Pixel Piracy

Pixel Piracy

Let’s get the obvious shït outta the way first: I like Pixel Pirates! And yes, I know it’s actually called Pixel PiraCY, but Pixel PiraTES just sounds way better.

Anyway, moving on… I like this game. I really really do. HOWEVER, I cannot POSSIBLY recommend it to ANYONE, simply because of the atrociously poor “productivity” of the so-called “developers” of the game. They CLAIM that their complete radio silence and lack of updates for over eight months was due to ONE guy’s failing health, and while I do wish him a speedy recovery, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THE REST OF YOU LOT GET TO SIT AROUND AND TWIDDLE YOUR FÛCKING THUMBS!

Real player with 104.6 hrs in game


Read More: Best Pirates Naval Combat Games.


So normally I would write a more concise review analyzing a game, and looking at all the good parts of it but also all of it’s faults. Pixel Piracy is this special case where I absolutely adore the concept it delivers and the gameplay, but the execution is so god damn awful I can’t bring myself to play it anymore, I wanted to play it to the end and explore everything, have a massive powerful crew that would dominate the seven seas. Instead we’re left with a game that, to put it simply, is badly made. It doesn’t work, and yet it ‘released’ mere days ago. Anyway, here’s a list of about everything wrong with this game that will ruin your experience. Some issues may not seem important but do realize that all of them create unfair situations where the player is not at fault and yet the game will end up punishing them anyway or worse, just straight up giving them a situation they cannot get out of because of the god awful AI. So, here’s the list.

Real player with 32.3 hrs in game

Pixel Piracy on Steam

Captains of the Wacky Waters

Captains of the Wacky Waters

Captains of the Wacky Waters is a fast-paced boat roguelike where ships drift and krakens wear moustaches!

Back in the day, helping ghosts get to Heaven was an easy task, but someone wiped out the peace in the Wacky Waters and now all the captains have to learn to defend themselves and their crew. At least until the old days return.

Combine the strength of your rowers and the wind force to navigate around the procedurally generated zones, gradually improving your ship and finding powerful configurations that will help you in combat.

KEY FEATURES

  • Every playthrough is different, allowing a lot of replayability.

  • Good vibes roguelike with loads of wackiness and weirdness.

  • Unlock new playable captains after defeating them. Each ship has different features and a special ability to play with.

  • Save cute little ghosts that will join the crew taking one out of the 6 different roles to help you in your journey.

  • Use many weapons to shoot and slash your enemies, including a cannonball shotgun, a boats cannon, or a giant hammer.

  • Lots of gadgets and upgrades. These are curious and diverse items with different functions to upgrade and configure your ship, from a medieval spear to a pair of giant incognito glasses for your boat.

  • Navigate different zones with unique gameplay styles and aesthetics, which will become more and more strange.

  • Many, many hats! Every living thing in the game wears its own type of hat.


Read More: Best Pirates Roguelite Games.


Captains of the Wacky Waters on Steam

Poly Pirates

Poly Pirates

A true modern masterpiece.

Real player with 2.3 hrs in game


Read More: Best Pirates Strategy Games.


Poly Pirates on Steam

In Search of Fon Vitae

In Search of Fon Vitae

Pirates, the ship, and an adventure! What else do you want? :D Hire up to 4 crewmates, collect various artifacts and drink elixirs for permanents upgrades that make your pirate party stronger, travel islands with different biomes, slay monsters, and bosses to find a source of eternal life, Fon Vitae. The game has a solid roguelike base but needs some improvements. Still, the current state of the game looks pretty good and fun promising.

Real player with 6.0 hrs in game

fun game difficult on ur own to fight enemys but awsome with allies :)

Real player with 0.8 hrs in game

In Search of Fon Vitae on Steam

Aye Aye, Captain

Aye Aye, Captain

This game needs a tutorial or something. I have no clue what to do. I moved my crew around by right clicking and then clicked the cannonball to shoot, and that’s pretty much it. I never actually won a combat because it felt like it was going to take a half hour of simply clicking one button. So I surrendered. Then on the world map I had no idea what to do but a few seconds later I was in another combat and lost my cannon. So I lose?

