King of Seas | PC Review

Avast Ye! Fire in the hole! King of Seas is a new breed of action RPG, teeming with adventure and exploding with seafaring shooter action. Action RPGs have rarely been a genre that kept my interest, so after reading 3DClouds’ description, I was honestly dreading what was to come. However, like a very small number of others, this gem turned out to be the exception to the standard.

The concept of captaining my own personal pirate ship has always brought me joy, but nothing could prepare me for the plundering fun that was laid out in front of me once I took the helm in the Kingdom of Seas. As I began on my road to become the King of Seas, everything else vying for my attention was fighting a losing battle.

A Pirate’s Life For Me

The cannonballs you volley at the Royal Navy scream through the air in the Kingdom of Seas. Piracy has long been defeated and diminished from the kingdom, yet here you are, flying the Jolly Roger from your ship’s mast as you battle the navy that once fought for your father, the former King of Seas. You are one of two rightful heirs to the throne, and the mystery of your father’s murder is one you must solve by any means necessary. If, for no other reason, at least to clear your name and prove to the world that it was not you who cast the spell that took his life. If only there were someone you could trust…

While endearing, the story is about as cliché as it gets. Along the way there was a plot twist or two that I didn’t see coming, but most of the story felt like another read through of any of the historic stories about betrayal and redemption. Unfortunately, this is magnified by some of the dialogue that takes place as the plot is unfolding. There were a few times that the characters’ lines during a scene were incredibly lackluster for what was going on. Perhaps some animation could have helped in those situations, but the combination of emotionless dialogue and static character images left some of the bigger story sequences feeling almost uncomfortable. That being said, it was still entertaining enough to keep me drawn in and progress.

Growing Your Sea Legs

The Kingdom of Seas is a large oceanic kingdom littered with small land masses. Many of these islands are home to a merchants’ town or base of operations for the Royal Navy. As you sail through the kingdom, you must navigate these islands, plundering merchant ships and being attacked on site by any Royal Navy ships that get close enough to see you. As you make your way from town to town, many merchants, and sometimes even Naval officials, will offer you rewards for doing them a favor. These could range from delivering goods to another island or sinking a ship belonging to someone that crossed them.

Pirates are known to do dirty work all on their own, so many that need help with something that isn’t reputably in their favor will seek you out for help in return for compensation. Fighting your way to becoming King of Seas isn’t going to be cheap. You will have ships to buy, repairs to pay for after battles, and many other expenses, so you will need all the help with financing your endeavors that you can get.

The core aspects of King of Seas are the utilization of your talent tree and the loot you find on your travels, both out in the world and from the ships you sink. As with many other RPGs, as you perform tasks and take down enemies, you acquire experience points. You will then use these points to learn new abilities and power them up. While I feel the use of talent trees is quite overused in many games, in King of Seas it just fits. It feels like it is a part of the story, as you are learning the skill of piracy and becoming more confident in your seafaring abilities as you progress.

The loot you find will help you upgrade your ship, piece by piece. You will find different types of cannons and bullets. Ship parts, like the deck and figurehead, will be replaced hundreds of times on each of your ships. The procedurally generated enemies and loot locations keep everything fresh for you as well, as the enemies level with you. After every ship I sunk, I always felt a twinge of excitement as the booty floated to the surface, wondering what it would be and if it would help make me a more feared pirate.

Come Sail Away

You sail your ship across the seas from an isometric view, looking down at the kingdom that should be yours. The aesthetics of the world, while simple, are a pleasant environment to observe. The character art, however, is childish. As much as I tried to dive into the story as the reader, every time dialogue came up, I was thrown back to my childhood days reading cartoon art picture books. It took away from the experience for me.  

The musical score, on the other hand, was exactly what I felt it should be. Not overly fancy or dramatic, but exactly what it needed to be to set the feel as you set sail or volleyed in battle. This, coupled with the graphic design of the game, made me feel at home, or is it ship, as a pirate in King of Seas.

King of Seas Final Verdict

King of Seas is my quintessential “diamond in the rough.” While the odd character designs and laughable cliche story are things that will usually disinterest me from a game, the other elements made this a seriously addicting joy to play. This type of game is not something I expected to have to fight with to give my other hobbies (and some responsibilities if I’m being honest) the time they needed. I’m sure that’s not exactly what 3DClouds had in mind when they created this, but I would count it as a victory for them nonetheless.

To hear me talk more about King of Seas, be sure to listen to Episode 347 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:22:05.

This review is based on a PC copy of King of Seas provided by Press Engine for coverage purposes. It is also available on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.