a great way to introduce a younger audience to the genre. If the rough edges are smoothed away, a real gem lies beneath.

What I’m saying is that I’m not entirely sure who is going to enjoy Curse of the Sea Rats. I do know that there’s going to be an audience out there for it, because while it has several issues it also has many redeeming qualities. However, when it’s one of a few million Metroidvanias that are already on the Switch, I fear that Sea Rats will struggle to find that audience, despite being a clear passion project from everyone involved.

Playstation UniverseJohn-Paul Jones

7/10

Curse of the Sea Rats is a perfectly fine Metroidvania effort. The hand-drawn art is gorgeous for the most part and the combat together with the platforming are both well executed and ultimately satisfying. However coupled with the absence of some odd quality of life features, a general lack of polish and a lack of any real ambition, Curse of the Sea Rats arguably struggles to elevate itself in an increasingly competitive genre filled with top-tier efforts.

KeenGamerSayger Holcomb

6.9/10

A new Metroidvania is here. Curse of the Sea Rats offers charming hand-drawn animations, music, and pirate adventure to the formula. Explore an island as one of 4 different rat characters, beating up monsters, bugs, and bosses to save your captain's son from the evil witch Fiona Burn.

Nintendo World ReportJoe DeVader

6.5/10

Another bug I experienced was the game forgetting I had acquired an inventory upgrade that was supposed to let me buy a higher number of health potions, therefore keeping me at the base number for a large portion of the game. This eventually fixed itself, but it was annoying for the time it occurred. Many of the problems I ran into have been or will soon be patched according to the developers, but unfortunately it was a tad too late to not paint my experience at least a little bit. Overall, Curse of the Sea Rats is a game I think has a lot of potential, but the samey characters and bugs hold i...

GamereactorConny Andersson

6/10

Curse of the Sea Rats has many fine qualities that make it a good game and if only some of its shortcomings had been cleaned up, it could definitely be to a game that should not be missed. There are a few too many moments that hold it back for it to really stand on its own, but since I've been playing this quite a lot over the past few days, it is also clear that it has been a very entertaining adventure in many ways. A little more polish and Petoons Studio would be onto a winner here.

GameSpewRichard Seagrave

6/10

Overall, Curse of the Sea Rats is a perfectly playable metroidvania that feels rough around the edges. Mechanically it can feel a little unfair at times due to things like stiff animations and unfortunate enemy placements. And while its four protagonist set up is a neat touch, it can be a grind to upgrade skills if you do decide to change. Still, fans of the genre are likely to enjoy their time with it.

eXputerAsad Ahmed

Curse of the Sea Rats Review is a visually attractive game, but that cannot distract from a flawed gameplay system and a mediocre narrative.

Try Hard GuidesErik Hodges

4/10

Curse of the Sea Rats is a game that fails to justify itself. For all the work that went into the beautiful art and the concept of mouse pirates, the game would very likely have been better off as a visual novel instead of an action-platformer with unambitious gameplay.

GameTyrant Dean Clark

Unscored

A fun ‘Ratroidvania’ that could just use a few tweaks to be a great title!

The EscapistElise Avery

Unscored

Curse of the Sea Rats hews too closely to the Metroidvania formula. Anything I describe from the game is essentially the same as any other Metroidvania, and it doesn’t have a unique twist of its own, except for the 4-player co-op. It’s fun, but not outrageously so. I enjoyed the 6 hours I took to complete it, but it’s so generic that I only recommend it if you really like Metroidvanias or really want a co-op one to play.