Sabotage Studio has been steadily continuing to work on Sea of Stars despite the game actually debuting in summer 2023. This has included plans to produce and launch an expansive content update, one that will even see a bunch of new features and additions arriving too.
It’s known as the Dawn of Equinox update and it will be arriving ahead of the Throes of the Watchmaker DLC in early 2025. It will seemingly be used as a basis to introduce a collection of long-requested and welcome quality of life and mechanical changes, and Sabotage has now outlined exactly what this will include.
We can expect a new local co-op experience, a revamped combat system, an adjusted prologue, an extra cinematic scene, a helpful speedrunning relic, difficulty presets, an improved parrot relic, localisation for Quebecois, and a few other smaller QoL changes to boot.
Dawn of Equinox will launch on November 12 on all platforms where the game is available, and you can see the exact outline of planned changes below.
- All-New Local Co-op: Sea of Stars’ story will be playable in its entirety by up to three players, with allies traversing the world together and mastering a new Co-op Timed Hits combat mechanic.
- Combat 2.0: The addition of Mystery Locks brings a new gameplay loop around revealing the ways to break the spells of enemies each time a new type is encountered in battle. Along with “Reveal” functions added to some of the playable cast’s special skills, Combo Points now remain after battle, offering new ways to open certain encounters, or test different damage types on enemies to reveal their locks. A comprehensive balancing pass has also been done to reflect both these new changes and player feedback since launch.
- A Revamped Prologue: Implementing combat for the young versions of our heroes, the updated flow does away with the flashback structure to begin in their childhood, directly including action in the prologue.
- Bonus Cinematic Scene: An entirely new cutscene has been added to accentuate a pivotal moment in the original adventure, referred to as “Paths on Water.”
- A Speedrunner Mode Relic: This new item activates a range of features helpful for those looking to set a new personal best or world record.
- Difficulty Presets: Three difficulty options are now available when starting a new game, which are presets using the game’s Relics. New Relics have also been added, both for quality of life and difficulty adjustments.
- Improved Parrot Relic: Sea of Stars’ secret-tracking parrot has learned a few new tricks to better assist players tracking down overlooked challenges and collectibles.
- Quebecois Localization: A comprehensive French Canadian translation for Quebec’s finest Solstice Warriors.
- Quality of Life Improvements: A constellation of general updates and improvements spanning Sea of Stars’ full campaign.