Fans of gorgeous JRPGs rejoice: Sea of Stars is a day-one Game Pass drop

Sea of Stars, a beautiful JRPG inspired by the best SNES games like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG, is arriving on Game Pass on launch day.

Sea of Stars is a turn-based JRPG with a unique timed attack combat system; an “unshackled” traversal system that lets you swim, climb, vault, jump off, and scale ledges; and plenty of relaxing side activities like sailing, cooking, fishing, and listening to music in a chill tavern. There’s a lot going on in Sea of Stars and it all appears to have been fully and lovingly realized.

What initially struck me about Sea of Stars was its stunning 2.5D world, which takes place in the same world as developer Sabotage’s The Messenger and manages to feel both fresh and nostalgic. In the studio’s words, the “dynamic lighting effects pair with a world-influencing day/night cycle to make every area feel truly alive, pushing the traditional visual limits of classically stylized 2D pixel art games – the only way to properly tell the story of heroes conjuring the powers of the Sun and the Moon.”

Sea of Stars recently got an August 29 release date and a free demo on Switch, which only takes a couple of hours to play through and makes an absurdly promising first impression. The game is launching on PS5 and PS4 as well as Xbox consoles, Switch, and PC.