Curse of the Sea Rats

Curse of the Sea Rats is, ultimately, a great game held back from even higher greatness by some of the design decisions that were implemented. It could have had a better start, and some of the mechanics could have been tweaked ever so slightly.

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...

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 li...

I wish I could rate this higher. I honestly had a fun time playing through Curse of the Sea Rats, but the issues I encountered were significant. On top of balance issues and voice line deliveries, I also stumbled across a few bugs here and there including one that basically broke most of the ending. Again the refrain goes, they’re aware and fixing issues, but I can merely hope the patch irons out ...

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.

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 wi...

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 w...

Like playing a Saturday morning cartoon, Curse of the Sea Rats is a hand-drawn style adventure with a focus on action combat and cooperative gameplay. Aiming at a general audience, this is one of Petoons Studio’s first original IPs after a range of licensed family games. A “tail” of swashbuckling, this “ratoidvania” is artistically impressive but generic in every other way.

Curse of the Sea Rats’ charmingly nostalgic art direction can only partially hide a Metroidvania whose mechanical shortcomings are numerous, and whose substandard technical stability is irredeemable in its launch state.