I played this game since 2011, when it originated on BYOND. I thoroughly enjoy/love the game though it's not without it's flaws. The first 2-3 years of playing everything was great, content was being added frequently and the game was lively with an average of 80-100 players. As time went on the updates slowed down and the player base dwindled. It also got increasingly difficult to share any opinions you might have about the game because the owner isn't anything short of a ego fueled tyrant. I and many others share a big passion for this game but the owner just seems to not care anymore and hasn't provided a substantial content update in quite some time, it's been about 3 years since the last "big" expansion to the game and even when that was released it was a joke and completely unbalanced. Everything you do in this game feels like a constant grind with very little reward. At around 2017/2018, the game saw very little updates and the player base was lucky to average 15 people online at any given time. There would be small updates every few months but they always seemed to contain new cash shop cosmetics instead of actual content for the game/fixes. You can easily tell the game rarely receives updates even now on this page by simply checking the news section. The steam release for this game was extremely unprofessional and no very needed changes were made before the steam release, he(the owner) simply released the same version from the other game platform onto this with no needed changes the game needed. The engine that this game is currently on is outdated and cannot really handle a lot of players online at once without massive input lag/delay and other issues due to one big limitation of the engine being, everything is handled server-side. As a longtime player, even I cannot recommend this game to anyone in it's current state and with the owners mentality and utter laziness.

As someone who chooses his games based on how much freedom there is in making a character as I imagine it, this game had me hooked from the beginning. Your character starts with nothing and can be built up as you like. If you enjoy lots of class options, character customization, and grinding for what you want, then this is the game for you to try out. Combat is open world and fast paced with enough specializations for anyone to find at least a few they'll feel comfortable or excited fighting with. The community is a little rough, but very helpful toward those actively trying to learn how to make their way through the game.

Nobody working on this game knows the difference between your and you're. However, they DO know how to charge for perks, sub fee/"Donations" and possible pay-to-win features right at the start of the game.

Fix:
When attacking, hold down E(Attack key) don't release or you'll have to wait 15 seconds in order to attack again. The game does not tell you this but instead tells you to just press the E key to use [Weapon] ability. The game is wrong in its own tutorial.

Pro/Con/Fix:
While I appreciate a quest tracker option, while also giving players the chance to find enemy/NPC or locations on their own. Its done poorly here, the quest log/giver give no starting point or quest directions(So far). Example: Go east to find boars. <-- None of this. In game Example: Kill boars please! 0/5.

You really don't need to have JR Tolkien levels of information in the quest log, but a direction to go would be nice. Example: Mayor " Thank you stranger for existing! Can you help us with our Boar problem? Villagers have said they come from the East maybe start there? Boom! that's all it would take just change the particulars depending on who is talking and what the quest requires.



More later.

This game died on Byond because it has no end game content other then standing around and waiting for events to happen. If a game dies on something as bad as Byond then i'm afraid it's not going to do any better on Steam due to the level of competition it has though granted this game is unique in play style and concept (at least on steam any way) and there are a lot of weebs on steam who will appreciate the heavy anime influence. Despite my game play hours i do have a max level Lycan Assassin on the Byond version so i feel i have enough experience to talk a little about the game. Leveling up just isn't fun; leveling in this game is a grind. It wouldn't be so bad if there was a story line to follow or some type of progression system but when the max level is level 600, the speed at which you level up dramatically decreases the closer to 600 (you'll notice a giant momentum decrease around level 350) you get and the only way to really level up at a decent speed is to grind mobs or train in professions it makes for a tedious experience.

PvP in the game is unbalanced with it being heavily gear dependent then on top of it all you will find most of the more successful PvP players all use the same handful of classes and the same general build premise of having your main damage stat and defence distributed 50 - 50. The only time you won't see these builds/classes is during level up in where you will use a different small handful of classes and generally do the build of dex/def with a dex based weapon for the fastest possible kills. In the end you don't see much diversity from players and the majority will just stick to the current meta.

No point in talking about PvE because it's just a matter of standing still and hitting a sandbag which deals damage back at you. The AI is extremely simplistic and almost cell like in the way it just locks onto you like a missile and then charges at you regardless of where you move on the map and occasionally fleeing when you deal a certain amount of damage to it. Be careful not to make certain mobs run towards water as this resets them and their health. Game could really benefit from some dungeons and some actual fighting mechanics from the mobs to make them more challenging and make fighting them feel less like a chore. Only fun PvE thing to do in my opinion is the Kraken boss fight but no one ever takes part in it probably because it is too long and unrewarding but it is unique in mechanics. I just wish there was more boss fights like that and that the Kraken was more rewarding so people would take part in the event.

