Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker is a pristine piece of DLC. Forgoing the inclination to merely take on more of the same, Sabotage Studio diversifies what made the base game great and continues delivering a masterful understanding of RPGs.
It is a testament to Sea of Stars‘ incredible vision that it shined so brightly, despite releasing a few weeks after the monolith that was Baldur’s Gate 3.
But Sea of Stars wasn’t a singular triumph.
Yes, developer Sabotage Studio expertly replicated and crystallized the adoration and reverence that many of us hold towards the 16-bit era of RPGs. The Suikodens, the Chrono Triggers, and the Final Fantasys. More than that, Sabotage opted for evolution rather than base imitation, constructing a pillar for Sea of Stars to proudly gaze at others from on high.
Anyone who has been playing games for several decades and dabbled in various genres is likely to understand where Sabotage pulled inspiration from and where it refined. But since Sea of Stars‘ release in August of 2023, the developer has graciously updated the game, changing up combat and introducing cooperative play.
Unfortunately, being a person inflicted by limited time and an ever-growing backlog, I was never able to check out Sea of Stars‘ changes for myself, let alone find another human to play an RPG with me. And despite following Sabotage on social media, it came as a surprise when Throes of the Watchmaker was announced.
Promised back when Sea of Stars was vacuuming up money for a Kickstarter, the Throes of the Watchmaker DLC was mentioned, a stretch goal that was soon met. And now it is available as a free piece of content for anyone who owns the game. A delightful surprise for those looking for an excuse to return to this incredible work.
Throes of the Watchmaker is a post-ending piece of DLC, meant to take place after players have beaten the main story of Sea of Stars. Access is granted by taking a request on the World Map to return to the pirate ship The Vespertine and initiate the content of the DLC.
The premise of the DLC is that Keenathan feels uncertain about the Sky Council recognizing his name. The solution? Head to The Watchmaker who has the authority to engrave Keenathan’s name on magical watch, giving him the authority to make his name official. It’s a plot thread subtly hinted at in the main game and one players may not have picked up on. But the narrative moves towards the Clockwork Castle and the Watchmaker that players encountered in the game.
It turns out that the Watchmaker is connected to The Fleshmancer, the main villain of Sea of Stars, and is responsible for sabotaging a miniature world found inside one of her many clocks. Solstice Warriors Zale and Valere–with assistance from the Artificer, nicknamed Artie–shrink down to see what’s gone wrong in the clock-land of Horloge and set things right.
Where Sea of Stars had a sweeping narrative with a throughline of a world-ending threat, Throes of the Watchmaker is meant to be more contained. More importantly, it feels like Sabotage wanted to use the DLC as a vehicle to provide further depth to Zale and Valere. In the base game, our two heroes are very much driven by purpose and duty, doing the noble RPG task of righting the world’s many wrongs. For me, I understood the issue that was taken with their lack of depth but saw the characters as more than just vessels to further the plot.
Throes of the Watchmaker attempts to curb those problems by making itself another chapter in the duo’s lore. Upon arrival into Horloge, the powerful skills they’ve accrued over the course of the main game are absorbed and transformed into dark, mirror versions of themselves. The same was done to the Watchmaker before she was able to escape. These evil doppelgangers become the primary antagonists of the 8-10 hour DLC.
These doppelganger versions of Zale and Valere add to the depth of the characters because they embody the “darker” insecurities and vulnerabilities of the heroes. Certainly it’s a trope that’s been used numerous times but I appreciated the way Sabotage incorporated the visual and mechanical aspects of the two and spun them into villains.
As for the world of Horloge itself, players should expect industry-best visuals from Sabotage at this point. Throes of the Watchmaker takes the fantasy of Sea of Stars and works it into carnival and mechanical themes. This is a world of bright colors and a playful atmosphere that has been twisted into a shadowy circus. Clowns bounce around and make jokes but are deadly. Life and death are the prizes on the line in these games.
It is impossible to not be left in awe by the art on display. One of Sea of Stars‘ most consistent elements continues in the DLC and at no point does it feel like the well of creativity has run dry. Sprites and their animations are still phenomenally expressive at communicating emotions and reactions. Environments explode with detail, communicating a depth and sense of place that isn’t just a pastiche of expectations.
And with content also comes Sea of Stars‘ other North Star: new tracks from composers Eric W. Brown and Yasunori Mitsuda. The two were responsible for making the base game’s sound as equally memorable as the visuals, capturing boss themes and environmental majesty throughout. The one-two punch that made the main game excel remains with the Throes of the Watchmaker.
Despite Sabotage overhauling combat, I didn’t feel entirely rusty soon into the DLC. Rather than funnel already powerful characters into stupidly obscure and hard content, there’s a twist. Zale and Valere lose their Solstice Warrior powers and instead must learn new circus-themed abilities. Zale becomes a juggler while Valere leans into acrobatics. Meanwhile Artie gains new tools for his mechanical body.
However, the combat loop remains relatively similar. The new powers have their own “elemental” type, used to break enemy “locks”. One of my favorite aspects of Sea of Stars‘ combat was how players could turn the tide of battle by puzzling out how to delay or outright nullify enemy damage. Above an enemy, players can see a clock ticking down to the next turn and a roulette of icons. When a player hits an enemy with the correct type of attack, the type of lock will be revealed. If players tick away a few of these locks, attacks won’t hit as hard. Breaking them all can negate damage or cause the enemy not to act at all.
The new abilities in no way drastically change combat at its core. That being said, the new abilities ask players to perform somewhat differently so they can’t lean on old methods of dispatch. This is a slight double-edged sword. There is a thrill of learning a new skill set but it does come at the cost that progression can feel rushed. Players still level up but don’t select a preference of stat boosts, equipment can be earned but won’t last when a new dominant piece quickly arrives.
Additionally, Throes of the Watchmaker is a tough piece of content. Fights are harder than one may expect and even players who have a full grasp of the mechanics may still want to flip on a relic or two to curb the difficulty. It reminds me of the often grueling optional dungeons in Final Fantasy games that truly tested player skill.
But being so short, I think Sabotage found a good balance between fights, exploration, and puzzles. Due to the theme, there’s a bounty of clever mini-games for players to spend their time with and all these carnival tropes brighten up the space between tough-as-nails combat.
Due to the size of the DLC, it’s difficult to go into much detail at risk of spoiling the incredible pacing of exciting fights and fun encounters that should be expected from Sea of Stars at this point. For fans of the game, it’s truly impossible not to recommend it because it merely extends the journey that much more. Upwards of 10 hours for a free piece of DLC is an absolute steal.
More importantly, however, is the fact that Throes of the Watchmaker doesn’t feel shoehorned in. It taking place at the end of the main story gives players a definitive point of entry and doesn’t muddy the progression of the main campaign and throw off balance by incorporating new elements. Better yet, the DLC feels like a complete journey rather than a soup of distractions thrown together. It adds what makes Sea of Stars a classic but gives its two focal-point characters more depth, perhaps giving players new appreciation should they go back again and play the main game over.
Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker is a pristine piece of DLC. Forgoing the inclination to merely take on more of the same, Sabotage Studio diversifies what made the base game great and continues delivering a masterful understanding of RPGs.
