News Sea of Stars Now Has Combat System Its Developer Always Wanted

[admin]

​

Sea of Stars just got its free Dawn of Equinox update on PS5 and PS4. This update aims to offer a "definitive edition" of the RPG's combat, add co-op features, and improve other aspects. You can download it now and watch the trailer above to see what's new.

The big patch focuses mainly on combat and co-op. For combat, two new mechanics were added: Sticky Combo Points and Mystery Locks. Now, Combo Points you earn in battle will carry over to the next fight. This lets you save them up to use all at once or try different damage types on locks. On the PlayStation Blog, creative director Thierry Boulanger said this update tackles the lack of attack variety.

"We always wanted to give each character a small set of moves (like in MOBAs), where each one has a specific use, instead of a long list where players only use their favorites. While the game has over 40 unique, custom-animated moves in total, the scarcity of Combo Points meant players rarely used most of them, making combat feel limited to just three skills per character." With Combo Points carrying over, you can now try out more moves.

Another new combat feature is Mystery Locks, which "add a new gameplay loop around figuring out how to break enemies' spells when first encountered. Instead of showing the damage types needed for each lock, they're hidden, so players must try different attacks to see what breaks each lock." This is meant to slightly increase the overall difficulty and deliver the "definitive edition" of Sea of Stars combat.

The free Dawn of Equinox update also brings couch co-op to the RPG. If you have PS Plus, you can even use Share Play to take co-op online. Up to three players can play together, each with full control over their movements and actions. A bubble will bring you back to your friends if you wander too far, and combat still happens in individual turns for the character you're controlling.

Lastly, the patch has improved the game's first hour with new combat animations and an extra pre-rendered cutscene. Sea of Stars DLC Throes of the Watchmaker is still set to release in Spring 2025, giving players another reason to revisit the RPG next year. Will you be jumping back in? Let us know in the comments below.

Sea of Stars Dawn of Equinox: devs deep dive into 3-player co-op and Combat 2.0, live today

Sabotage Studio discusses the changes coming to Sea of Stars in the Dawn of Equinox content update, including online co-op using PS5’s Share Play feature.

blog.playstation.com