Pirate games are seemingly back in vogue, most recently with Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, capturing the magic of AC games of old, and reminding us how satisfying sailing the seven seas is. But, in truth, pirate games have always, and will always be cool.
The idea of being a rogue with no gods and no masters. The simple goal of exploring beyond the horizon, to take all you can and give nothing back. It’s exhilarating, no matter how you package up the experience. However, it is a sub-genre that hasn’t provided a true shake-up in a while. We’ve seen enough open-world Pirate games, and we need something new.
Enter Corsair Cove, a pirate-themed city/colony builder that asks the player to start from nothing and incrementally build a pirate sanctuary of legend. A task that requires resource management skills, tactical naval combat, and a steady hand at the wheel to steer through choppy waters.
It’s a unique venture, so much so that it will get just about any old salty sea dog’s attention. But, when all is said and done, and the storm subsides, the question remains. Is Corsair Cove a city-builder that can rival the genre leaders and catch the wind in its sails?
We’ll Have Our Own Hideout, With Blackjack, & Rum
To give you an idea of what you’re getting yourself into as you raise your Jolly Roger and become part of this merry band of misfits. Corsair Cove essentially casts you as a gang of pirates fresh off a devastating defeat at the hands of Amara, a Crown captain of much acclaim who has sunk your ship and left you for dead.
The overall aesthetic of Corsair Cove is gorgeous, offering a vibrant, sun-kissed archipelago to explore and eventually claim as your own
But, as luck would have it, your crew, or what’s left of it, washes up on Skull Rock. A fertile land for growth, expansion, and industry as you aim to rebuild, take to the seas again, and seek revenge.
This is the premise that gets things going, as you go through the basics of building assets, designating production chains, assigning crew, and fine-tuning connections to get as much done with as little labor as possible. All the staples of a colony management sim. But what sets Corsair Cove apart from all those that have come before is the theme, which creates a pirate’s life fantasy feel.
The overall aesthetic of Corsair Cove is gorgeous, offering a vibrant, sun-kissed archipelago to explore and eventually claim as your own, as you build your empire. Zooming into the finer details of this vast map shows the level the developers have gone to, to create a nautical world that feels alive. But, it’s gazing upon your base that will likely give you the most satisfaction.
The ability to turn a mound of cliffs and very little dry land into a bustling cove with oodles of moving parts is phenomenally fun, and the ability to utilize every possible space helps with that. As buildings can spring up from cliffsides, connections can be made with lifts and ziplines, and camps can be merged to create a feeling of inter-connectivity between everything you build.
If you’ve ever seen the film Waterworld, that’s what your base ends up feeling like. A space that exists and thrives despite the lack of dry land. All seamlessly coming together, no matter how you choose to build your assets, allowing you to create a glorious hub of villainy in your own image.
From a base-building perspective, this title leans into the theme brilliantly and provides an accessible, rewarding, and visually appealing builder that stands out from the crowd. For me, no notes. But, looking the part is only half the battle, as the game needs to offer that depth and strategy that fans of the genre crave.
Post-Dad Progression
In my humble opinion. A truly magnificent city-builder game feels like a legitimate sandbox. A game that allows you to use all the assets present to form a unique and awe-inspiring settlement unlike any other player. Then, you have those builder games that feel more like linear, incremental affairs, which are good, but lack that depth that makes them worldbeaters.
Unfortunately, Corsair Cove falls in that ‘good, not great’ category when it comes to its core progression and systems. But, I don’t want to rag on this nautical number too much, as it’s still a blast to engage with from start to end.
Corsair Cove shoots for accessibility over genuine freedom of expression and challenge. Meaning that, from a few hours in, you’ll likely be able to map out your path to the game’s end. Build to gather rare resources and expand your camps, to build stronger ships, to complete main questlines, to eventually take Amara down.
There’s an inescapable linearity to proceedings, as you’ll realistically only be able to partake in quests your stats allow for, and you’ll only improve these with slow, steady, incremental improvements to your camp. Improvements that more or less come in the same order, leading to a pretty no-thrills progression.
That’s not to say that it isn’t satisfying building up your crew, expanding to reach new deposits of materials, and tightening up your connection routes to automate proceedings, because it is. It’s just a little predictable.
This is somewhat remedied by random events and attacks on your base that throw a spanner in the works. But, unfortunately, due to the lack of variety of scenarios that these pose, you quickly become able to prepare and deal with these while on autopilot.
This essentially means that there are very few stakes and little chance of a need to rebuild or strategize. It’s essentially a game where you pour a little time in, your base gets a little more proficient, you gather some more resources, and you push things down the line a little more. The post-dad formula that scratches the itch, and a formula that, as a dad, I love.
However, if you’re someone who is looking for sandbox-level depth or high-stakes strategy and challenge, Corsair Cove is a game that perhaps offers a few morsels here and there, but not enough to sate you and your crew.
Dice, Decks & Duels
Base building is how you will expand your resource-management operation, but there’s a whole other side to this game that you’ll need to engage with if you want to truly progress and become a pirate of much infamy. This game asks you to build a ship, take to the Seven Seas, and engage in events that almost always culminate in naval warfare of a turn-based variety.
Initially, I had thought this would be the star of the show as far as gameplay was concerned, and as a Slay The Spire junkie, I was more than happy to let my bias and penchant for card-based action color my opinion. But, alas, this is a card-based system that has potential, but in truth, is a little basic.
If you’ve played one event, you’ve played them all, as the formula never changes, and the need for tactical preparation is minimal. You compare your ship’s stats to your opponents, and if your numbers are mostly green, you’re good. Then comes the card battle.
This essentially gives you a variety of scenarios where you need to fill a progress bar by using cards, while also defending against the enemy’s attacks, all the while managing dice rolls where possible to maximize the effect of each turn.
In theory, a solid albeit far from revolutionary system. But the issue is that the depth of combat rarely evolves beyond the depth of rock-paper-scissors. If they attack, you defend; if they hunker down, you go on the offensive or set up dice for your next turn.
The only nuance is that you need to manage supplies, which acts as MP for a lack of a better comparison, and in most cases, when this runs out, you’ll need to sacrifice crew or health to keep up the fight.
The best I can say about this card game is that it serves a purpose and breaks up your time spent managing your base. But it becomes rather repetitive early on, and that’s never good when it serves as such an integral part of player progression.
Reviewed on PC. Review code provided by the publisher.
Corsair Cove is a very welcome and unique slant on the colony builder format, offering a satisfying pirate fantasy with a lot of neat ideas. However, due to a rather lackluster card-based combat system that underpins all naval combat, and a rather predictable and linear progression system, Corsair Cove rides the waves and navigates the storm. But doesn't come out completely unscathed.
Pros
- Nails the pirate theme
- A satisfying and rewarding colony builder
- Includes a story-mode which is a bonus
Cons
- Very linear, incremental progression
- basic and repetitive card combat
- Lacks a sandbox feel
