Today we’ll be wrapping up our series of character spotlights by introducing Akane Yamakawa, the final member of the cursed crew who’ll be joining David Douglas, Buffalo Calf, and Bussa on their quest to save the Admiral’s son and regain their freedom.
Akane Yamakawa is a Japanese Onna-bugeisha, a trained warrior of the Shogun who was captured whilst on a secret mission in America. Although very little is known about her mysterious past, her skill at wielding her deadly naginata is without question.
Sting Like a Bee
Of all of the crew, Akane Yamakawa possesses the close combat weapon with the longest reach and as such, excels at mid to long range combat. Her naginata can land hits from a far greater distance than David Douglas’s cutlass, and is invaluable at keeping enemies at bay before they can get close enough to strike.
As a warrior of the Shogun, she has complete mastery over her weapon and is capable of many impressive and acrobatic feats. Attacking while jumping high in the air allows her to sweep her blade around or bring it straight down on the enemy from above. Her combination attack demonstrates her prowess with two fast sweeping strikes followed by a flurry of precise stabs.
If she attacks while rushing towards an opponent, Akane will perform a slight running leap, thrusting her naginata forward for maximum reach.
Be Like Water
As the most poised and graceful of the crew, Akane Yamakawa naturally gained a special affinity for water when imbued with the magics of the amulet. One of her first abilities, Water Charge, surrounds Akane in water as she lunges forward, dealing damage to any enemy caught in her path.
Persistent enemies may manage to charge past Akane’s whirling naginata, and in these instances, she can use her Water Shield. This ability envelops her in a pool of water that deals damage to anyone unfortunate enough to get too close. Water Shield can be improved using the Ice Breaker upgrade that reduces incoming damage even further.
For prolonged battles and long journeys into unknown territory, the Water Fall ability will allow Akane to passively regenerate her energy.
And finally, with her ultimate art, Tsunami, she can call forth a terrifying tidal wave to come crashing down around her that deals magical damage to all enemies.
That concludes our look at the cutthroat crew of Curse of the Sea Rats! Who will you be choosing?
Join our Discord and let us know who you'll be choosing in your fight against the dreaded Captain Flora Burn.
Until next time!
Petoons Studio
Character Spotlight: Bussa
Ahoy there, buccaneers!
So far, we have showcased two of the swashbuckling heroes you’ll be playing as in Curse of the Sea Rats; the cunning swordsman David Douglas and fierce Cheyenne hunter Buffalo Calf. Today we’ll be taking a look at the third member of the cursed crew, Bussa!
Hailing from the island of Barbados, Bussa is a fugitive slave that managed to escape his oppressors to become a leader of a group of rebels fighting against slavery. He vows to break free from the Imperial chains once more as he joins David Douglas and Buffalo Calf in their mission to track down the Admiral’s son and defeat Flora Burn.
Brawn Over Beauty
Bussa is a dab hand when it comes to using, well, his hands. There is no finer brawler out there, and his hand-to-hand combat skills make Bussa a serious force to be reckoned with. Despite being slower than Buffalo Calf, Bussa is equally as deadly at close range, unleashing a flurry of hard-hitting punches culminating in a vicious uppercut.
As the largest of the Sea Rats. Bussa can use his size to his advantage. Attacking while jumping will result in Bussa leveraging his full weight to come crashing down on the enemy with a bone-breaking bellyflop, flattening anyone unfortunate enough to be caught beneath him!
Bussa also possesses the unique ability to be able to block attacks in place of the parry technique that the other characters utilize. Holding the technique button/key will allow Bussa to hunker down and deflect all incoming damage, making him perfect for a defensive playstyle.
I Predict an Earthquake
Thanks to the powers imbued by the talisman, Bussa’s strength can be greatly increased to a ground-shattering level. His new Earth magic and related abilities include unleashing a devastating Earthquake that sends a shockwave forward, harming everything in its path.
Another technique, Heavy Drill, causes Bussa to spin rapidly on the spot, arms extended, turning him into a raging tornado of fists. Any enemy caught nearby will be trapped in this rapid onslaught of attacks
Eventually, Bussa will be able to bolster his attack combo with Granite Hit. This powerful punch lands at the end of his combo and will break an enemy’s armour. If earth-sundering, armour-shattering combos weren’t enough, Bussa’s ultimate technique, Rock Rain, will cause a hail of boulders to come crashing down from the sky. Using his immense strength, Bussa repeatedly strikes the ground causing debris to fill the screen and damage all enemies in range!
