Kaufman7

First off, I love tactical turn-based RPGs, so while this is more roguelike than RPG, I still really enjoyed it. For such an obviously indie game, it was surprisingly great and I enjoyed so many elements of it. The story was pretty simple but actually quite amusing and enjoyable. The artwork and graphics were interesting and felt very much in the pirate vein (with a fantasy twist and the addition of magical "glass"). If you ever enjoyed the world of Sid Meier's Pirates, these kinds of games can feel nostalgic. The ship battles and unit combat were basic but enjoyable. Similar to FTL (another roguelike) it's not about getting insanely good at the game mechanics, it's about the RNG element and wanted to see "how this run goes", as you get a little bit better each time. The difficulty curve was the worst element in my opinion. The beginning of the game (when you have no cannons, no modules, your guys **** and you don't really know how to work the system) is absolutely brutal. For the first two hours I just got my ass handed to me over and over again. I did appreciate that the game allows you to lose continuously and keep playing and getting better. Eventually, I just farmed non-story runs for an hour or two and then the game was a cakewalk until the end. In fact, as the game progressed, I started increasing the difficulty setting every round (there's an insane number of difficulty levels) and I still steam rolled everything through until the end. Probably as a result of the wonky difficulty curve, I felt the game went on too long. Again, I probably shouldn't have farmed for so long at the beginning, but for me the last third of the game was me just playing to get to the end. I'd also say the game doesn't really have replay value because by the end I had every single available upgrade and feature. So why would I play again, it would be just like I played before? Unless I get nostalgic for this game in 10 years or something. Overall, the game was cheap, it was simple and it was fun. I highly recommend this for XCOM lovers who enjoy pirate-themed games. Just a good time.