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Honestly, I don’t know how to start this, so we’ll do it close, as if we were colleagues, what do you think? Well, a little over a week ago I’ve been playing a title that’s finally coming to consoles and it hasn’t let me let go of the controller. Every time I finish a game I take a deep breath, I think about how to improve my strategy and If it is not yet 2 in the morning, I seriously consider getting on my ship once more and sailing through seas full of dangers, loot and letters.
I think that with this little preamble it is very clear what Pirates Outlaws is about, however we are going to dissect this title part by part, trying to do it justice in all its sections, Pirates Outlaws seems at first glance a roguelike of cards and deck construction with pirate themed, but under what appears to be that calm and serene sea, countless treasures are hidden, tons of content and non-stop fun with cards that make the work of Fabled Games one of my favorite indie games of this 2023.
The game will be available from March 29 on Xbox One and other platforms, at a reduced price and with all the additional content to date. Without more to say, if you are a lover of card games, pirates or roguelikes, then take your best deck and let’s embark on this adventure together with 16 unique characters, more than 700 cards and 150 enemies. Crew, welcome to my analysis of Pirates Outlaws.
Analysis of Pirates Outlaws
Each character is a world
The characters work as the pillar of our strategy, each one has statistics that differentiate it from the rest and abilities that we must consider when creating a good synergy with our deck. All the statistics are important, from our total life (HP), the maximum ammunition that we will use to play cards (ammo), initial money and the ability of our character. Apart from all the above, all the characters start their adventure with a kind of preconstructed deck which guides us more or less to how the game expects us to abuse the character’s ability.
At first glance the title may seem complex, but a timely tutorial when starting the game for the first time will save the day. (It should be noted that the tutorial will also be available later in the options menu). In our first adventure we will play with the Gunner, whose ability consists of automatically loading one ammunition every turn, this ability will come in handy for us to use all the shots that we have available in our firearms.
As we progress in our adventure, we will get new cards, money and relics, the latter work as additional bonuses that our character will have, while we can use the money to buy new cards in the market or repair our ship while we eat something in the tavern . Each campaign consists of 3 scenarios and every time we finish a game we will get reputation points associated with our performanceand it is just the reputation that leads us to our next point.
The Roguelike Element
While it’s frustrating to lose your entire deck when you die, each failed or successful attempt fills up your adventure bar, giving you access to new cards that will become available in future adventures. I’m not going to lie to you, the first adventures with the Gunner were very uphill for me, but as soon as I unlocked the Sword Master, everything changed for the better, which is why I stress that you don’t back down with the challenging starting difficulty curve. If we didn’t like challenges, we wouldn’t be here playing a roguelike.
On the other side of the coin we have the most rewarding of the title, when we manage to exploit the character’s ability with a combination of cards, we feel like the most lethal pirate in the world. If after reaching that point we start to reduce our deck to make that consistent combo, we enter a rhythm from which we could only get careless when playing a card or not paying attention to how much damage we are going to receive that turn.
Choosing suitable relics for our strategy is vital for the success of our adventure, but it is also important to consolidate our strategy using the option to remove cards from our deck. The more compact our strategy is, we will be able to see the cards we need more often and with this, be victorious even in the most complicated battles.
A world full of color and options
The graphic section is minimalist and effective, details such as the Fortune Teller character’s cards being the major arcana of a tarot deck are a creative luxury, the 16 characters have costumes that can be unlocked by meeting certain objectives, as well as we can customize our ship and activate additional bonuses that help us in the adventure even more.
The sound section is not far behind, beautiful melodies immerse us in this world of pirates and fantasy, the variety and epicness of the melodies that accompany the bosses of each zone are perfectly designed to add tension to the combat, combat where it is normally decided If we continue with the game or return to the starting point. I can try to convince you how much I liked the game’s soundtrack, but you better hear it yourself in the playlist below.
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Regarding the game modes, the title has 3 different modes, although some of these will be blocked until we have enough reputation. However, again we find variety and options, these additional modes add a twist in how new cards and relics are obtained, nothing too deep but the change of air is appreciated for faster games, where consecutive battles will test our Knowledge of the game and its mechanics.
Pirate Outlaws – Conclusions
I loved Pirate Outlaws, although its journey began in 2019 within mobile phones, we can say that with the console edition the circle is finally closed, the game that has already passed through PC comes to us in its “definitive version” to the delight of all fans of this type of proposal, Solid mechanics and easy to learn make trying different strategies an absolute blast.
I recommend it to all fans of titles of this style such as Slay the Spire or Monster Train, as well as to fans of card games in general, and although unfortunately the title only comes to us in English, German, Chinese and Japanese, the publisher has not closed off the possibility that In the future, more languages such as Spanish could be included.