Star Ocean The Second Story R (Demo)

Play it on: PS5, PS4, Switch
Current goal: Finish Star Ocean: The Divine Force
Buy it from: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

Big things are happening right now in the world of Star Ocean, Square Enix’s often overlooked sci-fi fantasy RPG series developed by Tri-Ace. The publisher recently released a demo for Star Ocean Second Story R, the upcoming 2.5HD remaster of the PS1 classic, and this month Sony added every other game in the series to PS Plus. As a longtime fan I’m over the moon. While last year’s Star Ocean: The Divine Force (the sixth game) left me underwhelmed, there’s still a lot to love in its strange mashup of modern mechanics (semi-open world exploration) and retro sensibilities (talk to NPCs in towns, complete fetch quests, unlock stuff, make numbers go up).

The demo for Second Story R, however, can be recommended without reservation. It’s everything I love about the original game elevated by the daring new hybrid art style, overhauled voice work, tighter combat, and the eradication of random encounters (you now see enemies in the overworld). The best new feature is a shield break and dodge-and-counter mechanic in battle, which livens things up a lot. Based on the demo at least, Second Story R is poised to deliver just what I want from a remaster of a beloved classic: a retro look that leans into what made the original beautiful while modernizing things with new tweaks where it makes sense. The full game comes out November 2, but in the meantime I recommend checking out where the whole series started with Star Ocean First Departure R, the PSP remake which also happens to be free with a paid PS Plus subscription now. — Ethan Gach

And that’s it for the Kotaku Weekend Guide’s picks this Friday, September 22. What games are you playing this weekend?