Next time we’ll be introducing the final member of the cursed crew, the graceful yet deadly Onna-bugeisha, Akane Yamakawa!
In the meantime why not join our Discord and tell us who you’re most looking forward to playing as!
See you soon!
Petoons Studio
Character Spotlight: Buffalo Calf
Welcome back, buccaneers!
In our last character spotlight we took a look at the skills and abilities of David Douglas, but in case you missed it, here’s a quick recap on the story so far in Curse of the Sea Rats!
The year is 1777, and you are imprisoned aboard the HMS Barfleur on its journey back from America to England where you will face trial. In the ship’s brig is a vicious crew of pirates and their notorious Captain, Flora Burn, who rumour has it, possesses a mysterious magical talisman. One stormy night, Flora seizes the chance to escape by casting a powerful spell which transforms everyone on board into rats! She frees the rest of her crew and kidnaps the Admiral's son in the process.
Having run aground along the rugged Irish Coast, the Barfleur’s crew and remaining prisoners make their way to shore. Here the Admiral begs you to bring back his son in exchange for a full pardon.
Accompanying David Douglas in his mission is the fierce Cheyenne hunter, Buffalo Calf, who was captured and thrown into chains for sneaking into a British encampment and releasing the horses while the soldiers slept.
Flying Daggers
Buffalo Calf’s weapon of choice is the humble dagger, of which she owns many! At close range Buffalo Calf is a lightning fast combatant, wielding two daggers with great speed and proficiency. To compensate for her lack of reach at mid-range, she also possesses the unique ability to be able to throw her weapons!
Whether crouching low to the ground or jumping in the air, Buffalo Calf can utilise her daggers to perform ranged attacks. From a crouched position she can project a blade in a straight line forwards, catching enemies that lie within its path. Attacking while jumping will allow her to launch three small daggers in a downward arc, covering a large area in a deft fanning motion. These airborne daggers can be fired upwards, downwards, or straight ahead using the directional buttons/keys.
Unleash the Thunderbird
Progressing through Buffalo Calf's skill tree will unlock a variety of long-range attacks. One of her very first abilities, Knife Throw, sends two magical knives dead ahead to deal some serious magical damage! This skill can be buffed with Lightning Knives, adding bonus shock damage to enemies for 5 seconds.
If that wasn't enough, Buffalo Calf can also launch Piercing Storm, raining a shower of deadly knives down from above.
With enough spiritual energy she will eventually be able to swap her knives out for much stronger and deadlier Tomahawks and call upon the mighty Thunderbird to jump in any direction and deal magical damage to all enemies in her way.
Keep an eye for our next post where we’ll be shining the spotlight on the musclebound brawler from Barbados, Bussa!
Join our Discord and let us know who you'll be choosing in your fight against the dreaded Captain Flora Burn.
Until next time!
Petoons Studio
Character Spotlight: David Douglas
The year is 1777, and you are a prisoner aboard the HMS Barfleur on its journey from the Caribbean back to England where you will be put on trial before the court of King George. The brig is full of pirates and misfits, all bound to face the King's justice.
Unknown to the crew of the Barfleur, the Pirate Captain and Witch, Flora Burn set in motion a devious plot. She cursed the Admiral and everyone on board, transforming them into rats before kidnapping the Admiral's infant son, and making her escape!
In exchange for a full pardon, the Admiral begs you and the remaining prisoners to bring back his son.
Among those in custody is an American settler who joined the Continental Army to fight the British, David Douglas. He was eventually captured and forced to board the doomed vessel...
Swashbuckling Sea Rat
As with all Sea Rats, Douglas has a unique moveset, and can fight in a variety of different ways. As a true swashbuckler, his go-to weapon is his trusted cutlass. Lethal at close and mid-range, the cutlass has good speed and reach and can be utilised effectively in most combat situations without putting Douglas at too much risk.
The cutlass is especially handy when closing the gap between any long-range fighters or for intercepting leaping enemies with its large overhead sweeping attack. Douglas' jumping attacks can be a great way of catching an opponent off guard, the downward mid-air slash is fast and precise making it effective against charging foes.
Fire in the Hole!
No true sailor's arsenal is complete without a pistol at their side. For those enemies out of reach of the cutlass, Douglas can fire his pistol, propelling a fireball projectile in a straight line forwards. Pistol shots will deal an incredible amount of fire damage to an opponent!
