Sea of Stars director unpacks Garl, 2023’s most wholesome gaming hero

Over the course of a sprawling 30-hour journey, Sea of Stars takes you throughout dense forests, underwater caverns, and even house and time itself. On that quest, you meet every part from towering historic dragons and spooky witches to demonic hellspawns and cyborg ninjas.

But amid all of these excessive fantasy and sci-fi components, the star of Quebec City-based Sabotage’s acclaimed new Chrono Trigger-inspired RPG is unquestionably the ‘Warrior Cook’ Garl. Unlike our two Chosen One leads, Zale and Valere, Garl is an everyday ol’ non-magical man, contributing to the celebration as a substitute with an infectious cheeriness, a love of sharing meals, and an unwavering loyalty to his buddies. In truth, his standing as an everyman helps floor Zale and Valere and serves because the beating coronary heart of the broader “save the world” story.

“He was always there as a key character — the friend who’s reminding you to smell the flowers and the one who takes it [all] in,” Sea of Stars writer-director Thierry Boulanger tells MobileSyrup in a wide-ranging interview.

“For some reason, it just felt right — let’s have someone who’s optimistic. It wasn’t planned for any other reason than I felt that it would feel good to spend time with a character like this. The game being more of a throwback, it doesn’t have to be ‘all is bad that ends bad, but there’s some moral.’ That’s good, but I feel like that ground is covered. We wanted to bring a game that just feels refreshing and light, and it makes you smile, and it’s optimistic, and it’s positive vibes, and it’s about friendship and evil,” he explains.

“These are all clichés, yes, but we’ll try not to hit the nail straight on the head and do it right, and then have a few twists in there to make it its own thing. But overall, it’s really just about you feeling good while you play and being happy to be in that world and have this character who helps you take it in and nudges you in that direction.”

We see that in show within the opening part, the place Garl loses a watch defending Valere after the trio of kids wander right into a forbidden cavern. Later, as Zale and Valere spend a few years holed up in an academy coaching to turn into the prophesized Solstice Warriors, prohibited from leaving, Garl dangers moving into additional bother with the headmaster by sneaking some treats in for them. Sea of Stars by no means will get overly deep or advanced with its story and characters, however there’s an simple appeal and heat to be present in these character interactions.

Note: This is the place the dialog shifts to important spoilers, together with the endings of Sea of Stars. Stop studying right here for those who haven’t gotten previous the Dweller of Strife boss battle and your first encounter with the Fleshmancer.

While Sea of Stars is an total mild and quirky sport, it positively has its darker moments. The most emotional, by far, comes about two-thirds in, when the villainous Necromancer Aephorul makes his dreaded arrival. As he assaults Zale and Valere, Garl as soon as extra jumps in the way in which, this time being dealt a deadly blow. While he’s in a position to quickly lengthen what little time he has left to additional assist the celebration, he finally succumbs to his accidents.

It’s a stunning twist, and one which Sea of Stars actually mines to full impact, with many scenes of Zale, Valere, and the opposite characters grieving their fallen buddy. You spend the remainder of the sport carrying on with out him, venturing by the titular Sea of Stars to a different world to finally put a cease to Aephorul. In the tip, you handle to defeat Aephorul’s lieutenant and Zale and Valere’s former mentor, Erlina, however the Fleshmancer himself escapes, so the sport ends on a extra ambiguous notice because the Solstice Warriors set off to stop additional conflicts.

However, in step with the Chrono Trigger inspirations, there’s a “true” ending to unlock by finishing a fairly sizeable postgame that features character-specific sidequests, secret bosses, and extra. In it, you truly cease the Fleshmancer and, extra importantly, revive Garl.

Of course, undoing a personality’s demise is all the time a difficult factor, particularly when Garl’s had such emotional weight. Boulanger says it was a choice he didn’t make calmly, however it’s one he tried to watch out to make it really feel earned each narratively and as a participant’s reward for finishing aspect content material.

“Resurrecting a character is always like, ‘Well, do you actually have a reason that’s believable for how that works?’ Which, I think in our case, really works,” he says, referring to the demise scene in query. In it, celebration member Resh’an, an alchemist who shares a historical past with Aephorul however can’t straight intrude with occasions, briefly manipulates time to converse along with his outdated buddy.

“If you watch that cutscene again, while they’re talking, Resh’an actually turns around to make sure the portal opens. He’s checking in on his plan — that it actually works. And so I felt like narratively, that checks out. It’s not like ‘Oh, you just shoehorned that in.’ It’s actually planted. And it’s all subjective, as I’m the writer and I’m obviously biased, but I felt like it was credible enough to make sense.”

Boulanger additionally says he feels that the true ending taking place many hours down the road offers Garl’s demise sufficient room to breathe.

“And the other thing is [the true ending] happens late enough that you’re kind of done grieving and invested in something else and fully accepted [his death] and then he comes back. It’s not like, ‘Ooh, are they gonna die? See you next time!’” he explains.

“Let’s actually own this and then for those who actually go and complete everything, you get a very, very meaningful reward. But for some people, the game will be, ‘Well, my friend is dead, I got revenge on my mentor, but the actual bad guy was just let off the hook, and so be it.’”

Another profit, Boulanger says, was to provide Garl yet one more standout scene wherein he will get to as soon as extra face off towards his would-be killer.

“Especially the taunt — he just throws an apple at [Aephorul’s] head,” Boulanger says with amusing.

“And I just thought this idea — well, it depends if your ace is high enough — of how the lowest card is the only thing that beats the king. And I think for this guy, his pure heart — ‘There’s an injustice here, I’m righting this. I don’t care what it takes. I don’t care who you are. I’ll just do this.’ I genuinely feel like narratively, all of that makes sense, and it pays off.”

Given the touching remaining shot of the sport, wherein Zale, Valere and Garl embrace yet one more time to deliver every part full circle, I’d should agree.

Sea of Stars is now obtainable on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC. It’s additionally obtainable by Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium.

Image credit score: Sabotage