During the game’s recent Alpha Test, we got to try out Sea of Remnants, the upcoming pirate RPG from Netease. While what we played was not enough to give a full verdict (not to mention that the alpha build is far from the final experience), we did get a good idea of what to expect.
For those unfamiliar, Sea of Remnants is billed as an “ocean adventure RPG.” In the game, you play the role of a puppetfolk who has lost their memories. In your journey to seek your lost memories, you meet a colorful cast of puppetfolk characters and brave the seas. In the process, you’ll also build your ship (and eventually fleet), as well as battle all sorts of monsters, all while grabbing a bunch of booty in the process.
Traversing the seas and ship combat are big parts of the game, but when you’re exploring, you’ll need to master the game’s combat system. This shouldn’t be an issue, as getting the hang of the combat system should be easy if you’ve played any modern turn-based RPG.
Familiar Turn-Based Combat with Some Twists
While we expected this game to have real-time action combat, given how dynamic the cutscenes from trailers are, Sea of Remnants is instead a turn-based RPG. In terms of how it works, the systems here should feel quite familiar, especially for players who like JRPGs (as JRPGs are often turn-based).
At the start of each encounter, you’ll see the turn order on the top left of the screen; a familiar sight, as many RPGs have something similar. When it’s your character or party member’s turn, you can choose to attack or use an ability. Some abilities give buffs, while others are more offensive skills. When you use an ability, you won’t consume mana. Instead, the ability will go on a cooldown, and you’ll have to complete a set number of turns before you can use it again.
When you take damage, your ultimate meter builds up. When full, you can deploy your ultimate at any point, even when it’s an opponent’s turn. This makes an ultimate a powerful get-out-of-jail-free card, as you can choose to save it if you’re in a bind.
Another thing to consider in combat is the Enhancement Dice. This is essentially a roulette that enhances your attacks. It can also give you an extra attack if you hit the right number. You can add up to three charges to the Enhancement Dice, and you get one charge every turn. This is reminiscent of the system in Octopath Traveler 0 in that you can save up charges so you can dish out more damage at the right moment.
When exploring the world, you can see enemies roaming around, similar to the system in Persons. By attacking them during the exploration phase, you can get the upper hand at the start of combat.
Essentially, Sea of Remnants’ combat combines many elements from other JPRGs. Thanks to this, RPG fans should feel right at home here. It’s worth noting that, while the combat gets more complex as your journey progresses, the early parts of the game can feel a bit basic, as you don’t have that many abilities in your arsenal yet.
Sailing the Seas
Another key mechanic in this game is ship combat. Early on, you get to pilot a rather small ship, but as you play the game more, you’ll get to upgrade to bigger ships.
The game has two control options for ship controls, with the recommended controls feeling more “automatic” in a sense. That’s because the ship essentially feels like a car with guns in this option. There is a more involved manual control option, but for the Alpha Test, we stuck mostly with the recommended controls.
It’s quite fun to blast your ship’s cannons, but I did feel that the ship controls and shooting feel a bit simplistic in the recommended control setting. In fact, ship navigation and shooting in this setup feels a bit stripped down compared to a game like Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which itself isn’t the most complex pirate game out there.
It’s likely that we only scratched the surface of this part of the game, and maybe the more manual controls will make it better. But for now, we hope to see more depth to this aspect of Sea of Remnants as development on it progresses.
Yes, this is a Live-Service Singleplayer Game
Speaking of development, Sea of Remnants is interesting, as it’s a live-service single-player experience that’s also free-to-play. While there are many free-to-play single-player games out there, most of these have gacha elements.
This game is not the exception, as there are also gacha mechanics, along with a battle pass for the game’s full launch. This also means you need to take note of various resources and currencies when it comes to progression.
I didn’t get to play enough of it to know how these live service elements will affect the middle to later stages of the game. But I hope that these aspects are toned down a bit, or at least, I hope they don’t become too obtrusive.
If the developers manage to strike a balance, then there’s a lot to love about this game. Sea of Remnants, despite being a free-to-play title, has some beautiful, stylized visuals, as well as a nice movement and combat feel. It’s also quite a charming game, especially when it comes to the various characters’ personalities and designs.
Sea of Remnants – Initial Verdict
Again, we’ve only just scratched the surface, but we can already say that Sea of Remnants is a pirate adventure that has good potential. The game’s turn-based combat is familiar and fun, while its art style and characters are quite charming.
We still have questions about the game, including how deep the ship combat will be in the final version, as well as how much the live-service elements will affect the flow of gameplay. Hopefully, these are addressed as development goes on.
Sea of Remnants is set to launch on PC and PS5 sometime this year. For now, there’s no word on a release window.