With a natural affinity for fire, Douglas can unlock several pyro-based abilities. Wild Fire is a passive ability that buffs spell damage and burns enemies for a short period of time, causing extra damage as a result. Flaming Discharge, is a powerful wave of fire that causes magic damage to multiple enemies caught in its blast. And finally, the Blazing Tornado, allows Douglas to project a huge flamethrower in front of him to deal massive amounts of magical damage to all enemies unlucky enough to be in range.
That's all for now, but stay tuned as in our next post we'll be taking a closer look at fierce Cheyenne hunter, Buffalo Calf.
Join our Discord and let us know who you'll be choosing in your fight against the dreaded Captain Flora Burn.
Until next time!
Petoons Studio
Curse of the Sea Rats at PAX East 22
Ahoy there!
We're proud to say that we'll be attending PAX East this week with a brand new demo! So if you're heading to the event make sure that you swing by and us out at the PQube booth. You can play alone or team-up for some chaotic cooperation with support for up to four players.
Floor Map
For a clearer look at the show floor be sure to download the PAX East mobile app. Come find us at the PQube booth numbered 11032 on your PAX map (close to the Merch Expo)!
Can't attend but still want to join in on the discussion? Connect with us and our community on our Discord channel!
Thank you very much, pirates! See you there!
Petoons Studio
Welcome Back to the Original Rat Pack
Ahoy Rats, Rebels, and Renegades!
It's been some time since our last post but we're back with some big news! Firstly, we wanted to thank our community for their patience and to assure you that we have planned a regular series of developer updates that we'll be pushing out every few weeks from now until launch later this year.
You can expect more information on dates and milestones, key game features as well as progress updates and other fun behind the scenes content!
Kickstarter Backer Demo
A few weeks back we gave our loyal Kickstarter backers whose pledge level included 'beta access' a first exclusive look at the Curse of the Sea Rats demo. We can't thank our backers enough for supporting the project from such an early stage and hope that everyone is enjoying their time exploring the world of Curse of the Sea Rats.
Backer Feedback Changes
An important aspect of this backer demo has been gathering player feedback, and we've had a really positive response so far! We have implemented a number of key fixes in response to backer's comments and suggestions and today we are releasing an updated version of the demo for backers to play.
The change list is as follows:
Fixed issues with incompatible controllers.
Bussa blocking modified to be faster.
Fixed camera in Blacksmith intro.
Now settings presets work.
Visual improvements for the skill trees.
Fixed some chests that kept appearing in the minimap.
Other minor bug fixes.
To see these new changes please restart Steam and remember, this demo is only available on Steam and Windows.
What's Next?
As you know, the demo is a work-in-progress preview of the game, and content is therefore subject to change. One area the team are currently working on improving is the whole cinematic system so that the player can decide when text opens. Due to the technical complexity of this particular issue, we are sorry to say that this will not be implemented in the demo, but rest assured it will make its way into the finished game!
Elsewhere, one of the main focuses has been balancing the game to make it challenging, yet fair and enjoyable. All of the crew are working hard to improve the gameplay experience for the final version. The development of the game continues as planned and we expect to release the game in 2022, all being well!
How to Submit Feedback
The Curse of the Sea Rats crew is always grateful for feedback. If you’ve played the demo and would like to share your comments and suggestions, please feel free to fill out this feedback form.
Alternatively, our community in Discord is growing and you can join us in the specific demo channel only for backers and connect with all the pirates supporting the project.
Remember that if your pledge level allows, you will have free access to this beta version of the game until 22nd April 2022.
IMPORTANT: Content Creation & Embargo
We’ve received a lot of questions about posting on social media, sharing footage and screenshots of the beta, and just have a few rules concerning this:
There is an embargo on content sharing in effect until 22nd April 2022. Please do not talk about the game, share any gameplay capture, videos or screenshots before that date.
For any content that you do create, please include the disclaimer “This content was captured from an early preview build of the game and is, therefore, subject to change.”
If any content is posted before the embargo date, we will request that it be taken down (sorry!).
Enjoy the new version of the demo and please, report all the bugs you can find!
Thank you very much, pirates! We'll be back with another update soon!
Petoons Studio
Development update – Charting a new course 🗺️
Ahoy there! 🏴☠️
How are ye, mateys?
