Reclaim the Sea is a roguelike strategy game set in a world covered in oceans – oceans that are filled with pirates and strange fantasy creatures. The ocean maps are all randomly generated, ensuring each adventure is unique and filled with surprises.
What is Reclaim the Sea?
The game slowly unveils the world of Reclaim the Sea through its text-based encounters, many of which will lead to real-time sea battles with other pirates or ships with even more nefarious intentions.
To have any chance of success, you will need to upgrade your ship by adding rooms and build a crew of hardened shipmates from the diverse range of species living in the world of Reclaim the Sea. Upgrading your ship means adding rooms that will give it more functions or upgrading the rooms you already have. But beware, resources can be far and few between, depending on your luck. So be wise in how and when you spend them.
FTL-like?
The parallels to FTL will be self-evident to anyone who has played both games. However, for me, this was a draw rather than a reason to stay away. After years of returning to FTL over and over again, I was excited to explore those mechanics and gameplay loops (or ones very similar) with a fresh coat of paint and such an attractive theme. I mean, who doesn’t love pirates?
Speaking of theme, the fantasy pirate theme is delightful. The game has a light, tongue-in-cheek tone that makes for fun and engaging play. Visually, it is nice, but maybe a little on the cute side for my taste.
However, I found the over-map, where you plot your course, a little unengaging, if functional. The icons used on this screen feel like they were pulled directly from a Commodore 64 – although, for others, this may well tickle their nostalgia glands.
Gameplay
At the centre of the gameplay loop is the ship-to-ship combat. All the other elements of the game feed back into this. How you upgrade your ship, the weapons you buy, the crew you hire, the supplies you choose – all of them come into play here. And this is where the game shines.
It’s not the size of your ship…
Ship-to-ship sea battles are exciting, sometimes unpredictable, but also intuitive and engaging. And this is also where you will find some of the details that distinguish it from being a straight-up FTL clone. Just like in FTL, you will be selecting your weapons, ensuring that they are manned (as opposed to making sure that they have power, as FTL), then selecting a target on the opposing ship.
Each weapon has a set time to load and fire, and of course, the chance to miss. It is here that Reclaim the Sea adds a layer of strategic gameplay to this tried and tested formula as you select the distance you keep your ship from your opponent, selecting from close, mid or long range.
Certain weapons, and possibly other elements of the game, function better at certain ranges. This means that you can find yourself in a constant back-and-forth with your enemy ship as you try to maintain the best distance for your ship’s build, or come in close to use your powerful close-range cannon to finish them off.
Distance in combat was something I completely overlooked when starting out in the game. But once I realised how critical it was, my pirate ship transformed from an ineffectual sitting duck to a warship out to bring justice to the seas.
Sounds of the sea
The soundtrack is undeniably nautical and will surely get you in the mood for some piratical adventure. Although it wasn’t long before I had muted it and fed in my own ’90s jungle soundtrack. Which is, admittedly, less thematic than the one supplied by the developer, but far more intense.
A few errors
I must note that as I was playing through my first few hours of the game, I came across several errors in the text adventure side. This was by no means enough to pull me out of the game, and it may well be something that has been fixed since my time with the pre-launch version or is in the process of being updated.
Vibe check
Overall, I have had a lot of fun with the game. I know that I have only just scratched the surface of what it has to offer, and that given time, this could be another title that I find myself returning to over and over. I look forward to digging in deeper and seeing what truly lurks beneath the surface, and I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good tactical roguelike, and especially those who have been craving something to scratch that FTL itch.
Reclaim the Sea is available on PC (Win) on July 14. I played the game via access provided by the developer.
