Whether it's reworked old classics you're after or fresh picks inspired by '90s gems, you don't have to look far for a good JRPG these days. While Clair Obscur might be stirring up discourse on whether a French game can carry the genre name, let's not forget the powerfully Québécois Sea Of Stars, which dropped back in 2023. It's gearing up and winding the clocks for an encore performance this month, and surprisingly, this hefty self-contained epilogue adventure is coming as a free update.
The Throes of the Watchmaker DLC sounds like a fun return to the slightly screwball world of Sea of Stars (a setting shared with tongue-in-cheek ninja platformer The Messenger), this time taking players to the clockwork circus pocket dimension of Horloge for a new adventure set after the main game, which Sabotage reckon clocks in (heh) at a respectable eight hours. A decent game's length in most other genres.
Original protagonist duo Zale and Valere return, but have been forced into new classes—Juggler and Acrobat respectively—befitting the big-top aesthetics. They'll be up against a bunch of villainous performers led by the Puppeteer, a domineering, whip-cracking ringmistress that I'm sure the internet is going to be completely normal about and not draw any questionable fan-art of.
Joining the party is robotic new pal Arty (more formally 'The Artificer'), who's a bit less clownly but also looks like a frog-themed reimagining of Robo from Chrono Trigger, so I'm not grumbling. Your new mechanized pal is shaped like a friend, and he's got lasers and metal joints, which I'm sure will make for some fun team attacks with the leading pair.
While the lead composer on the expansion soundtrack is still Eric W. Brown (who did a great job), Chrono Trigger maestro Yasunori Mitsuda is returning to provide some guest music as well, so keep your ears open for those signature sounds. It honestly sounds like an impressive package that I'd have been willing to pay money for, but I'll never turn down a big free expansion like this!
This'll probably be the last outing for Sea of Stars before French Canadian studio Sabotage fully commit to their next project. Combined with last year's big Dawn of Equinox update (which re-tuned the combat, added 3-player co-op and a full Québécois localization), it feels like the game has earned another chance to bask in the limelight, and perhaps add an extra couple points to Kerry Brunskill's guardedly positive review.
The Throes of the Watchmaker DLC lands for free on May 20th, and the base game is available now on Steam for £29.50/$35, with a bonus discount for those who own The Messenger, too. That said, I'd not be surprised if there were additional discounts available when the expansion arrives, so keep an eye open.
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