REVIEW | Pirates Outlaws

Pirates Outlaws review | Technically every pirate is an outlaw, but this review isn’t being written to discuss that with the developers, is it? Pirates Outlaws is a Roguelike Deckbuilder that reminded me a lot of Slay the Spire, where you’re given different paths to follow on a map to eventually reach a boss and get to the next map. You’ll find many enemies, random events, taverns, and shops along the way, which will keep you engaged, all with a pirate-themed soundtrack running in the background. But is that going to be enough to make you keep retrying? That’s what you’ll find out in this review.

What We Liked!

• Variety is the name of the game | There’s a lot of content in Pirates Outlaws. For starters, there are seven adventures available, it’ll take hours to unlock them, but they are pretty different from each other, having a different map, enemies, and items. You start with just one playable character, but there are fifteen unlockable characters all with their own abilities, attributes, starting cards, and even eight unlockable skins for each one of them. You can also customize your ship’s hull, and sails, and even upgrade it. There are also two unlockable game modes, one being an arena where you don’t go through a map at all, and the other being called Tavern Brawl, where you choose pre-made packages before each fight and defeat a wave of pirates. If all of that is still not enough for you, Pirates Outlaws supports mods through Steam Workshop.

• Simplistic, but gorgeous to look at | Pirates Outlaws has a peculiar art style that looks really good. As you can see through the images present in this review, it has some simplicity to it, while still being complex enough to show what matters the most with emphasis. For instance, there are quite a few details on human characters’ clothes, but their face doesn’t have much detail. It reminds me of characters you’d see at a presentation for a company or even a school project, but they do look considerably more interesting here.

• Klaus Badelt would be proud | What comes to mind when you think of a pirate-themed soundtrack? Most people would immediately think about the Pirates of the Caribbean main theme, at least that is the case with me. While Pirates Outlaws‘ soundtrack isn’t on that level of epicness, it does manage to capture the pirate feeling pretty well.

• I need that money | As it’s the case with all good pirates, you will want to get as much money as you possibly can on your journey, why? So you can spend it of course! You’ll be able to spend money on Markets that offer cards and relics, as well as giving you the option to upgrade your cards. Taverns will offer you a way to restore your Action Points, which are used to navigate through the map, restore your HP, sell relics, and even remove cards from your deck. There are also Bazaars, which are rare to find on the map, and they grant you the opportunity to enchant your relics, copy a card, or transform one into a random one for the right price.

Mixed Feelings

• “The numbers Mason!” | The only thing that could turn people down about Pirates Outlaws is that it will take a while to unlock all of its content. The worst part is seeing how much repute is required to unlock late-game stuff, it requires thousands of it, and you don’t get a whole lot of repute by failing a run, so you may feel unmotivated, but you shouldn’t, as there is plenty of fun to be had, and you will gradually unlock new characters, levels, and other things.

What we Disliked

• There is no treasure on this island, keep sailing mate!

How long to beat a run | 1-2 hours
How long to get all achievements | 80h+
You’ll love this game if you like these | Slay the Spire, Wildfrost, Inscryption, Monster Train, etc.

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