Pirates Outlaws Review (Xbox One)

STAFF REVIEW of Pirates Outlaws (Xbox One)

Friday, March 31, 2023.
by Peggy Doyle

“Roguelike deckbuilder”. This phrase is not something that immediately jumps to the top of my list of must play games. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the love of them, it’s just never been a genre that I’ve caught the bug for. If writing for XboxAddict has taught be anything though, it’s to step outside of my comfort zone, play games I would never have, and explore the wonderful world of smaller indie games. I feel like I’ve embraced that fully over the past 2 plus years and now I’m diving into Pirates Outlaws (not a typo in the name), a roguelike deckbuilding game developed and produced by Fabled Game and ported to console recently by BlitWorks. Ports from PC to console have very mixed results, but BlitWorks specializes in game porting to consoles and the results are evidence of their dedications and commitment to their craft.

Pirates Outlaws is a strategy based adventure and fighting game using deck building mechanics. Players will explore various island maps, gaining additional cards, treasure and renown. The map outlines your possible routes and islands to get from the beginning location to the boss in each level. As your pirate ship sails around the map, you won’t know what the individual island is until you set foot on it and proceed with your objectives. There is more to the game than just combat. Planning your route is important as you only have a finite number of sailing points, and you need a certain number to move between each island. They vary, so plan your route accordingly.

As you progress through the game there are better cards to collect, enhancing your deck and increasing your battle prowess. At the end of each run there is a boss fight. Beat the boss and move to the next level. As you start the game you are given a random set of cards and as you win battles, explore events or dig up treasure, you will have the opportunity to add additional cards to your deck. These can be either melee or ranged and will have a different amount of damage associated with them. Each will also require a certain amount of ‘ammo’ to use. The strategy comes into play to determine when you use each card in your hand. During your turn you will sometimes see what the enemy is about to do on their next turn as well, so you can plan defences if they are available to you, which also require your ammo. When you run out of options in your hand, you pass your turn, await your enemies attack, and then get you next turn with new cards. There will also be curse cards to be played against you, or perk cards to play against your opponents. These may allow you to replicate a card in your hand, beneficial for getting additional armour or attacks, or for stealing health, immobilizing your opponent, etc.

After each victory you can take your prize and sail on to the next island. Your battle deck is reshuffled before each round. Most islands are battlegrounds, and between islands there are also markets and taverns where you can buy and sell cards, trinkets, health or bonus items. Selling off your weaker cards increase the chances of stronger overall decks. Gold is relatively easy to gather (in small amounts) but should be spent wisely as you always want to have a little in your pocket should you need to purchase health unexpectedly, or a rare card is in one of your stops. There are also ‘event’ island where you may find a treasure, or be cursed, or end up in another battle. Planning each run out to make sure you have what you need for the boss is essential, especially at higher levels.

Since the game is a roguelike, you can be guaranteed many deaths and restarts. Pirates Outlaws is far more forgiving of your choices early in the game compared to other roguelikes I have played though. I never found myself frustrated even while trying to learn the mechanics. Also refreshing, the cards are always explained to you as you encounter them, and if you forget, you can click on the 'Y' button to see what the card in your hand does. Reputation gained after battles increases the difficulty and rewards in game. When you earn enough reputation, you can open different map locales like frozen Northern seas for example.

What Pirates Outlaws lacks in storytelling and world building, it makes up for in quick and enjoyable game play. I could pop in and out of the game when I had time, and even when I lost (which is normal for roguelike games), I never felt like I didn’t want to take another run at it. The randomly generated runs also helped the game from becoming too predictable. While I think this quick and easy game style is a bonus for Pirates Outlaws, I can see that some more dedicated fans of the genre may not gel with it if they are used to more punishing or longer runs. The grind to open up the additional characters and maps can be very long though, depending on your luck.

Pirates Outlaws has a lot of replayability - 16 characters, over 700 cards, 200 relics to collect and 60+ unique bosses, as well as 3 enemy types and 3 separate modes, meaning each randomized run gives you something a little different than your last. Starting out with The Gunner, your character gains one additional ammo at the beginning on each turn. This is helpful since they rely on, no surprise from the name, firearms. Eventually you’ll open the Sword Master, who relies more on sword attacks, and thus gets only 2 ammo vs 3 at the start of the run. While they don’t get extra ammo, they have a Lifesteal perk to help. Next is the Collector who gets a choice of rewards after each battle victory. As you can see, deciding which character to play is just as important as the deck you’re building. The hardest thing for me, as someone who doesn’t play these games regularly, was knowing when to discard cards. I normally play games where you want to hold onto everything, but Pirates Outlaws requires you to discard weaker cards so your overall deck is stronger. This is still something I struggle with when playing. Good thing I’ve become a big fan of the game and have a lot of time to practice.

The delightful papercraft art style didn’t grab my attention in the still images I saw before playing, but works really well in game. I enjoyed watching the characters move back and forth during the battles. A bit more animation would have been nice, but since the game moves pretty quickly, I didn’t spend much time watching the characters on screen. Background music is subtle with a noticeable pirate shanty theme.

Pirates Outlaws is the first roguelike game that I’ve played where I wanted to keep playing it even after covering enough to write a review. In fact, this review took a few days longer than anticipated because I kept wanting to check a few more things out in game before committing to the words. I really enjoyed my time with it and think I will spend a lot more time playing it in the future. It’s worth setting sail and discovering the bounty to be had in Pirates Outlaws.

**Pirates Outlaws was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 8.6 / 10
Gameplay: 8.5 / 10
Visuals: 8.0 / 10
Sound: 9.0 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Pirates Outlaws (Xbox One)

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