Sea Horizon – PC Review

Sea Horizon – PC Review
Avorok
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Genre: Roguelike turn-based card game
Developer: 45 Studio
Publisher: SOFTSTAR ENTERTAINMENT, Gamera Games
Release Date: October 19th, 2022
Edited by AlexKnight2005

We’re returning to see what Sea Horizon has in store for us now that it’s fully released. There is a previous review for the early access of the build that can be compared to this one to see if it’s improved or changed at all. This will go more in-depth overall for the game.

If this is the first you’re seeing this and don’t know about Sea Horizon, it is a rogue-lite strategy game with turn-based combat that takes place on a tabletop-like hex-grid map. The gameplay consists of different characters you can choose for your party and carefully planning out gear that uses dice rolls for attacks, abilities, and buffs. It also contains a card system that acts as your abilities that are obtained through leveling each character.

There are three modes to choose from—story, dungeons, and adventure. Starting with story mode, you progress with one character, while in story mode, the character you play as has a short story that gives you a tale of their adventure. It allows you to see what type of gear they use, how they play, and their abilities. The progression is cut and dry, only being able to do the next character after completing the one before instead of picking something that may interest you. The dungeon mode is where you can use your unlocked characters and progress through a dungeon that is a constant fight. This removes the overworld system and allows you to just fight through a bunch of enemies to an end with a boss. Each level gets progressively more difficult while also giving you gear and levels. Lastly, we have the adventure mode, which is just a free mode; you get to choose your party now and see how long you can last. With mechanics like keeping track of food, which, if you run out, you start dying, or using money to spend around different grids that can give you more food or items. You pick and choose what you encounter, along with exploring the map.

Since each character has levels, the longer you play, the more new skills and abilities you’ll unlock for your character so you can get farther in the dungeon or adventure modes. So depending on what characters you like the most, you’ll want to use them more often, the party can consist of up to three adventurers, and each has their own specialty. Some have more healing, and some might have more defensive abilities. Most characters have several specialties that can be used to synergize with others, allowing for different builds you can try out, even though you may choose the same characters. But remembering that this is a rogue-lite, the gear and weapons you gain on your adventures all come down to RNG. With the gear being that way, it could make or break some runs, especially when you have to tally out gear per person. Not getting the correct dice on gear or just the rolls in general. It could make for some interesting strategies, or you never get anything you need, creating frustration. As there aren’t variations between gear, even though most characters can use whatever they want besides class-specific weapons. The allowance of letting anyone use any gear but having items seemingly specifically tailored for the characters in a run makes it feel redundant not just to have gear for specific characters. At the same time, since each character can have different abilities that may use other dice that are used in other items that seem tailored for that character, it creates a weird homogeneous blob of choices. While breaking the mold of the holy trinity known as tank, healer, and DPS is something many look for, the system in place makes it feel like if you don’t have what you want for what you’re trying to build, there’s no leeway if you just don’t get what you’re looking for. Everyone can do everything, but some may have a few things others can’t do that don’t feel like they have an impact.

Because the stories for each character are relatively short, the main gameplay is through adventure or dungeon mode. While you do gain some levels from doing the initial story, everything else becomes a grind. As said before, since all the characters feel somewhat the same but with maybe a different passive, it doesn’t leave anything to yearn for. Instead of having something you can build upon and achieve, you have little to work through with no payout. The replay value seems to be missing. It feels almost empty, and completing the dungeons doesn’t yield much besides the new skills you acquire from leveling those certain characters. It’s almost like you have to challenge yourself instead of the game giving you something to strive for. But the challenge is to see how long you last grinding the same thing repeatedly. The gameplay loop leaves you wanting something they don’t provide.

For the visuals, they remain the same. They have a nice overworld with a simplistic polygon style that kind of looks like you’re moving across a tabletop. From forests to crypts, movement across the ocean and little places to interact with like markets. The style moves into a more finely painted feel when in an encounter. With animations being kind of stiff but it’s enough for what it seems they were aiming for. The effects for abilities are also nice, but other things, like music, are lacking.

I wish there was something more to the story or more focused on gameplay. Both feel like there’s too little of either and don’t fill out enough. I’m not entirely sure what direction they were going. Locking characters behind a linear wall of gameplay that has no difficulty and no impactful story feels weird. While also having no reward besides just grinding for levels only to unlock potentially better or worse skills instead of something inside the game itself. It just doesn’t feel satisfying getting through a dungeon level or completing an adventure. The only part that identifies with rogue-lite is being unable to continue a dungeon or adventure when the party wipes. You don’t get new unlockable zones, special items, new things on maps, or anything for replaying and beating areas. And you don’t lose out on anything besides needing to restart from the beginning.

That said, It’s still something some may enjoy or look for. Since it gets right into just the fight instead of worrying about a list of unlockables and only needs to focus on characters to select from, this might be the speed people are looking for. It’s still a solid game that might interest those who want to play and manage a deck with some RNG and items. Not needing to worry about the story or too much focus on progression might be what some are looking for. The difficulty, though, didn’t seem to change that much from a previous build, though there are some slight quality-of-life changes to the overworld, such as not losing the game instantly when you have no food or more ways to get items instead of needing to fight every time.

Pros:

  • Flexible gameplay style.
  • The Gameplay loop is straightforward.

Cons:

  • Grindy game modes.
  • Mechanics seem to lack direction.
  • Doesn’t include much endgame or progression for replay value.

Avorok gives Sea Horizon a Drastik Measure of 6.3 out of 10.0 (63)

It doesn’t seem too much has changed since the initial release; while a bit more refined and quality of life adjustments, the lack of content in both without a focus on either makes it feel a bit empty. You can get a bit of time out of just a beginning, but I did not feel it had enough to keep going. Not looking to get rewards for everything, but it didn’t even feel like there was enough given by itself. You can pick it up on Steam for $14.99.