We haven't had a really good "metroidvania" style game released in a long time. Yeah, the newest Shantae game - Shantae and the Seven Sirens -  just came out, and it's amazing if you haven't played it yet. But there hasn't been a "wow... I need to play this game" type of indie game that has come out in a long time. 

It's been two years since Koji Igarashi's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was released. Which shattered Kickstarter records and despite its flaws at launch, turned out to be an incredible game. 

But then, I stumbled upon this. 

Curse of the Searats is the next big "ratoidvania" from developer Petoons Studio. 

The game stars a group of four rats - well they were once human and got transformed into rats by an evil pirate witch named Flora Burn. Oh! Did I mention that it's pirate themed?

The story goes. You play as one of four heroes; Douglas, Buffalo, Akane, and Bussa. You are tasked with helping to rescue the Admiral's son and to capture the witch who put a curse on you.

All of the combat is in real time and all 4 characters are unique with each one even having their own skill tree for you to master. There are even unlockable special abilities as you progress through the story.

Explore, solve puzzles, and fight through 12 locations set on the beautiful Ireland coast. Each location is set to be unique and non-linear. The game is boosting hundreds of rooms to explore.  

Since there are 4 character, yes you can play Co-Op. It has been confirmed that local multiplayer mode supports up to 4 players. 

The game features 2D hand-drawn animations and 3D environments. Just look at the animation! It's beautiful.  

Enough of me, lets hear it straight of the horses... I mean rats mouth. I got to interview Dani del Amor who is the Creative Director on Curse of the Searats and the Co-Founder of Petoons Studio. 

GF:  How long have you been developing this game for?

Dani: The game has been in development since march 2019 approx, but we started with the initial concept at the end of 2018.

GF: This art style is amazing. What was the influence for it?

Dani: Thanks! It takes some time to find your own visual style but after many tests and failures there's a moment when you start feeling comfortable and then everything fits.
We had a lot of influence from different games, series, movies, comic-books and anime. To name a few, "The Secret of Nimh" (Don Bluth), "Basil, the great mouse detective" (Disney), Indivisible RPG (Lab Zero), Shantae (WayForward), Gris (Nomada Studio), ISOLA (Kerschl, Fletcher, Assarasakorn)...

I mentioned some of the visual references, but for the concept itself we can also talk about pirate games and movies like "Monkey Island", The Goonies", "Pirates of the Caribbean", you name it. And for the game mechanics there are lots of amazing metroidvania games we enjoyed playing, like Bloodstained ROTN, Castlevania SOTN, Guacamelee, Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Sundered,...

GF: Are the four playable characters going to feel different? What are some of the differences between them?

Dani: All four characters will have their own mood and combat style, and of course their own special attacks. Some of them can dash forward, others dash backwards, others have ranged attacks, ones can parry, others can dodge, so every character feels very different.

GF: What is combat going to be like?

Dani: Combat is going to be very dynamic. You can chain attacks for a simple combo, parry, dodge, and even hit downwards like in Shovel Knight. You will gain different abilities and unlock special attacks in your skill tree. Is not going to be a brawler but more an action platformer.

GF: Petoons Studio seems like a fairly new studio. Have you guys worked on any other games or is this your first project?

Dani: This is our second PC/Console project. Our first game, Petoons Party, is a family party game. We developed it under PlayStation Talents initiative, where we won the best kids game award. The game was released both digital and physical in all platforms and regions. We learned a lot in that process.
We've been working for hire in the development of other games as well. So we are new but experienced :)

GF: There have been a lot of metroidvania type games that have come and gone. What are you guys going to do to try to separate yourselves from the pack?

Danni: We just try to make a good game. We want to bring something fresh to the story and the visuals, four different characters with a "choose your flavour" gamestyle, and a very enjoyable local co-op. At the same time we are putting on it all the things a metroidvania fan can expect: exploration, backtracking, secret rooms, abilities, skill tree, map, incredible final bosses, different endings,...
We hope players really enjoy Curse of the Sea Rats as much as we do.

GF: Why rats?

Dani: Rats are awesome creatures. They can be small and sneaky but also resilient and agile. They have an amazing set of abilities.
Rodents can be very cute or scary like hell, so perfect both for heroes and villains.

Petoons Studio was asking for $16,934 to finish this game. In the first 8 hours of the campaign being live, they achieved this goal, and then some. At the time of this article, the campaign is currently just under $52,000. 

I asked Dani how he and his team feel about meeting the goal in such a short amount of time. His answer is the reason why I support indie games. 

GF: The game met its goal in less than 9 hours. How does that make you guys feel?

Dani: Ahoy! It's really amazing to see how much love for rats and pirates there is around the world. We couldn't be happier with the campaign start and all the support we are getting from the community.

You can watch the official trailer below.

Curse of the Searats is currently on Kickstarter. There is still 25 days left to contribute to the campaign. The game is going to be released for PS4, X1, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

I am personally very excited for this game as I love metroidvania games and this art style is probably some of the best I have ever seen from a small indie studio. It is absolutely beautiful. I even backed this game personally.      

I want to thank Dani del Amor for his time. I know those guys are busy and be able to answer just a few questions for me was amazing. Thank you so much. 

As always, this has been James with Game Fix bringing you an interview for the upcoming game "Curse of the Searats" now on Kickstarter. I will be following this game, so be sure to check future posts for updates on development.

Once again I would like to thank Dani del Amor of Petoons Studio. 

Game on everybody!