In Russia they love games about pirates. They love not only to play, but also to do them – remember "Corsairs". Moreover, Russian developers are so strict that they can, in splendid isolation, literally in nine months make a project that, of course,, Sid Meier’s Pirates! won’t knock your socks off, but can attract attention. We’re talking about Sink Again, which was 95% made by one person – our compatriot, hiding under the nickname Artem Flatcoon. What’s good about the game and what’s not so good??
Pirate humor
Sink Again – this is a mixture of a roguelike, a board game, plus a bit of turn-based tactics and the aforementioned Pirates! There is no full-fledged story campaign here, but there are about two dozen separate scenarios that can be considered modules, like in a board game.
And they’re all more or less funny. So, in one, you need to, on behalf of an old pirate rocker, search throughout the archipelago of his former colleagues, show them either a pick or drumsticks, so that they eventually agree to reunite and give a grandiose concert. And at the end of the script, we are asked to correctly fire at a ship carrying gunpowder in order to provide the concert with a grandiose fire show.
In other scenarios, we are looking for fake knives for a non-violent bloody ritual, which suits a tribe that honors the traditions of its ancestors, but is much more progressive; we collect the smelliest bait possible to catch a whale the size of an island; we are trying to find a heartless man who abandoned his bride right at the wedding – in the process it turns out that he literally has no heart, he hid it in exchange for eternal life. Well, everything in the same spirit.
My little raft
But the gameplay itself is quite serious. Scenarios can be completed at different difficulty levels. During the process, the game itself occasionally makes “autosaves”, but if your team dies (for example, after the ship is sunk), all progress will be reset and you will have to start over. Which is a shame, because completing each scenario reveals new items, characters, character traits, pets, and even types of islands that will be available in future playthroughs. Everything is like in typical “bagels”.
And every time it all starts in Tortuga, where in the tavern we hire a team. Initially, a squad can have a maximum of two pirates, but then, under certain conditions, the size of the gang increases. There we equip them for the first time (for which there are enough piastres), choose a captain in the office (he gives one or another bonus to the whole team), buy food at the market and go to sea.
Then the elements begin Sid Meier’s Pirates! We sail on a boat between the islands (which we first need to find), and we can attack other ships by shooting cannonballs and boarding. But other pirates and their hunters also have a grudge against us.
Therefore, it is better to upgrade the https://powerslotscasino.co.uk/games/ boat – in many ports there are not only taverns (where you can change the composition of the squad) and shops, but also shipyards, where for a certain amount they will increase the strength/speed/maneuverability of the ship or the capacity of the sides for guns. There we repair the boat and replenish ammunition. In general, everything is classic.
It’s the same with trading. Every port has a market, and it very conveniently indicates which goods are more profitable to sell here and which ones to buy. And you can make money quite quickly by transporting bananas or wood between neighboring islands.
Seasickness
In general, the naval part is perhaps the weakest in Sink Again. Trade is organized conveniently, but primitively, goods do not spoil, and the crew does not consume food during the voyage and does not rebel. It’s as if it doesn’t exist at all: the pirates hired into the squad do not influence the behavior of the ship in any way.
Storms and rain may occur, but this also does not affect the condition of the vessel. But the boat is capable of crashing into the figure of the port, if you don’t brake in time, and even go to the bottom from this – the physics here is also funny! Well, in principle, something interesting rarely happens at sea.
It happens that you swim for a long time without meeting anyone, but at the most inopportune moment pirate hunters will appear and begin to pursue your boat. And it is useless to engage in battle with them until the ship has been upgraded. And this situation, which caused the failure of some scenarios, is not stimulating, but annoying – the appearance of hunters is too unpredictable, they are too strong at first, it is too difficult to break away from them.
Personality Trait: Pirate!
But in the dungeons the situation is more interesting. This is where we carry out the main tasks according to the script. We perform it in a step-by-step mode – we look for and neutralize traps, open locks on chests and doors, fight. You can also find a treasure there – if you have a map of this dungeon and a shovel in your inventory.
The success of all basic actions, the chance of hitting/breaking/defusing/duration of movement – everything is determined by the roll of the dice, as well as who performs the action and what equipment he is wearing.
The pirates themselves are divided into warriors, shooters and voodoo magicians. Magicians have the most intelligence (although shooters can also raise it with things) – it is better to entrust the smart ones with opening locks and finding traps. Affects success and luck.
In this situation, the selection of equipment is important – as, accordingly, is the accumulation of money for rare and legendary things. As the character’s level increases, the characteristics of the characters are pumped up automatically, and we can adjust them with equipment. In addition, many items give bonuses (or penalties) not only to the characteristics of the pirate, but also to the sides of the die that he gets more often – for example, they increase the number of attacking sides. Moreover, if a warrior uses a bow, he will receive a penalty, and vice versa. Class restrictions are small, but they exist.
The character traits of the characters themselves are also taken into account. They can be half-blind, lazy, short-sighted, altruistic, brave, economist, and so on. Each such trait gives a plus or minus. Myopics, of course, receive a penalty to attack, altruists – to strength, losers earn less experience, cunning people get more defensive faces on the die, and economists get more gold from chests. There are even those who hate digging in the ground and would never dig for treasure, even if you gave them a shovel.
The life of a pirate is traumatic
All this is really well implemented. Here’s the tactics Sink Again simple – the author’s comparisons with XCOM inappropriate. We take turns, often miss, if we have little luck and the dice fall out wrong, we attack or use items from the inventory (there are both potions and bombs). No shelters, heights or other tactical tricks.
But even in this option, you often have to rake – especially if there are enemies of a higher level in the dungeon, and the dice fall out completely on the wrong side as you would like. If you play on easy or normal difficulty, then in case of defeat, your players will be knocked down and will heal their wounds themselves when they are back on the ship. True, the pirate may receive permanent injury or lose his pet, which gives a bonus. On hard, defeat leads to the death of the characters.
Sink Again It lacks depth and detail (as well as a proofreader to proofread texts that rarely recognize commas), but overall the game leaves a good impression. Even without discounts for the fact that such a project was completed by one person in less than a year – although if he had spent more time, you see, the depth would have increased. Each scenario can captivate you for two to three hours. These are the kinds of games we need now – summer, bright, with humor, funny music and pictures that refer to funny animated films.
Pros: funny scenarios; colorful characters; exciting gameplay at the intersection of genres; nice picture; cheerful music.
Cons: naval and tactical units lack depth; the texts are replete with errors.