The golden age of pirating ended almost 300 years ago, but the legend of pirates lives on. TV shows, movies, and good video games (this one included) about their swashbuckling misadventures come into style in waves like our thirst for freedom or their thirst for rum. Yet, life at sea with no responsibilities and no regard for the law still captures us. Even parts like disrupting trade and getting in good with the local port feel important to the pure freedom of a pirate. Port Royal 4: Buccaneers DLC, by developer Gaming Minds Studios and publisher Kalypso Media, ups the ante and delivers every part of a pirate’s life from trade wars to plundering ships on the high seas in a trade sim that doesn’t forget complicated games can be fun.
Port Royal 4 starts bringing piracy in the Caribbean alive with a character menu that overs low lives of all kinds to lead your fleet. Each offers different attributes for your crew that helps build your path to conquering the Caribbean. There are different campaigns for the various European colonial powers at the time, and each represents a different campaign. However, once you pick your character and the campaign, you are off to sea.
Each of the characters begins with seed money to begin building and equipping a fleet for trade or for battle. Trade leans more into a true strategy game where you build a Caribbean trade empire by hauling imports and exports to ports across the vast islands of the map. For scalability, you can even set up automatic trade routes to build your empire. If true piracy is more your speed, there’s also a battle component where you can steal from the rich and give to yourself. Ships that are up for grabs in the water range from heavily armed military to rich merchants waiting for you to board.
Despite being a sprawling strategy game, Port Royal 4 delivers on action in a way many of its counterparts don’t. Boarding sequences and hand to hand combat fill the animations and gameplay with enough action to keep you hooked. It’s tough to find a game that does both well, but Port Royal managed to balance them.
However, Port Royal 4 strives for accuracy to the potential fault of someone not interested in the less boarding ships and plundering for booty part of the Caribbean experience. The game is complicated, and the right player will pick it up and spend hours at sea but some of the game play may be a bit too much for the casual gamer. It isn’t easy to set up trade routes across your country’s Caribbean colonies when you want to unwind.
It’s tough to find someone who has never thought of the pirate’s life. Whether that’s Johnny Depp or the buccaneer you made rich by setting up the right trade routes for Spain, there’s a magic to the freedom of the sea. Even though the golden age of piracy ended a few centuries ago, Port Royal 4 captures just enough of the life to keep you hooked. It’s a pirates life for your steam library too.
8/10
Check Out the Port Royal 4: Buccaneers DLC Trailer:
Port Royale 4 is available on Nintendo Switch, Windows PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The Port Royale 4: Buccaneers DLC is available via Steam.
Xbox Review
My first console was the original Playstation and I would play Twisted Metal every now and then but games didn't hook me until I played the original Halo at my friend's house. As soon as I picked up that controller, I knew I needed an Xbox and I had to have that game. Since those early Halo days, I've branched out and played any game I could find with a great story and memorable characters but Master Chief is still my favorite. @thenotoriousTGT on Twitter
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