Four people have been cursed and turned into rats in the game’s 18th-century setting on the Irish coast by a famed pirate witch called Flora Burn. To break the curse, the four playable characters, American settler David Douglas, Cheyenne hunter Buffalo Calf, slave rebel leader Bussa, and a warrior on a secret mission, Akane Yamakawa, must rescue an Admiral’s son and capture the witch. The game has a non-linear and vast map with hundreds of rooms, unlocked skill trees, and a mix of 2D models and 3D surroundings as players visit a variety of locales either alone or in local co-op mode with three friends.
Over the last several years, local co-op with and without a split-screen has had a comeback in popularity in the video game industry. KeyWe, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and TMNT: Shredders Revenge are just a few instances of this apparently long-overdue renaissance in the ability to play with friends or adversaries. Non-local multiplayer has been the focus of numerous games over the past decade, thereby removing a player’s ability to see someone in the eyes and ask them why they just did that thing that killed your character. Curse of the Sea Rats, perhaps, will assist to continue the resuscitation of that virtually always welcomed the opportunity to game together on the same TV.
