Of Ships & Scoundrels Reviews

[h1]Early Access Eindruck:[/h1] Nachdem ich bereits seit dem ersten Kontakt mit "Of Ships & Scoundrels" auf der Gamescom mit Spannung auf die Erscheinung des Spiels gewartet habe, kann ich jetzt mit gutem Gewissen behaupten, dann meine Erwartungen mindestens erfüllt und in einigen Belangen sogar weit übertroffen wurden. Besonders hervorheben möchte ich direkt einmal den Soundtrack des Spiels. Habe ich im Voraus mit einer eher subtilen Hintergrundmusik gerechnet, haben mich die Klänge des Spiels bereits direkt in den ersten 30 Minuten in den Bann gezogen. Was nicht bedeuten soll, dass der Soundtrack aufdringlich wäre, vielmehr löst er bei mir so ein wohlig entspanntes Gefühl aus, was ich das letzte Mal bei einem Animal Crossing oder einem Dwarf Fortress erlebt habe. Nur mit mehr Seefahrer-Einflüssen im Sound als Lagerfeuermusik von singenden Hunden. Das Gameplay von "Of Ships & Scoundrels" stellt etwas angenehm Neues für mich da. Die Mischung aus Echtzeitstrategie und rundenbasiertem Taktiksystem habe ich so noch nicht gesehen, insbesondere nicht in einem Spiel mit Seeschlachten. Als Liebhaber von Taktikspielen bringt das natürlich einen ganz besonderen Reiz für mich mit. Die Story, soweit ich sie bisher verfolgen konnte, war interessant, mit einer Vertonung der Texte habe ich im Vorfeld gar nicht gerechnet. Hier sei angemerkt, dass das Spiel englische wie auch deutsche Texte anbietet, die Vertonung aber (bislang?) nur auf Englisch beinhaltet ist. Durch die passende Übersetzung stört das jedoch auch überhaupt nicht weiter. Bei der Grafik erkennt man natürlich die Indie-Wurzeln des Spiels, wobei das hübsche Insel- und Weltdesign wirklich für sich steht. In Kombination mit dem oben erwähnten Soundtrack (nochmal - ich bin begeistert) ergibt das ein wirklich stimmungsvolles Gesamtbild, welches hoffentlich über den weiteren Verlauf des Early Access getragen werden kann. Kommen wir noch zum Early Access an sich - auch hier lassen sich stellenweise noch kleinere Änderungspotentiale erkennen. Um ein Beispiel zu nennen: Wer die Dialoge wie ich stellenweise schneller voran springen lassen möchte, kann dies mit einem Klick auf die Escape-Taste erledigen. Jedoch kam es dadurch manchmal zur Überschneidung der vertonten Texte, wenn der vorherige Satz noch nicht zu Ende gesprochen war. Alles keine größeren Probleme, die das Spielgefühl nicht weiter stören. Aber eben Kleinigkeiten, die im Laufe des Early Access hoffentlich noch angepasst werden. Alles in allem gefällt mir "Of Ships & Scoundrels" wirklich sehr gut und ich hoffe, dass der weitere Verlauf des Early Access diesen positiven Ersteindruck noch vertiefen kann. tldr: Positiv: + Interessantes Gameplay mit einer Mischung aus Echtzeit- und Rundenstrategie + Quest-Design und Verlauf der Story haben einen angenehmen Flow + Ein stimmungsvoller Soundtrack absolut nach meinem Geschmack + Vertonte Sprachausgabe, englische sowie deutsche Texte + Hübsch gestaltete Spielwelt, stimmiger Gesamteindruck Negativ: - noch kleinere Verbesserungspotentiale wie bspw. sich überschneidende Vertonung - die Grafik ist stimmig, allerdings nicht auf dem Niveau eines größeren Titels ------------------------------------------------ positive: + interesting gameplay with a crossover of real-time and turn-based combat + design of the quests and the story have a nice flow + supreme soundtrack with a chill atmosphere + english and german texts, english voice lines + beautiful world design, overall impression is quite harmonious negativ: - small potentials for improvement like clipping voice lines - graphics fit the overall atmosphere but aren't what you'd call state-of-the-art

1. The storyline atm. is very short and a bit boring. 2. No skip time button and forced to wait 5 min on few AI ships. 3. The AI battles are so boring, I'm having more fun eating while playing this game. 4. Controls are very bad as they are very confusing. 5. In the storyline we're asked to use the fastest ship, yet game requires slowest ship. 6. There is almost no point in earning gold or upgrade anything as noone ever attacks. 7. Even some voice acting sounds like someone just died and kinda boring... Overall everything is too easy, too confusing and too boring... Game has some potential, but requires loads more work, maybe at least 1 more year. So forget "EARLY 2020" and more like early 2021 if not 2022.

