REVIEW: King of Seas

King of Seas promises cutthroat pirates and sailing the high seas. It also promises swashbuckling adventures. This colourful role-playing game by 3D Clouds is full of action! It does deliver some of its promises, but there's something missing.

King of Seas takes place in a world of magic, pirates and royalty. You are the heir to throne. You can choose to play either the son of the King or the daughter. Marylou, the daughter of the King, was my choice. This character selection screen was very helpful. It gave you a quick overview of each option.

While playing King of Seas, the first thing I noticed was the visuals. The entire game has beautiful art that shines through in cutscenes as well as in the characters. The opening cut scene was very similar to The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker's opening sequence, which featured an intricate tapestry that outlined the history of the new world. Although this would have been a great scene, I found it difficult to believe that the voice actor was trying to impersonate either a Pirate Irish accent or a Caribbean accent. It was funny and off-putting at the same moment.

You are instantly thrown into drama by your first tutorial fetch-quest, and Marylou is taken in by pirates. The best part of the story for me was meeting new characters. I think the character design is fantastic. Every person you meet is memorable and unique, and the 2D character art is charming. Despite the characters and story being so much fun, the gameplay isn't as strong as I would like.

King of Seas is procedurally generated. It does keep the world fresh and changes, but I found the basic mechanic of the game so frustrating. My assumption is that the controls are meant to feel as real as possible and make every journey frustrating. While I appreciate the fact that wind direction plays a significant role in how you sail, it is not as realistic as the game allows. To be blunt, I don't have patience for it. It was not fun.

Even battles, which should provide a lot of fun and swashbuckling action, are not enjoyable. It is so difficult to move your ship around to fire again. The game's top-down approach makes it feel like you are not immersed in these epic battles. This type of action is promised by the trailer, which shows the ships in close up. However, I was disappointed by how "not epic" these battles were.

Although there are some extra features that keep you entertained in the game, such as hidden treasure or additional missions that allow you to unlock new adventures and build your ranks, these elements didn't make the game enough to be worth the effort. Because there was not enough to keep me entertained, I became tired. The Assassins Creed games later know that long distance sailing can be monotonous. However, there are many things to keep you engaged and entertained. These include the crew singing shanties and engaging environments. There is nothing more beautiful than watching a whale breach right next to your ship. King of Seas attempts to do this. I saw a few pods of dolphins around my ship, but they have no real impact.

For me, this aspect of scale was also a problem. My Switch was in handheld mode when I felt that everything was too small. I tried to dock the console but it didn't help. You don't really get the sense of the larger world, or the grandiose senses of adventure. It's difficult not to view these ships as toys.

I can see King of Seas being a relaxing and satisfying game for many if they have the patience and desire to learn more about in-game sailing. It doesn't have enough passion to keep me interested, which is a shame, as it promises so much, and it looks exciting.