If you disregard my review and want to try it out for yourself i recommend starting out as a Human as they have the most diversity and options available to them because of the "God's Text" which are basically the fruit from One Piece. Once you have selected Human follow the beginning of the story line (there isn't much of a story since it's unfinished) and you will get to choose a weapon from a choice of three then decide what build you want to go from there. Then it's up to you if you want to wait until you find a god's text which corresponds to your current build or if you enjoy using the weapon that you are currently using and wish to master in it unlocking it's abilities. You can do this by pressing C then clicking a small "Mast" button on the bottom right of the paper doll, then right click and select master once you have the weapon at 100 mastery. You can buy and experiment with different weapons via the weapon trainer who will sell you weapons that scale up to level 50 or level 80 if you're a subscriber. Please note you cannot use a text if you master in a weapon and cannot master in a weapon if you use a text. Highly recommend picking up the Skinning profession as every time you skin a monster it gives you the same amount of XP as a tier 1 quest then just focus on training up your skinning and by the time you hit 400 skinning you should be around level 300 - 400. I would recommend avoiding PvP until at least level 300 too as you will just have a bad time at any level below that unless you know what you're doing or are overly confident. Hope this advice helps you.

As a side note i also do not understand why the developers have released this as "Early Access" when the game has been on Byond for years.

Despite my lack of recommendation i do actively play this game at the time of updating this review as i do feel that it is a fun game. It feels very rewarding as you progress in both PvP skill and obtain better gear. I just cannot recommend it to the average Steam user because of the negatives outweighing the positives. Also the fact the community is extremely toxic and racism is thrown around so casually is also a very serious negative.

I played the game on byond a long time age when it was popular I left and came back half a year ago to see it with a 5 player top online. Even with the empty server I stayed and loved all the changes they did, now with the steam server and the new blood coming in you too can experience what I remember from years ago.An army of marines goes against couple of pirate crews fight for victory,trading and sailing with friends and looking for adventure in the black sea. I hope the game will keep to grow here and find successes here. I might not have the time I used to have and get another 600 lvl marine but I am sure as hell going to be around and watch the new blood conquer and shape the seas as they want.

Great game, love the pvp side of it, events are awesome and the community makes the game even more fun! from what i've seen since it was released, theres some stuff that needs to be adressed for the game to be more steam friendly and balanced, but it has been improving a lot with weekly updates, sometimes daily and i feel the game is going in a good direction.

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Grande jogo, adoro a jogabilidade e o aspecto do pvp, os eventos são bastante divertidos e a comunidade faz o jogo ainda mais agradável! pelo que tenho visto desde que foi lançado, há algumas coisas que precisam de ser abordadas para que o mesmo seja mais amigável para os usuários do steam e também é preciso equilibrar algumas classes, mas tem havido atualizações constantes e o jogo tem vindo a ficar cada vez melhor, acho que está a ir numa boa direcção.

You know at first I recommended this game out of bias, but honestly this game isn't Steam user friendly. I am a old BYOND player so I understood everything without any explanation, but that is the problem, this game has zero explanation about things Steam users wouldn't know about for example the macro system(I got bugged from the new system and never got fixed), basic controls, some new people didn't even know how to talk and just left, etc I could go on. This game isn't meant for Steam and it probably will never be. This game was on BYOND for like 4 - 6 years so its inexcusable about the lack of change for the Steam release.

Try at your own risk but I know I'm done with this game. Good luck "Black".

Extremely enjoyable, time flies while you playing. Events, battling players in arena, and conversing with others is just a short list of things you can find yourself participating in while you play.

Rise of the Pirates has a retro feel, while being a blast. The pvp is very fast paced, and the community is what makes this game. Pirate or Marine, you choose your faction and find a crew that fits your needs. Tons of events to do, professions, classes to master with completely unique skills, this game has a very high skill cap but is very well balanced. The developer is extremely active with a devblog on discord to post updates. Highly recommend trying this game out.

This game fulfills my 2d Isometric needs, A great community with a great team of staff. The game is constantly updated very minimal bugs. I've been a long time player. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who has a love for pirates. Or even anyone who enjoys playing 2d isometric games.

10/10