Curse of the Sea Rats Reviews

Curse of the Sea Rats is ranked in the 30th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
4 / 10.0
Apr 7, 2023

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.

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5 / 10.0
May 9, 2023

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.

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2.5 / 5.0
Mar 31, 2023

Despite my many gripes, I think there is still an audience out there for Curse of the Sea Rats. Sure, it’s packed to the rafters with frustrating design choices that should have been made to walk the plank, but it’s also a title that has clearly had a ton of love and passion poured into its development. That I felt compelled to stick with Curse of the Sea Rats despite the uneven gameplay is a testament to the art direction and light-hearted narrative, both of which instantly brought me back to a happy place; sitting in front of the TV on a Saturday morning, feasting on whatever sugar-laced cereal was trendy at the time, all while enjoying my favorite cartoons. While it’s not an easy sell due to its gameplay fumbles, I do still think Curse of the Sea Rats is worth a playthrough for anyone who can look past its flaws and focus on the product as a whole, which ends up being a serviceable videogame, elevated greatly by a wonderful sense of style and charm.

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5 / 10.0
Mar 31, 2023

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.

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Apr 3, 2023

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!

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50 / 100
Apr 7, 2023

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.

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6 / 10
Mar 31, 2023

Curse of the Sea Rats takes some good ideas for gameplay systems but fumbles them in the execution. As a Metroidvania, it could be a good entry point and if it is, it can only go up from here. However, the animation that is in the game and the music does make a pirate life one for me, just not an overall great one.

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6 / 10
Apr 10, 2023

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.

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6.5 / 10.0
Apr 3, 2023

Curse of the Sea Rats is never actually bad. Even with the lack of graphic and mechanical refinement, we can still find fun and adventure in its shores. There are a few interesting things in how it creates a diversified world but nothing impressive and the exploration isn't always rewarding.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

6.5 / 10.0
Mar 31, 2023

Curse of the Sea Rats is a competent 2.5D Metroidvania that offers an absolutely delightful style. The story and gameplay are basic at best, with design oversights and shallow combat that unfortunately drive this simple narrative. Still, the small package comes with a fun four-player coop that complements the classic cartoon animation and critters throughout the journey. This platformer won't rattle the scene, but it's a great game for families to play.

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6.5 / 10.0
Apr 7, 2023

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.

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6.8 / 10.0
Apr 5, 2023

While it may have a terrific visual style and appealing characters, the crippling difficulty takes the steam out of the experience quickly

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3.4 / 5.0
Apr 1, 2023

Curse of the Sea Rats is a game that has that classic 2D animation charm, with its character design and voice acting, but the same cannot be said about the game’s gameplay which seems to not be that fleshed out and is too heavily built around its co-op. If you want to experience the game at its best, play it with a friend or younger sibling, otherwise, you won’t have the most enjoyable experience.

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69 / 100
Apr 10, 2023

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

7 / 10.0
Apr 11, 2023

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

Apr 12, 2023

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.

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7 / 10
Apr 3, 2023

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

7 / 10
Mar 31, 2023

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 every last detail. Should the patch fix every one of these issues admirably, I could easily see this being an 8 or even a 9. But even in its current state, it’s a charming experience. Especially for anyone with fond memories of 90s animated features.

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Apr 3, 2023

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.

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7 / 10.0
Mar 31, 2023

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.

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