What is Star Ocean: The Divine Force?

The dual-protagonist idea comes back after twenty-four years, and this time you can fly.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is the sixth main game, developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix, released worldwide on October 27, 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC, the broadest day-one platform spread in the series’ history. It was announced at Sony’s October 2021 State of Play, in the series’ 25th anniversary year.

For the first time since The Second Story in 1998, the campaign is built on dual protagonists. Raymond Lawrence, captain of the merchant ship Ydas, is shot down over an underdeveloped world; Laeticia Aucerius is that world’s princess-knight. Choosing one or the other changes the perspective, the scenes and the party, in S.D. 583, forty-six years after Integrity and Faithlessness. Akiman returned as character designer.

D.U.M.A. AND THE OPEN FIELD

The new machine at the centre

A companion that is a jetpack

D.U.M.A. is an intelligent mechanical lifeform the party recovers early: part character, part equipment. It powers the Vanguard Assault system in battle and, outside it, grants true flight, letting the party rocket across the game’s large fields and up their cliffs and rooftops.

Flight as the headline

Traversal, not a new menu system, was the game’s advertised revolution. Fields are built vertically around the ability to fly, a first for the series, and exploration rewards are placed for players who look up.

Two campaigns again

As in 1998, the leads share a story and split its telling: Raymond’s route leans science-fiction, Laeticia’s leans fantasy, and each holds scenes and recruitments the other misses. The structure is a deliberate homecoming, marketed as such.

ITS RECEPTION

A steadier landing

Better received than its predecessor

The Divine Force was received as a course correction after Integrity and Faithlessness: still plainly a mid-budget production, but a fuller one, with the flight system and the returned dual leads as its praised centrepieces.

The current front door

As the newest main game, and the first to launch everywhere at once on nearly every platform, it is the entry point Square Enix currently sells to new players, with the Second Story R remake as its companion piece.

The Dual Protagonists of 1998 The Second Story R

What is Star Ocean: The Divine Force?

D.U.M.A. AND THE OPEN FIELD

ITS RECEPTION

THE FIRST WORD