Pixel Piracy is an open world Pirate simulator where you take on the role of an aspiring Captain trying to get a crew together and pillage the open seas. The game has a lot of elements to it to help you get to be that all singing super pirate with a massive crew.
The main aim of the game is to build up your crew and sail around the seas pillaging other ships, as well as islands dotted around the areas. There are islands within the world that you can visit to be able to hire people from taverns to join your crew. Each people you find on different islands have different characteristics and will be able to help you in different ways.
Also included in these Islands are weapon shops, and places to buy items for your ship to help you build your own super ship. You can edit your ship while on this Island as well before you go out and set sail again. This allows you to add different things such as cannons etc as well as increase the size of your ship to accommodate the people you may have just got from the Tavern.
When you set sail around the seas, some of the islands that you visit maybe inhabited by others which might not be too happy about you being there so they will attack and it’s up to you and your crew to attack them back to gain to benefits of what the islands might have to offer.
The combat within the game I found to be very basic, at times it felt like I was playing Track and Field again just smashing the A button to try and kill animals or people who were on the islands. It also felt like it takes far too long to actually kill something or even break a box open. It seemed to be a ridiculous amount of time wasted just trying to loot which didn’t seem worth the effort.
I also found annoying that when I was hitting things, mainly the crates in the world that cliché pirate phrases would come every time you hit it, and if you’re constantly hitting it, it gets more and more annoying as it really isn’t something that you would care to see repeated over and over.
The music in the game does at times make you think you are part of Pirates of the Caribbean, whereas at other times, mainly when you’re on the safe islands sorting your ship, crew etc would make you think you’re listening to a bit of Peter Gabriel and Salisbury Hill.
There is an inventory that is accessible where you can change your weapons, clothes and add other items which can give you a boost to certain areas such as sailing time between ships and islands as well as boosts to health etc.
There is also a page where you can manage your crew, pay them their fee’s as well as check what type of character they are, the level they are at and their general happiness, however there happiness can be spotted on the main screen as you’re playing as there is a little face that shows up above there head.
The style of the game is a pixelated platformer, so the open world element for me is a bit borderline. For me it’s like any other platformer in the sense that you can do a Island/level etc and move onto the next one and other than that maybe different people/animals to fight it’s pretty much the same.
The islands aren’t vast and look very much the same from each one you go to, which is rather disappointing as it doesn’t give much variety and makes you feel like you’re just playing the same thing over and over.
The game has some depth to it with the getting your own crew, being allowed to build your own ship but the general game play in what you have to do is just too repetitive.