Many of you have been asking us for a new update, so here we are to fulfill your wishes (as always)! We are now ready to share important news about the release, so make sure to read until the end 😉
During the last couple of months we’ve been heavily focused on developing the game, but not to worry – we will soon be back online posting more content. Today, we’d like you to take a first look at some new material we’ve been working on!
New bosses and animations 🖌️
Our concept artists have put a tremendous amount of work designing new bosses, NPCs, environments, and much more. Although this is just a sneak peek of their recent work, here are a couple of things we couldn’t wait to share:
A group of mysterious caged pirates that will ask for your help…
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…and a fearsome villain you will have to face in your adventure!
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Our animators are also pouring all their talent bringing to life all these new characters coming from the art team. And they keep polishing animations of the well-known playable characters to make their moves completely flawless:
Preparing rewards 🎁
Take a look at some (work in progress) pages of the Curse of the Sea Rats Artbook, one of the many rewards that will end up in the hands of some lucky pi-rats!
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New key dates 📅
We love sharing new material, but more importantly, we’d like to update you on the game’s release. For well-known reasons, this last year has been particularly difficult for all of us, and as any other studio we’ve had to face our challenges. However, nothing and no one will sink our ship!
After having carefully analyzed the project’s development stage, we’ve recently defined with our publisher PQube an updated production plan.
Many of you were expecting the Beta access to take place this summer; unfortunately, we will have to push it a few months and will take place later this year.
In regards to the game release, we have agreed with PQube that, given the current circumstances, it is best to postpone the launch to early 2022.
We will confirm specific dates for the two the moment they are defined.
This extra time will help us bring you a much better experience, so we kindly ask you to be patient for a little longer. There’s a lot of hype around this game and we don’t want to under-deliver. This news is certainly frustrating for everyone (us, too!), but we wouldn’t do it if we weren’t sure it is indeed the best decision for the project. We aim to be excellent video game crafters, and hopefully, all of you pirates on board will share our vision for Curse of the Sea Rats.
Stay tuned for more info on Curse of the Sea Rats 📢
We will soon be back online posting regular content of our pi-RATS and further updates on Curse of the Sea Rats! Make sure to join us on Discord!
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Follow Curse of the Sea Rats on social media:
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Follow PQube Indies on:
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Thanks for your support and have a great week, our loyal pi-RATS!
- PQube, Petoons Studio
Take a look at some of the game’s concept art!
Ahoy, crew! Today, we’d like to share with you some concept art of a few characters in Curse of the Sea Rats. Take a look at these sketches and see if you can spot all the details!
The art is one of the main pillars of the game, and we’re putting special care into the characters’ design and animations (which are all hand-drawn!).
Buffalo Calf:A Cheyenne hunter whose special ability consists of throwing multiple daggers at her enemies!
Bussa:A fugitive slave from Barbados, with strong convictions (and strong arms, too!).
Murat Reis:One of Flora’s followers who will stand in your way to complete your quest - an epic fight awaits!
Flora Burn:Treacherous pirate queen of the Caribbean. You must go after her to break the curse and rescue the Admiral’s son!
If you’d like to see more concept art, make sure to like this post. In the meantime remember that you can follow Curse of the Sea Rats on social media:
Thanks for your support and have a great week, our loyal pi-RATS!
- PQube, Petoons Studio
Welcome to the world of Curse of the Sea Rats!
Ahoy, pirates! We are very excited to share our first update around here. Yar-har!
New screenshots
If you haven’t been around these parts in a while, you will notice some changes. Among other improvements, we’ve recently included new screenshots. Here are some of our favourites:
We can’t wait for you to face the epic boss battles, either in solo or co-op mode! If you want to learn more about the game’s key features, make sure to check out the Steam page.
Have any questions?
When will the game be released? When will the beta access begin? You will find all the answers to your questions in our Discord’s FAQS channel (and of course, you can ask the team anything you want there!): https://bit.ly/DiscordSeaRats
And last but not least… Add the game to your wishlist if you haven’t already! It is a great way to support us.
Stay in touch!
Starting from now, we will be posting regular announcements here. However, if you want to stay in touch and see daily content on Curse of the Sea Rats, come to say hi in our social channels:
Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwitterSeaRats
Instagram: https://bit.ly/InstagramSeaRats
Thank you for supporting Curse of the Sea Rats! We hope you’re looking forward to exploring the coast of Ireland and revealing all its mysteries with our beloved pi-RATS!
