Metroidvania games have immense popularity, with Metroid inspiring many games across video game history. Curse of the Sea Rats puts a different spin on the genre as a "Ratoidvania" action-adventure game that features local co-op and classic hand-drawn animation style. Players take on the role of up to four playable rats cursed by an evil pirate witch, who must search for a cure across an 18th-century landscape of the Irish coast.
Game ZXC recently spoke with Petoons Studio co-founders Sergio Garcia and Dani Del Amor about their love for the Metroidvania genre and the various influences behind Curse of the Sea Rats' design, with local co-op being one of its stand-out features.
Curse of the Sea Rats' Metroidvania and Other Design Influences
Design influences typical of the Metroidvanias are visible in Curse of the Sea Rats' interconnected map allowing for non-linear exploration, its side-scrolling platformer design, and the inclusion of multiple endings like in the original Metroid. The game also continues the appeal of hand-drawn video games, with its beautiful 2D art style inspired by animations from classic Disney movies, albeit interspersed seamlessly on 3D backgrounds in an overall 2.5D art style experience. However, Curse of the Sea Rats has its own identity and unique take on the genre.
Although Curse of the Sea Rats was inspired by Metroidvania games, Game ZXC learned there were many inspirations behind its creation, from classic animated and sometimes underrated Disney movies to all kinds of multimedia, including comics. The developers also explained how its combat is more like Castlevania than other games in the Metroidvania genre. As Del Amor put it,
You can choose your own way of playing the game, but it’s mostly melee combat. It’s more like Castlevania than Metroid in this way, if you want to somehow define Sea Rats in this Metroidvania universe. We are more like Castlevania , Blasphemous , those kinds of games, than Axiom Verge or Metroid .
Although Curse of the Sea Rats had a vast and rich range of influences from the Metroidvania genre and beyond, it's evident that the game has a unique identity and style within the genre. The developers explained how the word they created for the game, Ratoidvania, isn't about creating a new genre. It's a fun marketing word that captures the spirit of the game, as it is a clever pun that puts its rat characters front and center. It's also a handy way of putting their unique stamp on the genre and adding to its identity. According to Garcia,
Okay, first of all, Ratoidvania is a word that we love, it’s not like we are creating a genre. It was a more funny and marketing inspired word, so we can differentiate it. Metroidvanias are super popular. Because of this term Ratoidvania, people are like, "what is this?" Especially the fans of the Metroidvania genre. But also, yes, thinking about how it’s affecting a Metroidvania - it's because of these characters in the game. That is a strength of choosing rats for the game and how we can use this to make a really good Metroidvania. But everybody loves this word, Ratoidvania. It’s catchy, and it really helped us a lot when we started the Kickstarter campaign. We were super successful, I think, by this love of this label we put on the product.
Local Co-Op and Metroidvania Accessibility in Curse of the Sea Rats
In addition to the word Ratoidvania, Curse of the Sea Rats' inclusion of local co-op is also especially significant as a stand-out feature that isn't often typical of the genre. Video games with local co-op modes, such as party games, are increasingly popular, and games that allow players to team up to battle together have wide-ranging appeal, like the recent resurgence of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. Petoons' developers explained that, although they recognized that challenging bosses were important to hard-core Metroidvania fans, they also wanted to find ways to include those less familiar with the genre, which is where co-op comes in. According to Del Amor,
Yeah, we identified one issue with other Metroidvanias. They are usually a bit hard to play or not so easy. Some people get stuck at points, and they don’t finish the game. We wanted to introduce multiplayer not just to play the whole game in multiplayer, but to give you the opportunity to talk to a friend, family, or whatever partner and just say, "join me in this adventure and help me to beat this boss" or whatever.
The developers also explained that local co-op in Curse of the Sea Rats also "adds replayability" and allows players to strategize their attacks together in a super group of up to four players by using each playable rat's unique abilities and skills upgrade trees. Encouraging players to team up and adventure together is also reflected in the Petoons Studio motto "Play Together," with the developers keen to bring people together through video games to create memorable experiences, which is important to them as part of "a new age" in the history of Metroidvania titles. Overall, it's evident Curse of the Sea Rats expands the Metroidvania genre with options for both challenge and teamwork through its unique rat characters and local co-op gameplay while ultimately focusing on creating a fun-filled, story-driven immersive pirate adventure experience.
Curse of the Sea Rats will release on April 6, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.