Cutthroat Management: Republic of Pirates
A touch of sea dog in this city builder-meets-real time strategy game.
‣ Republic of Pirates
From: Crazy Goat Games, PQube
Platforms: PC
Release: 19 June 2024
Steam Page • Demo Video • Developer Site
Yarr! What be better than to run a band of pirates, sailin' the seven seas and fearlessly plunderin' the weak an' wealthy? Sorry, I've recently watched the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and Geoffrey Rush's fun pirate lingo is the voice I keep hearing. But that's the quintessential pirate fantasy—sea ruffians with dockside British drawls, plenty of shooting and raiding, buried treasure, and a thing for ridiculous clothing ensembles.
That's not quite what you get in the Republic of Pirates demo, mainly because you run things from a 2,000-foot view. But the lack of pirate fantasy elements doesn't stop this from being a fun and engaging game. Rather than muck about as one character, you take charge of an entire pirate colony, expanding its reach as you take over islands and build towns on them. Less Jack Sparrrrr-ooow (thanks, Capt. Barbossa) and more Keira Knightley's dad.
I can't say I thought of myself as a fat administrator in a powdered wig, but there you have it.
Yet, despite a shortage of pirate pageantry, Republic of Pirates uses its theme well. But before getting to those, a look at the underlying gameplay. This is a city builder meets strategy game. You build towns to house workers, and create other structures to gather resources or create products from the resources. As long as you attract enough workers, the gathering and production happens.
What you produce serves one of two functions: to build something else or to keep your workers happy. Each cottage that houses workers has a set of needs. The better you meet those needs, the more workers you attract. Once you attract the maximum quota, you can upgrade the house and attract a more educated worker who will fabricate the materials you need for more advanced items. (If this sounds a lot like Anno 1800, that's because it is almost identical).
For example, as a pirate overlord, you need ships. To produce a ship, you need a woodcutter, a sawmill, and a cotton farm, which uses basic workers. You'll also need sails from another shop that uses more educated workers. However, when you upgrade the basic huts into housing that is more suited to the better workers, you reduce the number of basic workers. Thus, you must expand with more cottages, adding various amenities and products to keep them happy and growing.
The pirating bits feature in the story but also add a big gameplay element. Build ships and command them in real-time combat against other factions' ships (while they sing sea shanties and spout pirate lingo). Your fleet can pick up salvage from these wrecks, which often include certain resources to build bigger ships. You also hire captains who level up and become more formidable (as long as they don't sink).
📽 Demo Moment: Time to take an island
Besides drowning ships, you also conquer other islands and create new towns. Your republic's inventory is universal—what gets mined or manufactured on one island supplies all your settlements. But each town needs to provide local labour. As you take over islands, you can start building more ships, rule the waterways, and take revenge on your enemies. Anyone on the seas is fair game, but you'll need allies to unlock bonuses and quests.
Republic of Pirates has a very solid gameplay loop, which is not surprising since it's a close copy of other games that do the same things. It's also very polished with nice art, and it's fun roaming the ocean with your band of brigands. You're no Jack Sparrow, but then again, the only thing he can run is his mouth.
Republic of Pirates releases 19 June 2024, on Steam.
Explore The Game with Youtube Chapters:
📽 01:08 A new republic
📽 02:53 Get to safety
📽 04:00 A close call
📽 04:41 Our first settlement
📽 06:32 Time for a marketplace
📽 08:29 Get the wood supply going
📽 10:33 Every house has needs
📽 13:12 A new ally
📽 14:58 These guys want to fight!
📽 21:20 A proposition
📽 27:00 Sunk!
📽 33:46 Let's build our own ships
📽 43:00 Hiring our first captain
📽 44:12 Scupper that enemy scout
📽 45:40 Prepare to invade
📽 56:25 Let's take Rat Island!
📽 01:00:35 Our new colony
📽 01:09:00 Decisions and consequences
📽 01:12:15 Hunting on the high seas
📽 01:27:16 Invading Hell's Gate Island
📽 01:34:00 Our third town!
📽 01:47:31 Making friends
📽 02:01:15 Jack's not gonna win again
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