The production philosophy of Sea of Stars can be described with a single verb, a single categorical imperative: "to prune". Like a gardener who observes a tree and chooses which branches to cut away, Sabotage Studio has studied the JRPG of the past to preserve the best elements and prune the obsolete ones. Away with the random fights, away with that bulky inventory full of objects never used, away with the obsession for grinding; welcome happy grafts like the ones based on Mario & Luigi system: Superstar Saga, with timing able to keep up the player’s involvement even against basic enemies, an element to be mastered to the best of their ability during fierce battles against bosses. The spectrum of repetition is largely exorcised, but two protagonists of singular flatness and a small range of abilities slightly decrease the quality of the experience, without being able to affect a fun product, magnificent to see, to listen to, to live. There’s no excuse not to try Sea of Stars, available on day one on both Game Pass and PS Plus (and, despite this, 100.000 copies of the game were purchased on launch day). And how sweet it is to be shipwrecked in this sea of stars.