Curse of the Sea Rats Reviews
Curse of the Sea Rats contains all the key elements to be a good metroidvania and, in addition, thanks to its enormous personality and multiplayer mode it manages to stand out within the genre. Because metroidvanias there are many... But there is only one ratoidvania.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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.
Curse of the Sea Rats is disappointing. It’s a pretty bland Metroidvania. It has a unique visual style, but its gameplay completely relies on its multiplayer option to hide its shortcomings. The game also needs a bit more polish. I was immediately very excited when I booted up the game, but I quickly soured. If the visual style wasn’t so interesting, and there wasn’t a multiplayer option the score would be a lot lower. Only play Curse of the Sea rats if you love the idea of a simple 4 player Metroidvania.
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.
Curse of the Sea Rats is ultimately a perfectly average game marred by some poor design choices, like instant-death chasms and repetitive forest and cave areas. The trap-filled final dungeon finds the game at its best and most inventive, and is a joy to fight through and navigate, but it also emphasizes what’s missing everywhere else. Rats!
Curse of the Sea Rats is a 2D platformer adventure game in which you fight enemies and upgrade your abilities while searching for the evil pirate witch who turned your party into rats. Exploring new areas and defeating the witch's crew is fun throughout the course of the game, and is definitely worth a play-through for those patient enough to deal with its difficulty.
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.
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 it back from being what it seems like it really could be. If you're really itching for a new metroidvania experience, or just really like rats for some reason, you could definitely do a lot worse than this one, but I sadly cannot say I would recommend you dash to the eshop as fast as you can for it.
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.
Curse of the Sea Rats is above all a very fun game, easily recommended to be played alone or with friends. With a light theme and full of good pirate stories, it should please fans of action and platform games of all ages. But, as a metroidvania, it falls a little short of the good options currently available in the market.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Curse of the Sea Rats is one of those games with a lot of good ideas, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired. The characters and its fight styles are pretty good but the map and navigation across the whole game is definitely not that good.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Curse of the Sea Rats is a beautiful metroidvania that limps a bit in its playability, but stands out for its artistic section and its option to play cooperatively.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Aside from its impressive hand-drawn animation, Curse of the Sea Rats is at its best a mediocre game that does little to stand out from the innumerable alternatives. At its worst, it’s tedious, grating, and unfun. Maybe if you love traditional animation and rats you’ll find something to enjoy here, but I’d wait for a discount before considering Curse of the Sea Rats.
Curse of the Sea Rats is a 2.5D Metroidvania game developed by Petoons Studio and published by PQube Limited. The game is set in a pirate-themed world and follows the adventure of four playable characters.
Curse of the Sea Rats is a good game for those who want to get into the Metroidvania genre or don't have too high demands on the technical implementation. Veterans, on the other hand, might still lack the final touch, especially in direct comparison with the genre classics. Otherwise, Curse of the Sea Rats is quite entertaining with about 12 hours of gameplay and a detailed world.
Review in German | Read full review
Curse of the Sea Rats, called ratoidvania by its creator, is a pretty standard metroidvania. It stands out for its exquisitely animated and hand-drawn character design, and for offering four-player co-op, something not very typical for the subgenre. Despite its interesting premise, its execution has not been perfect. There are many small details that the user can decide to ignore and enjoy the adventure or they can spoil the experience a bit. Even so, the game is fun and engaging, so we can only recommend it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I initially disliked Curse of the Sea Rats, but the more I kept at the game, the more it hooked me, and I ended up enjoying myself. The barrier to entry may be a little high for some players with difficult combat and messy hit detection. But once you level up a few times and play around with the characters, you should be able to settle in a style that suits you. This is made all the more enticing by being able to pay with three other loved ones locally. Something rarely seen in adventure games. The design and animations are excellent and make for a nice cherry on top of the experience. If you’re looking for a solid 2D adventure to play alone or with loved ones, this pirate trip will surely keep you busy for a few game nights. Wearing a pirate outfit for the experience is optional.
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.
Offering a fun piratical adventure, excellent animation and a fun, engaging story with full voice acting, Curse of the Sea Rats is a great single or multiplayer romp despite some stumbling blocks.