The idea that putting sea monsters into a pirate game was great. But what I imagined was a combination of Sid Meter's Pirate and Sea Monsters. Worth trying a little bit to find out if you like it or not. But skirmish is too time-consuming. You need to wait for so long for AIs move. And ship maneuvering is so weak, even for a 'turn-based' game.

This game is bad, Aiming/ ship control is so annoying. i couldnt even play more than 30 mins of this crap. Refunded

So far quite interesting story- and gameplay-wise. Some improvements are sure to be made during its early-access stage, but I can see a great game here. So far no game breaking bugs for me and it runs smoothly.

Looks amazing, nice atmosphere and unique interesting game mechanics. I like it! You know where the journey is heading. With some little improvements in EA and more content I will be able to put hours in this :)! Good strategy will lead you to your victory and will demolish your friends, but don`t forget about the immersive story though. Good price for a good game! Go on like this.

Whoever the hell thought it was a great idea to make this game turn based, they need Jesus. Too many times, I sat there for a full 4 f*cking minutes waiting on the other captain to finish its turn, then ANOTHER 3 minutes while the Marauders zerged my flag ship from all corners of the map. The ship controls had me completely frustrated, and if you factor in the wind, I was cursing at the screen a little too much when quests force you to go in a direction with the wind blowing against you for several turns. The story is boring, the protagonist is generic, and the voice acting is very, very meh. Better writing could have saved it, but that is also lacking. I'm a fan of these kinds of games, but Ships and Scoundrels didn't check any boxes for me, aside from its pirate theme. Play Windward or Sid Meier's Pirates! instead and skip this game altogether.

This an odd one. I want to like this. I love me some pirate games. But this just feels so unfinished. Considering how long ago the last update was, I don't expect it to be finished either. It's an odd hybrid of real-time-strategy, adventure game mechanics and turn based strategy. You are a pirate in a ship, you can build harbors that generate money, build defensive structures a shipwright and an armory. You have 3 minutes per round, and per round you can move one ship, fight with it, build with etc. If you movement points or time are up, the next player starts. During the other players turns, your ships will still shoot at stuff if they are in range and facing the broadside enough. If you have money left over, you can still upgrade stuff and build stuff, and so the rounds continue. There are three win conditions to choose from: conquering everyone, getting x amount of money, having the most points at the end. Reasons why I can't recommend it: - You cannot change the difficulty of the AI, and it's really bad - The game stutters and freezes constantly, it's very badly optimized - The mechanics are very simple and lacking - The campaign is very short, think less than an hour - The story is ok-ish, but the lines and their delivery are horrible And lastly, I'm not sure if this hybrid thing works, it's an interesting concept, but it feels...off somehow.

Did you like Pirates? Do you like turn-based combat? Do you like random maps and exploring? Then this game could be something for you. For an early access Indie title, it's got surprisingly good graphics (especially the sea), a real story in single player mode, and some funny mystic creatures. There's a touch of Age of Wonders, but the battles are less tactical. POSITIVE - good graphics - mystic creatures pimp the pirates scenario - nice story (no Heavy Rain, though) - high replay value (random quests, random maps, hotseat mode) NEGATIVE - battles currently need tweaking - occasional stalls might require map restarts - no free save CONCLUSION A good Indie title for pirates who like good looks and casual gameplay.

Warning to anyone who buys this game: The latest update has rendered the game real-time. So if you buy it thinking you're getting a great turn-based tactics game with pirates, think again. Apparently they decided to completely revamp the game into a real-time adventure game, but it's still tagged as turn-based. Save your money if you were hoping to get the game as advertised.