Sea of Stars has today received its free Dawn of Equinox update across PS5 and PS4 consoles, which seeks to provide a “definitive edition” of the RPG’s combat system, implement co-op features, and enhance other aspects. It’s available to download now, and you can see it in action in the trailer above.
Combat and co-op are the two main focuses of the big patch, with the former refreshed with two new mechanics: Sticky Combo Points and Mystery Locks. All the Combo Points you accrue during battle will now carry over to the next fight, allowing you to store them up to be used all at once or test different damage types on locks. Creative director Thierry Boulanger said on the PlayStation Blog this update is designed to address the lack of attack variety.
“The vision was always to give each character a small kit (MOBA-style), where each move has situational utility, rather than a big list where players pigeonhole themselves into only using their couple of favourites. All good intentions, but while the game boasts over 40 unique and custom-animated moves total, the scarcity of Combo Points meant players seldom engaged with most of them, reducing the perceived scope of combat to feeling like only having three skills per character.” Now that Combo Points carry over, you can experiment much more.
Another new combat addition is Mystery Locks, which “bring a new gameplay loop around revealing how to break enemies’ spells whenever they are first encountered. Instead of displaying the damage types required for each lock, they are hidden, requiring the player to try different attacks to see what will break each lock.” This is designed to increase the overall difficulty level slightly and deliver the “definitive edition” of the combat in Sea of Stars.
The free Dawn of Equinox update also adds couch co-op to the RPG, and if you have PS Plus, you can actually make use of the Share Play function to take co-op online. Up to three players can play together at once, all with complete freedom over their movements and interactions. A bubble will transport you back to your friends if you get too lost, and combat will still take place across individual turns tied to the character you’re playing as.
Finally, the patch has revamped the game’s opening hour with combat animations and an extra pre-rendered cutscene. Sea of Stars DLC Throes of the Watchmaker is still slated to arrive in Spring 2025, providing another reason to return to the RPG next year. Will you be doing so? Let us know in the comments below.