On March 19th we announced Sabotage's next game, Sea of Stars, along with the launch of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.

The enthusiasm for our retro inspired turn based RPG is such that the funding goal was reached in under 7 hours. On April 9th the last stretch goal, a free DLC for backers called Throes of The Watchmaker , was reached before it was even announced.

Amongst other announcements made during the campaign were the contribution of Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger) as guest composer, and the addition of an early backer physical edition of the game to be released in partnership with Limited Run Games.

Telling the story of two Children of the Solstice, Sea of Stars is a turn based RPG that focuses on engaging combat and unrestrained exploration, featuring freedom of movement seldom seen in the genre. Sea of Stars’ compelling world unites players with Valere and Zale, youths fated to become Solstice
Warriors. Combining their Sun and Moon powers to perform Eclipse Magic, they are pledged to fight the monstrous creations of the evil alchemist known as The Fleshmancer.

Those interested in backing the Kickstarter have until April 18th 11:46 AM EDT and can head directly here and get involved for as little as $1:
Sea of Stars Kickstarter page

To Wishlist Sea of Stars on Steam:
Sea of Stars Steam page

Sea of Stars website:
Sea of Stars webiste[seaofstarsgame.co]

And to join our wholesome community on Discord:
Sabotage Discord[discord.gg]

Picnic Panic is a FREE sun-soaked expansion to the Messenger in which the beloved characters from the original game tag along on a trip to Voodkin Island.

Explore three refreshingly new levels - each culminating in unique and inventive boss fights.

https://youtu.be/LCGjEwVXZW8

To start your tropical adventure you'll need to download the DLC and make sure to use a save file in which you have beaten the final boss of the main game.
Then head to the Shop and check that pink neon palm tree sign to head to Voodkin Island.

Picnic Panic's soundtrack features 18 brand new fantastic music tracks by composer extraordinaire Rainbowdragoneyes.

https://steamoss.com/steamstore/app/1107180/The_Messenger__Picnic_Panic_DLC/


Enjoy!

The Sabotage team

New Game+ mode:
-NG+ is additive, where each subsequent cycle increases difficulty, but also lets you lock in an item to have from the start, making the quest shorter every time
-Tread carefully; in NG+, you need to pay Quarble upfront, or it’s GAME OVER
-Can you beat the dev’s high score of New Game+7??

Controls remapping:
-Accessible through the pause menu

Dialogue turbo speed:
-Hold right trigger (default) and jump to skip text as fast as possible

Underwater labyrinth accessibility:
-A visual effect (bubbles) will be there for adventurers who carry the Magic Seashell

Prophet hints now accessible directly in the map:
--Can be toggled on and off

Jukebox:
-Accessible in the Shop after finding your first Music Note
-Accessible through the pause menu after first discovering it in the Shop

Updated Windmill Shuriken:
-Accessible from the start in NG+
-Charges now based on a cooldown timer
-Hitting targets with it also gives a cloudstep

Miscellaneous bug fixing, none of which affecting speedrunning

Greetings Messengers, we just pushed a patch to Steam to address some issues a few players were encountering.

Patch notes v1.0.2 :

- Fixed memory leak to prevent framerate drop issue when playing for extended periods of time (6+ hours)
- Fixed soft lock that occurred when dying at the same time as killing a boss
- Fixed game timer that would restart at zero after going over 24h
- In Catacombs, preventing an issue where players could get stuck in a challenge room after saving in the room and reloading the game because of breakables respawning
- In Rivière Turquoise, fixed an issue where players could respawn in the wrong dimension and get stuck
- Health and mana drop upgrades will now function properly the moment they are bought, instead of upon restarting the game
- Being careful with spoilers here, but a certain button mashing sequence has been reworked to prevent blockers for certain players.


We are also working on a few quality of life features, including key remapping, and will follow up shortly with another update.