The upcoming Sea of Stars expansion Throes of the Watchmaker arrives on May 20

The free story DLC for Sea of Stars, the excellent Chrono Trigger-inspired indie RPG, will be available to download starting May 20. You might fear that a free expansion is going to be light on content, but the new Throes of the Watchmaker quest clocks in at eight hours. It’s a substantial add-on for those who have rolled credits on the main campaign, which you’ll need to do before the quest unlocks.

The DLC reunites the main game’s protagonists Zale and Valere, who journey into a miniature clockwork world designed by the titular Watchmaker. His magical invention is threatened by an ominous cursed carnival, and it’s up to the now experienced Solstice Warriors to save the day.

As well as a brand new area to explore, the expansion introduces a new playable character in Artificer, a laser-wielding robotic sharpshooter who joins the party on their quest to save the land of Horloge. And to really drive home the circus theme of the piece, Zale swaps his sword for juggling balls, while Valere becomes an acrobat. There are new combat abilities and combos to master for each character, tied together by a progression loop that is separate from the main game.

Sea of Stars composer Eric W. Brown returns for the DLC with an all-new score that includes additional original songs from co-composer Yasunori Mitsuda of Chrono Trigger fame.

Sea of Stars made a huge splash when it arrived back in August 2023. Heavily inspired by SNES-era RPGs, it cleverly takes the best bits of the genre — gorgeous pixel art, a proper overworld map, memorable music — while doing away with the more controversial ‘90s tropes, like grinding and random battles. The turn-based combat system incorporates Mario & Luigi-style timed button inputs, and allows you to reduce the damage received from incoming attacks by breaking “locks” with specific attacks of your own.

Throes of the Watchmaker is the second Sea of Stars DLC add-on, following the (also free) Dawn of Equinox update, which added local co-op and combat refinements. The full game is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, and costs $35.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-upcoming-sea-of-stars-expansion-throes-of-the-watchmaker-arrives-on-may-20-140025090.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-upcoming-sea-of-stars-expansion-throes-of-the-watchmaker-arrives-on-may-20-140025090.html?src=rss