The pirate strategy game Tortuga wants to tempt you to play the treasurer with open world and turn-based ship battles.
So you landlubbers, if the game doesn’t capsize now, I’ll drop anchor here and knock on my peg leg, if I don’t get my rumbuddle off the hook first! Okay, sorry for the gobbledygook, I just wanted to start off with all the obligatory word jokes and allusions about pirates at once, so that we can now devote ourselves to what’s really important: the game.
Tortuga: A Pirate’s Tale is basically a remake of Pirates: Rulers of the Caribbean from 2003, which was then a more action-packed, less economy-heavy spin-off of Ascaron’s Port Royale series. The new Tortuga is now also based on Port Royale, albeit part 4 developed by Gaming Minds Studio, because Ascaron has long since ceased to exist and publisher Kalypso owns the licensing rights.
Table of Contents
What is Tortuga about?
In the 18th century, you set sail for the Caribbean and want to become the most feared pirate of the seven seas. To do this, you hire a crew for your initially weak ship and travel the freely accessible game world. Along the way, you can raid merchant ships and sail to settlements belonging to one of four colonial powers: England, the Netherlands, Spain or France.
Even if you later hire additional captains (these are NPCs with their own stories and quests) and additional ships for them (up to six), you only ever control one of them on the world map as a representation of your pirate convoy.
Does it all sound a lot like Sid Meier’s Pirates! Yes, but here comes the twist: When fighting with other convoys, the game switches from the pausable real-time display to a turn-by-turn mode. The system is based on Port Royale 4. Move by move, you manoeuvre your ships into position, which can fire their cannons on both sides; special weapons such as a mortar are intended to provide variety. A hit probability determines whether you shoot the enemy or whether the bullets land in the water.
The wind and the momentum of ships once set sail is implemented by a minimum movement in the next turn: If your ship has travelled a long distance, for example to advance towards the enemy, it must move a few hexes again on the next turn before you can fire again. Unlike in other tactical games, your big hulks also have a large turning circle and cannot simply turn around on the ocean.
Between battles, you must regularly distribute the booty to your crew. You can make promises for future conquests (“We will collect at least 50,000 ducats and board six ships!”) to pay less and keep the cutthroats happy, whose morale you keep high with provisions and shore leave.
Who is Tortuga for?
Pirate fans who are excited by the prospect of becoming the greatest buccaneer are likely to find much to appeal in Tortuga: A Pirate’s Tale. There are 18 different ship types to unlock and twelve categories to upgrade individually, plus role-playing elements through the captains’ level increases and their talent trees.
This spiral of motivation is to be extended by numerous enemy pirate nests that have to be excavated in order to subsequently erect their own upgrade buildings. Fans of economic simulations can also trade within a dynamic commodity system, even if this is not the focus of the game.
Those who want a classic building strategy will be left empty-handed, because you cannot expand the cities of the colonial powers yourself and the pirate camps only offer space for a handful of improvements. Those who expect the action of Sid Meier’s Pirates are also in the wrong place here, because the turn-based battles are rather leisurely and the staging is not very spectacular. Sabre duels or dance mini-games are also lacking.
In the dock you can buy upgrades like a ram spur. Your cannons fire different types of ammunition; chain bullets shred the sails and increase the chance of boarding manoeuvres.
What do we like so far? What is still unclear?
What do we like so far?
- The game world is large and promises to be dynamic.
- There are numerous upgrade options for ships and captains.
- The Caribbean atmosphere could be convincing, after all the developers partly record sailor songs sung by themselves.
What is still unclear?
- Are the ship battles as exciting as a game of XCOM in the long run?
- Does the gameplay with the loot raids as almost the only element offer enough variety in the long run ?
Tortuga: A Pirate’s Tale will be released in Q1 2023 and for the time being exclusively on the Epic Games Store
Editors’ Verdict
I actually played Pirates: Rulers of the Caribbean. But that also had to do with the fact that I didn’t know about the fancy 3D remake of Sid Meier’s Pirates! in 2003. Today I wonder whether Gaming Minds Studios’ carefully modernised remake will fascinate me as much again.
I’m most sceptical about the turn-based combat. Yes, real-time sailing was never particularly realistic in this type of game and the AI was always easy to trick, but at least the battles provided a minimum of action. Now, if it’s all turn-by-turn in a game where I’m expected to spend 70 per cent of my time chasing other ships, it could cause fatigue.
Let’s just hope that the developers polish up the so far very unspectacular combat a bit so that the whole thing doesn’t become the curse of the Caribbean. Oh, by the Klabautermann, now I’ve added one of those stupid pirate puns after all. Arrrrrrrr!
