The popular RPG Sea of Stars made a splash in 2023 on PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Evoking classic 16-bit RPGs, Sea of Stars is a thrilling achievement that doesn’t feel like pandering nostalgia bait. Here are great games like Sea of Stars to check out.
13 Great Games Like Sea of Stars to Play Right Now
13. Fire Emblem Engage
While Fire Emblem is one of Nintendo’s oldest franchises, it wouldn’t officially be released to Western audiences until 2003, eventually receiving an international resurgence in 2012. The latest entry in the series is 2023’s Fire Emblem Engage, which follows Alear, an awakened dragon in human form who leads their kingdom against rival nations and a growing undead army. Using a set of magical rings, Alera can summon the spirits of past Fire Emblem characters to assist in their crusade.
It’s always great when Fire Emblem leans into its own extensive history and Fire Emblem Engage finds a way to organically weave this into its story and gameplay. While the plot itself may not be as epic as many past Fire Emblem stories, Engage more than makes up for it with its engrossing gameplay. With Engage, Nintendo reminded the industry why Fire Emblem is the gold standard of tactical RPGs, with the franchise’s future brighter than ever.
12. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
In the last years of the Switch’s lifecycle, Nintendo has revisited the legacy of Mario’s RPG titles, including the faux 2D turn-based Paper Mario. In 2024, Nintendo released an enhanced remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, which was originally released for the GameCube in 2004. The game has Princess Peach kidnaped by the villainous Grodus and his X-Nauts, leading Mario to the pirate city of Rogueport as he searches for a way to rescue her.
The Thousand-Year Door is arguably the greatest Paper Mario game and easily one of the best turn-based RPGs to star Mario and his amazing friends. Refining the gameplay from the preceding Paper Mario title on the Nintendo 64, The Thousand-Year Door contains plenty of twists and memorable party members to keep the experience fresh. The Switch remaster faithfully recreates the classic, adding some quality-of-life changes and subtly updating its presentation.
11. Baldur’s Gate 3
On a superficial level, the 2023 dark fantasy game Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t appear to have much in common with Sea of Stars beyond its broader RPG system, but as far as great lists of modern RPGs go, it would be madness not to include it. Both games feature turn-based RPG combat and have players build a party they get to know and love over the course of the story. Infected with a mind-flayer, the player character and his party move to stop their monstrous transformation and save their realm from an impending cataclysm.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game that deserves every inch of the positive hype around it and then some as one of the greatest RPG titles of all-time. If Sea of Stars is fueled by a halcyon look at more innocent RPGs past, honoring them while forging their future, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a mature and thrilling approach to the genre. Sea of Stars effectively leans into its cozy and familiar qualities while Baldur’s Gate 3 advances the world of dark fantasy RPGs to a new generation.
10. Suikoden I & II HD Remastered
Konami had its own significant success in the RPG space in the ‘90s with its Suikoden series, starting in 1996 on the PlayStation. The games range from one-on-one duels to full-scale war battles, with the player able to recruit up to 107 characters to their cause as several medieval city-states in this fantasy realm go to war. Both the original Suikoden and its 1998 direct sequel Suikoden II are set for a full remaster on the Switch in March 2025 as Suikoden I & II HD Remastered: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars.
Like many tactical RPGs, the weapons party members are equipped with in Suikoden gauge their effectiveness on their corresponding opponent. Beyond party battles, duels and the more sweeping war battles work on a rock-paper-scissors mechanic as the turn-based combat unfolds. A mix between conventional RPGs and more epic tactical games, Suikoden is one of Konami’s unsung gems.
9. Monster Hunter Stories
While Capcom’s enormously successful Monster Hunter franchise may be best known for its hack-and-slash main series, it has a well-received line of turn-based RPG titles. Starting with 2016’s Monster Hunter Stories, the franchise took on a more family-friendly presentation and received Amiibo functionality for its entries on Nintendo platforms. The game has the protagonist, along with their friends, trying to rid the kingdom of a sickness, known as the Black Blight, driving monsters to be uncontrollably violent.
In Monster Hunter Stories, players choose between three different attack types, each with their own level of effectiveness in how the defender responds. This rock-paper-scissors approach informs much of the combat in the game, accentuated by the series’ extensive roster of familiar beasts that the player can bond with. A great gateway for younger players into the Monster Hunter franchise, Monster Hunter Stories provides a surprising amount of depth given its gameplay mechanics’ relative simplicity.
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
After years of 3D combat, the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series pivoted to turn-based combat with its acclaimed 2020 installment Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Sega followed up this entry with the 2024 direct sequel Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, an ambitious title that brought together series’ protagonists Kazuma Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga. As Kiryu battles a grave cancer diagnosis and reflects on his life, he helps Kasuga search for his long-lost mother.
Boasting a refined combat system from Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth allows characters to move freely during combat, with their positioning affecting their effectiveness in battle. Infinite Wealth also ramps up its scope, with three different settings to explore and a multitude of minigames to experience over the course of the game. Accessible to newcomers to the franchise but especially rewarding to longtime Yakuza/Like a Dragon players, Infinite Wealth is a fantastic balance of classic and modern aesthetics within the long-running series.
7. Persona 3 Reload
In the past several years, Atlus’ long-running RPG series Persona has found a growing audience beyond its native Japan. In response to this upsurge in international popularity, Atlus and Sega remade Persona 3, one of the most acclaimed entries in the franchise, with 2024’s Persona 3 Reload. Released for modern consoles, Persona 3 Reload doesn’t just update the technical presentation of the classic game but updates the story and character designs for more contemporary sensibilities.
