Curse of the Sea Rats is a fun metroidvania that combines the whimsy of 2D animation with fun co-op gameplay.

The indie gaming scene is rife with some certainly unique game ideas, from bucket-headed knights to Pokémon with cassette tapes, there is certainly no shortage of fun and charming games to try out. One of these games is Curse of The Sea Rats, a fun 2.5D side-scrolling beat ‘em-up from developers, Petoons Studio and publishers PQube Games. This game sees you play as well… Cursed Sea Rats.

Petoons Studio is a transmedia IP incubator, founded in 2016 by Sergio García and Daniel del Amor. The studio is composed of many talented animators, writers, and programmers that aspire to fuse the fun of gaming with the wonder and style of traditional 2D animation. As for the publisher, you may know them as the Publishers of Potion Permit and Knight vs. Giant, two excellent little indie games. So, how will Curse of the Sea Rats compare? We’ll get into that.

As mentioned earlier, we play as sea rats… Well, not exactly. You see, we are a group of pirates who have been captured by the British Royal Navy and are currently awaiting trial. Suddenly the entirety of the ship’s crew gets turned into rats, including your crew, by an evil witch who has also made off with the admiral’s young son, Timothy. You get a chance at freedom when the admiral asks you to help save his son because he has to stay by the shop and ensure that repairs go swimmingly. Therefore it is up to you and your merry band of rogue rats to save Timothy and uncover the true intentions behind the witch’s plan.

You’ll have the option to choose from a variety of different characters, each with their own unique skills and abilities. The charming David Douglas, a soldier for the Continental army. Buffalo Calf, a determined Cheyenne hunter. The burly Blacksmith Bussa, and finally, Akane Yamakawa, an undercover Onna-bugeisha warrior.

As mentioned earlier, these characters have their own strengths and weaknesses. David is a balanced all-rounder meaning he’s a jack of all trades but a master of none. Buffalo Calf’s attacks are quick and rack up combos but can be easily interrupted. Bussa hits hard but is slow and lumbering while Akane hits hard and fast but is incredibly fragile. You have more than enough variety to match your preferred playstyle and if you don’t like a character, you can quickly switch to another.

Before you head out on your journey, the Admiral will give you a strange stone amulet. In the beginning you won’t be told what the amulet is for or what it does, but this strange stone amulet is actually of great importance to you and your crew. Housed within the amulet is an ancient spirit that, much like in games like Elden Ring, allows you to restore your health and upgrade your skills and abilities.

Speaking of skills and abilities, the amulet is also what allows your characters to use magic. Magic is a sort of power move that deals great damage to your various foes and enemies but with great power comes great responsibility, so you won’t be able to constantly use magic as there will be a brief cool down before you can cast your next spell, which the game doesn’t tell you about.

Curse of the Sea Rats is not a difficult game by any means, and it is your pretty standard 2D Metroidvania. You’ll navigate through a series of rooms and beat up any enemies you encounter along the way. See, it should be pretty easy, but that’s the thing, it’s not. The game isn’t very challenging, but the game design makes it difficult to play.

The game seems to be heavily built around co-op. This is especially notable in the early stages of the game, as even early-game enemies will regularly wipe the floor with you for some reason. The game also lacks a dash or dodge mechanic, which wouldn’t be an issue if you were playing with a friend as both of you could tank the enemy’s attacks by kiting them with some bait and switch, but alas, if you’re playing alone, you can’t do that, so you die many, many times.

Dying this frequently, while a little frustrating, isn’t really an issue since you’ll just respawn at your last checkpoint. However, in Curse of the Sea Rats, the spirit in the amulet will admonish you for dying just for the sake of adding insult to injury every time you die. This is similar to games such as Borderlands. Still, unlike those games where it’s meant to come across as lighthearted and unserious, it instead comes across as obnoxious and makes you not want to continue since it just adds to the frustration.

The game is also not very engaging. The game doesn’t really give you much reason to care about the story, which is your typical “save the princess” story, but instead of a princess, it’s the admiral’s son.  You are given no actual reason to care about him aside from the fact that you might get your freedom. Even the characters you play as aren’t that unique and are just your typical RPG party archetypes. Even the NPCs are just your typical cookie-cutter designs and don’t develop or progress beyond that.

This is such a pity, as the game clearly has a lot of love and effort put into it. The game’s art style and animations clearly take heavy inspiration from classic 2D animation such as the works of Walt Disney and Don Puth. The game animations feel as if they’ve been taken straight from a film from one’s childhood. It is smooth, clean, and just lovely to look at. The same cannot be said about the environment, which on its own, is also appealing to look at but at times it does clash with 2D sprites, making it feel flat and disconnected from the actual game’s world.

The same charm seen in Curse of the Sea Rats sprite animations can also be heard in the voice acting. Almost every character, besides a few minor NPCs are voiced, this includes the player characters. Depending on whom you decide to play, each player character will give their own unique responses and enemies will likewise comment on your character. This gives you another reason to play as other characters, especially if you want to hear everything a character has to say.

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.