Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker DLC Review

Back in 2023, Sabotage Studios, a developer and publisher, released a game that felt like the turn-based RPGs I loved on my SNES: Sea of Stars. In fact, the game ended up being one of my favourite games of that year! Now, a couple of years later, we get to experience the Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker DLC. This content is free and takes about eight to 10 hours to complete. But is it worth spending that time on, or does it feel more like an unneeded add-on?

We start back at the Solstice Shrine, which you may remember from the base game. Our heroes — your team may vary depending on whether you completed any of the additional missions in the Plus Game — have received a message in a bottle as soon as they leave the shrine. It’s a message from the pirate Hortence: she is asking you to come to the Vespertine as quickly as possible because Keenathan is in a fix and needs assistance.

Apparently, the giants of the Sky Council (whom we encountered in the main game to get to the sea of stars) have said that Keenathan, the wind mage, doesn’t actually have a name; that’s why they couldn’t find it in the base game. The group believes that the Watchmaker should be able to give him an official name. If she can make a pocket watch for him and engrave his name on it, her authority should supersede everyone else’s.

To help on the mission, we meet Artificer, a robot with a cute frog face that houses both Cael and Spike. They have apparently built a teleporter that will take us straight to the Watchmaker’s Workshop; it also works to bring you back to the Vespertine. Once we arrive at the workshop, we meet a new character, whom we’ve actually encountered before, and who plays a big part in this story: The Watchmaker herself. She asks if the Solstice Warriors are willing to sacrifice their lives in exchange for the services that she offers.

You hear her backstory and how she was betrayed. She thinks that, now that you’ve come to her twice with time issues, you may be ready for the journey she asks of you. Will you cleanse Horloge’s curse inside her grand timepiece? Once inside, each of the heroes will have to face the reflections of their darker traits. It requires not only strength but will also test their sense of self. Not everyone can go, however. Once inside, someone with a strong aura will manifest an evil twin, so only a small group of Solstice Warriors is allowed to enter.
Keenathan asks if he can go along, as this mission is for him. She agrees and says he is cleared to go. The Watchmaker asks Arty (Artificer) to accompany the group and keep an eye on them, but not push them on their journey. She gives Arty the Mysterious Box and gives the Warriors the Dialocus, a magical item that will shrink your party down, allowing you to enter certain clockwork devices that are inside the clock — and also the clock itself. Press A to use it in front of objects that resonate with a purple glow. Completing this mission is the main focus of the Throes of the Watchmaker DLC.

We have played with these characters in the base Sea of Stars game, so you are probably very familiar with their different kinds of attacks. However, the DLC switches everything up. Zale and her attacks don’t do any damage to the enemies at all. They learn from Fardush that they need to “play the game,” so he analyses their natural powers and gives them new roles. Zale gets a recruit bracelet and becomes a Juggler; Valere has great balance, so she gets the Vaulter’s Wraps and is now an Acrobat. They also have a new attack they perform together called Spectacle Strike. It’s so much fun to have these circus-themed moves; it’s an amusing change that fits in great with the theme.

Exploring the circus-themed world inside the clock is such a fun experience. The music can go from happy and jolly to creepy and depressing in the next moment. The pixel visuals do not disappoint: they are great. Since we are inside a clock, you see a variety of gears and cogs, along with all the attractions you’d expect to see under the big tent at a circus. When your characters level up, they are shown on a stage like they are an attraction. Sabotage Studios did a great job making everything in the game fit with this theme. You can tell it wasn’t hastily thrown together: they have clearly taken their time.

Every area you explore in this world is full of puzzles to solve to progress. They aren’t always super simple; some are quite tricky and require trial and error to be successfully solved. It’s a very rewarding feeling when you figure out the right combination of events needed. As you move through the different areas, you’ll explore places full of hidden paths and ledges that you can grab to pull yourself up to higher elevations. It is not just flat and boring, and you aren’t just walking in a straight line from point A to B. The developers have done a great job integrating flat terrain with varied levels of elevation, accessed with ladders, platforms, and your handy grappling hook. Being able to jump in a turn-based RPG is awesome, combining fun platforming elements alongside the turn-based battles. It helps break up the game so you’re not stuck in a loop of never-ending battles.

One of my favourite things that this DLC introduces is that you can now play the game with three players, each person controlling a different character. Each player controls where their character goes and fights in battles. The fun part is when you use a combo attack, each person has to be in sync and time their hits together to deal max damage to the enemy. Additional players can drop out whenever they want; it’s not required to have other people to continue the game. However, having extra players can help with some of the puzzles, which could be solved faster with more bodies.

There is so much to love about Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker. Besides being free, it is so good! Picking up this DLC is a no-brainer: it’s free, and it’s so good! It was great being able to revisit the Solstice Warriors and their friends, along with meeting new ones and memorable enemies. This experience lasting from eight to 10 hours is a fantastic one, and if you were a fan of turn-based RPGs on the SNES, you will love the references you’ll discover in this game. I really hope we get a sequel in this excellent series, there is so much to love!