LIke the 2006 original game, Persona 3 Reload follows a group of teenagers capable of physically manifesting their psyche, or Persona, as they investigate a temporal anomaly known as the Dark Hour. Persona 3 blends elements of RPG gameplay and social simulator as players control the protagonist during their school and social life, affecting the overarching story. With its memorable characters and immersive world, Persona 3 Reload is the definitive version of the Atlus classic.
6. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Before Final Fantasy, there was Dragon Quest, Enix’s epic line of fantasy RPGs that started on Nintendo consoles in 1986. In addition to its foundational turn-based RPG gameplay, Dragon Quest featured character designs by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, a visual aesthetic it has maintained for decades. The most celebrated of the early, classic Dragon Quest games is 1988’s Dragon Quest III, which has since been remastered and remade for subsequent gaming platforms, most recently with 2024’s Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake.
The amount of freedom to the players introduced in Dragon Quest III compared to its predecessors is staggering, making it one of the most ambitious games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. From an open-world scope to the ability to swap out party members, Dragon Quest III ushered in a whole new era for the franchise, setting the baseline for the series moving forward. The 2024 remake not only upgrades the game’s technical presentation for modern consoles but also provides quality-of-life changes and brings a vision of the story more faithful to the creators’ original intent that may have been diminished in its localization.
5. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
If Fire Emblem Engage is a celebration of the franchise’s entire history, 2019’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses on the Nintendo Switch refines the classic gameplay formula while remixing it enough to feel completely refreshed. Players select between three rival nations, dividing their time between the turn-based tactical combat the series is known for and teaching at a local monastery, with the lessons impacting how the story unfolds. Three Houses also contains a significant amount of DLC, adding an epilogue to the story, additional playable characters, and a challenge difficulty setting.
What Engage lacks in scope and ambition is more than made up for with Three Houses, the biggest creative swing Nintendo has taken with the Fire Emblem franchise to date. The story is complex and demands players replay the main campaign multiple times to enjoy and appreciate its full scope while its extensive cast are among the most memorable in the series. A highlight for the longtime franchise, Three Houses is the perfect jumping-on point for new Fire Emblem players and varied enough to keep veterans on their toes.
4. Super Mario RPG
The RPG adventure that started it all for Mario, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is one of the greatest Super Nintendo games of all-time and one of the best games to carry the Super Mario branding ever. Nintendo teamed with Square, the makers of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy, to create a turn-based RPG for Mario, using pre-rendered sprites and environments that pushed the SNES’ hardware capabilities. During a showdown with Bowser, Mario and Peach are suddenly interrupted by Smithy, a new enemy who shatters the Star Road.
With its isometric perspective and unique sprite design, Super Mario RPG stands distinct from even Square’s other SNES RPG titles. The action commands during the turn-based combat sequences make for a more engaging gameplay experience, rather than the usual passive combat RPGs tend to be known for. The game was lovingly remade for the Switch in 2023, bringing the game to a new generation while keeping so much of what made the original great.
3. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
Sea of Stars really draws its primary influences from Square’s Super Nintendo and PlayStation RPG titles and among the company’s biggest games on the console was 1995’s Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo and its 1999 PlayStation sequel Chrono Cross. The latter follows a teenage protagonist named Serge who traverses different realities with his friends while eluding an antagonist named Lynx. Chrono Cross was completely remastered for the Switch in 2022, bundled with the previously Japanese exclusive 1996 game Radical Dreamers.
While Chrono Cross is a significant departure from Chrono Trigger, which may catch those hoping for a game in a much more similar vein off-guard. Like Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross includes multiple endings and features a New Game+ option that encourages additional playthroughs to experience the full breadth of the story. Just as Final Fantasy leveled up considerably on the PS1, so too did Chrono, with Chrono Cross standing as an ambitious RPG improved by its Switch remaster.
2. Collection of Mana
Another one of the Sea of Stars’ direct influences published by Square is its Mana franchise, which started out as a Final Fantasy spinoff, titled Final Fantasy Adventure in North America, before becoming its own full-fledged series with 1993’s Secret of Mana. This was followed up with 1995’s Trials of Mana, which went unreleased in North America for over 20 years. This original Super Nintendo trilogy has since been remastered and compiled on the Nintendo Switch with Collection of Mana.
In contrast to Square’s other RPG titles at the time, the Mana games featured real-time combat facilitated by a command menu in the form of a ring around the player’s party. By Secret of Mana, the games allowed for cooperative multiplayer using this gameplay system, while Trials of Mana broke away from a more strictly linear narrative progression. Gorgeously rendered and enormously influential on the genre, the Mana games continue to hold up as one of Square’s greatest franchises of all-time.
1. Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection
Arguably the biggest influence on Sea of Stars of them all is Square Enix’s long-running Final Fantasy franchise, particularly its titles released in the ‘90s. Starting in 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, the franchise would see a healthy run of titles on the NES and Super Nintendo, though only half of the games at the time were released in North America. By 1997’s Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation, the franchise moved into 3D animation and pre-rendered environments, leaving its original sprite-based roots behind.
Square has since remastered and compiled its first six Final Fantasy games, including those not initially released in North America, with the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. The games feature the epic stories, intuitive turn-based combat, and, of course, the timeless pixel designs of their fan-favorite characters optimized for modern platforms. Easily the most influential games in the RPG genre, it’s easy to see why these games laid the foundation for subsequent generations, including Sea of Stars.
Published: Oct 2, 2024 09:56 pm