Sea Of Stars: Throes Of Watchmaker Review

I’ve been impatiently waiting on the Sea of Stars DLC for a while now. Not that I need an excuse to play one of my favourite RPGs in recent years (you can read my review for an explanation as to why), but the promise of more challenging content whet my appetite to dive back in. Safe to say, Throes of the Watchmaker delivers on that and then some, even if it goes by a tad too quickly.

Having saved the world as only Solstice Warriors can, Valere and Zale uncover a mysterious new clockwork inspired world called Horloge that holds a dangerous secret within. Created by the Watchmaker during an uneasy alliance with Aephorul (who, if you recall, was one of the main villains from the main campaign), Horloge exists within a Clockwork Castle with the intention to allow the Watchmaker to control time itself. Unbeknownst to her, Aephorul plays a cruel trick and turns the world upside down, forming an imperfect and dangerous reality the Watchmaker must seal away.

Enter Valere and Zale who, at the request of the Watchmaker, venture inside the Clockwork Castle to cleanse the world of its impurity. What awaits them is the Puppeteer, an evil shadow of the Watchmaker who has created untold deadly minions to control the world, and an environment where their formerly powerful Solstice abilities mean nothing.

Much of the same rules of the main game apply here

Throes of the Watchmaker throws (no pun intended) many of the lessons learnt from the main campaign away, replacing Valere and Zales’s existing abilities almost immediately with a new set of powers inspired by the circus-like atmosphere of Horloge and its residents. Valere must now use a range of acrobatic skills, while Zale uses his heightened agility to become a juggler. Both of these new skillsets include a variety of attacking and defensive techniques not unlike their previous Solstice powers, though all unique in both style and execution.

Zale, for example, can juggle a number of firesticks that do increased damage with each one you throw, catch and return to the enemy, or balance atop a giant ball to collect as many stars as possible in a given time limit before throwing the completed ball of fire towards a target. Valere, meanwhile, can make use of a trapeze to swing back and forth dealing more damage per swing, or use a pole vault and deal massive damage with a well-timed attack.

This time, Zale and Valere are joined by the Artificer as the third-party member. The former NPC engineer brings with them a wealth of laser focused attacks and healing abilities that differentiates them just enough from the existing party members who sadly sit this DLC out. That means you’ll only have the three to work with across the added story, but the Artificer is a worthwhile inclusion who has some entertaining new abilities to make use of. You’ll be bouncing on enemy heads Mario style and juggling Zale and Valere using a trampoline as a combo attack, with a few key healing spells to complete the ensemble.

Those darn evil twins, always the same

Limiting the team to these three characters, along with the sudden shift of abilities from those you’ve spent considerable hours with, adds to an otherwise challenging set of areas and boss battles. Developers Sabotage Studio has upped the ante, making for some difficult but enjoyable encounters with the Puppeteer and her varied monsters, it’s just unfortunate more time couldn’t have been spent learning your new power sets before throwing you in the deep end, enjoyable as they are, or evolving them over time.

The combat abilities and combos still feel as fluid as the original tools of the main story, with the ability to guard incoming attacks with well-timed button presses, dealing specific damage to break enemy locks to avoid more dangerous attacks. However, I felt like I was relying more on certain abilities than in past instances, with some of Zale and Valere’s new attacks trickier to master than I anticipated. It’s still all about timing, as it was before, but maybe my time with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has taught me that some games need a little fine-tuning to find the kind of magic blocking and countering can otherwise provide.

There’s plenty of environmental puzzles that fall upon the right side of tough but fair across the 8 or so hours of the DLC that pad things out. Some are more creative than others, especially towards the latter half within the big top, though the clockwork themes do a lot of the heavy lifting in their creative designs. Boss battles also include some devious new mechanics with just enough variety to improve upon the original formula. It’s not just about avoiding the deadliest attacks and dealing out as much damage as possible in the meantime. One involves forcing sunlight away from mirrors to reduce to chances of receiving a ton of damage, another sees Valere going it alone to face her fears.

One of the many cute mini-games

Zale and Valere’s stories were largely overshadowed by Sea of Star’s supporting cast of charming characters, the tale of becoming the fabled Solstice Warriors one of the weaker parts of the overall campaign. Here, they are given a chance to explore more about their personal lives, as the Puppeteer creates shadow versions of themselves that they must face. Both the Narcis King and Feral Queen force the two heroes to confront their faults as part of their quest, allowing for some important character growth in the process. It’s a welcome touch that explores the emotional toll of facing your fears, making up for the supporting cast that are left behind in the process (don’t worry Garl, you’re always with me in spirit).

The clockwork and circus inspired world design differentiates itself wonderfully from the existing locations, from the obvious Big Top to the dangerous Wolf Rock caves. Each location must be travelled to by train, and the initial introduction provides a rather laugh aloud yet touching tribute to one of Final Fantasy’s best moments. Sabotage Studio is known to throw a cheeky reference or two, and there’s a few others hidden within the DLC, but this one in particular stood out as one of the more obvious yet still highly entertaining inclusions.

There’s also a handful of circus inspired mini-games that are a fun, if short, diversions from the story that make use of both Zale and Valere’s new tricks, collect the most stars in a given time limit and all that. I couldn’t help but wonder whether they would have been better off as a side quest to make them more interesting instead of just unlocking items for a laugh, perhaps even a challenge put forth by the Puppeteer, but given how tight the DLC is, it’s probably for the best that they exist solely as an optional challenge.

I choo choo choose you!

Final Thoughts

Sea of Stars was already a top-class 90’s inspired RPG. To add Throes of the Watchmaker, for free no less, acts like the tantalizing chocolate frosting atop an already delicious mud cake. It’s an elegant addition to an otherwise excellent game, though at times I wished it allowed for its interesting story beats to breath just a little longer, and its new power sets the time to evolve as the original abilities did. Still, this is a fitting finale for our Solstice Warriors, though the door remains ever so slightly ajar for a true successor.

Reviewed on PC // Review code supplied by publisher

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