User Score
3.5

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 4
  2. Negative: 2 out of 4

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  1. May 4, 2020
    7
    Dread Nautical is an Adventure Strategy RPG. Select your character from a fairly generic list. Then delve through the 20 decks of the ship to get to the bottom of what's going on. Trapped on a cruise ship that's sailed into another dimension, most of the people on the ship have become mindless thralls. The most satisfying part of the game are those victory blows that finish your fights.Dread Nautical is an Adventure Strategy RPG. Select your character from a fairly generic list. Then delve through the 20 decks of the ship to get to the bottom of what's going on. Trapped on a cruise ship that's sailed into another dimension, most of the people on the ship have become mindless thralls. The most satisfying part of the game are those victory blows that finish your fights. The game is your usual RPG Strategy formula, search the areas for items, leave most of them behind due to your limited inventory, then move on to the next fight. The worst part of this limited inventory is everything has a durability that drains each time you hit or get hit. This can lead to the biggest dread in the game, stuck in a battle with nothing left because all your gear has broken. The story is kind of lacking, but it gets the job done. As far as Strategy is concerned, there isn't much depth to that. Most battles are beat the enemy down as fast as possible and move on to the next one. The overall pace to the game is fairly relaxed for a Rouge-Lite, letting you move along at your own pace for the most part. The long loading times lend to this relaxed feel, as they are fairly hefty. The game isn't bad, and will keep you pressing on again and again, but don't expect a lot of depth to this nautical adventure and it will be a smooth sail. Expand
  2. Oct 5, 2020
    6
    Dread Nautical is low-budget XCOM type game. XCOM type game means it is a turn base strategy game, fighting against some monstruous creatures, featuring character and weapon development as well as strong irreversable choinces all rounded with fun goofy style graphics. Low-budget means that sound and graphics will be repetitive, some features are not polyshed (translation is awful, surelyDread Nautical is low-budget XCOM type game. XCOM type game means it is a turn base strategy game, fighting against some monstruous creatures, featuring character and weapon development as well as strong irreversable choinces all rounded with fun goofy style graphics. Low-budget means that sound and graphics will be repetitive, some features are not polyshed (translation is awful, surely done with an automated free translator) and some mechanics are either totally overpowered (like armor and ranged & root weapons) or completelye underpowered. Also, you will find glitches and bugs, some minor like few app crashes not particularly disturbing because the automated save, others somehow annoying like the fact that they forgot to port a diary recording all miniquest so you don't forget them.

    However, the bright side is that Dread Nautical is actually a true game, not just some time-consuming app. There are certainly some novelties and nice mechanics and the developers really putted some great ideas in the game (like the character recruiting). The set up is alse really nice and the weapons, descriptions and character comments are very hylarious (it is great to nock out an enemy with a cd machine while your characters comment "knock out, punk!"). However, the game certainly lacks more time and money invested on it and one would have like it to see it fully developed.

    All in all, Dread Nautical is a fair option for XCOM lovers. However, if you missed the original certainly choose XCOM before Dread Nautica
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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. May 4, 2020
    80
    The many elements of Dread Nautical culminate in a formula that makes it enjoyable to chip away at the challenging campaign.
  2. May 4, 2020
    80
    Dread Nautical on Xbox One, with its oddly dark tone, tactical gameplay, and polygonal art style tries to make waves, yet manages to makes an ocean. Whilst it is let down by a lack of variation and complexity later on, Dread Nautical is a whale of a time that I would comfortably recommend to fans of RPGs or the likes of XCOM.
  3. Apr 30, 2020
    80
    Dread Nautical is a rougelike I can see myself coming back to for some time yet. With a good range of classes to choose from, some helpfully accessible difficulty options and a fun gameplay loop it is well worth checking out.