King of Seas

King of Seas is a delightfully chill and humorous title that’s best experienced on a Sunday afternoon as you wish you were a swashbuckling pirate taking down warships with enormous cannons. Whilst the combat can be fiddly and the procedural nature may play with your sense of direction somewhat, there’s plenty to enjoy in this light-hearted sea tale.

A fresh and entertaining pirate-ish action RPG with nice customization and spectacular naval combat. Too bad that the lack of variety of side quests and other scattered flaws end up to row against.

King of Seas entertains enough, and also knows how to relax a bit, like a nice drink. She has her limits, she doesn't have huge ambitions, and here and there she brings out pretty good ideas, especially in combat. And, for the bodies of a thousand whales, it works. It's very repetitive, but it works. It doesn't exalt, but it works. When taken in small sips, it goes down which is a pleasure. So bullshit the sails: may Davy Jones never hug you. What are you saying? Should a vote be given? Aye. A nice 7, it goes. Like the seas.

While the cheerful island graphics and pirate themes are fun, King of Seas' over reliance on grinding quickly stifles the enjoyment. Exploration is highly enjoyable, but after you've seen everything, the story is the only thing left to pursue. Artificial barriers to extend the experience frustrate, as there is little satisfaction in grinding to victory.

The ship combat and looting might carry King of Seas' piratical adventure for some, just beware that there's grinding through a bunch of stretched out story missions to get to the heart of the game. It's a game to break out when you're feeling extra piratey, but it has enough flaws that you should weigh them up before getting your cutlass out.

The RPG elements mean you'll nearly always be making some forward momentum. Finding treasure, sinking ships, and completing missions rewards you with XP, and you can upgrade and customise various parts of your boat to ensure your vessel is ship-shape. What's more, each town has its own side missions to tackle, and a market where you can trade goods in a shifting economy. These parts of the game are its strengths, but working through somewhat confusing menus and engaging in predictable battles take the wind out of its sails.

King of Seas takes grinding too far in this simple but enjoyable sea-faring RPG. If you don’t mind spending hours chipping away at mundane tasks to make progress, more power to you. The naval gameplay is good but not enough to warrant the dozens of hours the game demands, and the story is, sadly, locked behind these painful barriers.

3DClouds' simple approach has left the final product feeling lacking in King of Seas. Yes, it is sort of fun, but it's not anywhere near as fun as it could have been. It would have been a much better game if they had spent more time building out the skeleton crew that exists here.