Then in another battle both my crew died, but I was able to surrender and sail around again until I got into combat and could do nothing.

Real player with 0.3 hrs in game

Aye Aye, Captain on Steam

King of Seas

King of Seas

King of Seas

King of Seas 💡Overview

In King of Seas

| Genre | Adventure game |

| Campaign | Yes |

| Game length | 25 Hours |

| Difficulty modes | N/A |

| Metacritic | 68% |

Real player with 26.9 hrs in game

Good game, sailing and battle very similar to the old Sid Meier “pirates!”. Other than full controller support, there’s no reason to play this if you have pirates! I’m also not going to harp on things that are commonly addressed in other reviews (i.e. lack of camera rotate).

No ship boarding, only sinking. Also, aiming is bad - the old game(s) had a larger margin of error - in this game your aim needs to be perfect. Game would benefit from some lines to help aim cannons and abilities (example, voodoo boom).

Real player with 25.2 hrs in game

King of Seas on Steam

Flinthook

Flinthook

Flinthook is a platformer with roguelite elements that reminds me a lot of the rosy coloured arcades from a long time ago. From minute 1, the game’s pixelated world screams of a time when you needed quarters to keep going, to try again. Gorgeous artwork and fun, action packed music help to push you onwards through one ship after another.

Why chase through ships though? Is it loot? Story? a combination of the two? The narrative backbone exists, and it does try to create a cohesive experience. You’re hunting down pirates all over the galaxy to rescue little ghosts that might or might not have something to do with Captain Flinthook, the pirate you play as. This loose, simple narrative doesn’t get much deeper, but that’s fine. The point of the game is not a narrative one; the goal is to have a mechanically sound game.

Real player with 74.2 hrs in game

One important caveat: PLAY THIS GAME WITH AN XBOX CONTROLLER AND USE THE DEFAULT CONTROL SCHEME (i.e. not pro). When you use a controller, the game cuts you a lot of slack in the sense that if you’re pointing toward a hookable object, the game auto-corrects a bit and is like “I get what you want to do buddy so here you go :)”. If you use a mouse to hook stuff, that slack is GONE. You have to be veeeeeeeeery precise when you want to hook stuff to the point of frustration. The pro scheme is exactly what it says: for pros. I would definitely NOT recommend starting out with this controller scheme because while it gives you more options since you use the right stick to shoot….. It’s just harder. Like a lot harder. So in order to maximize fun, deeeeeefinitely recommend to use the default controller scheme on an Xbox controller.

Real player with 64.8 hrs in game

Flinthook on Steam

Distant Star: Revenant Fleet

Distant Star: Revenant Fleet

If you are looking at the reviews because you are hesitating on buying this game, before i make a review i should say this:

1-If you don’t have it already, go and buy ‘‘FTL: Faster than Light’’ (People say this game is similar to FTL but i really don’t think so, just ideas on core game mechanics are similar, gameplay is different)

2-If you have FTL and you are looking something VERY similar, then go and buy ‘‘Space Rogue’’ (It is not a masterpiece like FTL, it is just an average game but it is closest thing to FTL you can currently find in here)

Real player with 75.3 hrs in game

Fun rogue-like-like with RTS-like-like top-down tactical combat with up to 5 ships in the player fleet vs a possibly obscene numbers of enemies.

Having stupidly-high APM isn’t a prerequisite, because you can easily pause the action in Tactical Mode to issue commands as needed.

Game isn’t 100% perfect but devs are actively working on quashing bugs and updating features.

Graphics 7/10: Ship/station and environment models are nice. Game has a very dark feel to it. As for backgrounds, I can say that they serve their purpose, but that’s about it.

Real player with 37.6 hrs in game

Distant Star: Revenant Fleet on Steam