Rogue Waters

About

Rogue Waters is a single player tactical role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Ice Code Games and was released on September 30, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Rogue Waters is a tactical turn-based rogue-lite in a cursed pirate world. Build a fierce crew of rogues and form alliances with mythical creatures as you navigate an ever-changing world and master combat on land and sea. The crew and the Kraken await your command—will you heed the call?

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80%Audience ScoreBased on 586 reviews

story32 positive mentions

grinding33 negative mentions

Unique blend of tactical turn-based combat and roguelite progression with a pirate theme.
Engaging combat mechanics involving positioning, pushing enemies, and pre-battle ship combat phase.
Polished presentation with good graphics, voice acting, and atmospheric music that fits the pirate setting.
Fairly forgiving roguelite design allowing progression through upgrades and leveling that reduces frustration.
Decent story backdrop and character variety with replayability due to unlocked difficulties and expansion potential.
Undo mechanic in combat allows experimentation and lowers the barrier to tactical gameplay.

Initial grind and resource gating required to achieve viable upgrades and crew strength can be frustrating and time-consuming.
Ship-to-ship combat relies heavily on RNG damage rolls, leading to unpredictable and unbalanced outcomes.
Upgrade system and meta progression feel limited and lack meaningful depth or variety in late game, causing resources to pile up unused.
Repetitive gameplay loop and limited enemy and event variety reduce long-term replayability.
Several bugs reported including save corruption, upgrade glitches, and UI issues detract from overall experience.
Difficulty scaling issues with early runs being overly punishing, yet later stages becoming too easy once upgraded.

story
203 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
81%
3%
The story serves mainly as a functional backdrop to the gameplay, offering a simple, moderately engaging pirate-themed narrative that progresses through missions but is often considered short, predictable, and somewhat lacking in depth or impact. While some players appreciate the voice acting and pacing, others find it repetitive, juvenile, or underdeveloped, with limited character development and a somewhat abrupt or unsatisfying ending. Overall, it complements the roguelite combat and progression well but leaves room for expansion and deeper narrative content.
- “The story mode juxtaposed with pirate adventuring is a nice way of giving playthroughs meaning and variety allowing you to sail for XP, money, blueprints or pursue the story that they've crafted.”
- “The combat is interesting and keeps getting deeper as you grow more powerful, and while I normally don't expect a story in a roguelite, this one has a story and it is worth the time to play through it.”
- “Thanks to an interesting story and engaging meta-progression, you will easily play through all three acts.”
- “The story and the writing is not that good and I have a hard time recommending this game for $30.”
- “There's very little tragedy, the story is a bit boring and doesn't really make sense.”
- “Also when you get to the end of the story, the conversation between Cutter and Wilkes about looking up to him as a father was so forced and out of place in the story, it was really bad.”
gameplay
186 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
59%
3%
The gameplay offers a unique blend of tactical, turn-based combat combined with roguelite mechanics centered on pirate-themed ship and boarding battles. It features engaging positioning and push mechanics that create a satisfying puzzle-like experience, though some find it repetitive over time and affected by bugs or unfinished elements. While the core combat is praised for depth, challenge, and gradual introduction of new mechanics, the overall loop may feel grindy or shallow without further polish and additional content.
- “The pre-battle ship combat is a crazy cool mechanic with loads of player agency, the actual combat itself has a pretty big skill ceiling, there's a lot of smart design at play here.”
- “The combination of ship combat, crew management, and grid-based strategy is executed with confidence and flair, and while some elements show signs of repetition over time, the core gameplay loop remains rewarding.”
- “The combat mechanics are incredibly engaging, allowing for strategic planning and exciting encounters with each battle.”
- “Variety is incredibly lacking for a game that revolves around short runs with roguelike mechanics, and many features seem incomplete or just broken.”
- “A few gripes are the extortion mechanic is kind of broken as if you bring a witch (swap ability) you can just swap places with an enemy that is close to the exit and run there in 1 or 2 moves, sometimes ending the challenge in just 1 turn.”
- “You can summon a terrible kraken to kiss ass of some units but that's the only great power you have... rest is character build with bad skills and good you don't have great choice... range mechanic in this game sucks for range character I don't play them you need one full turn to shoot at your target it's absolutely absurd cause melee units are so present you will never have time to fire... ship constantly need to be restocked on each raid another bad thing, you can't sell your old stuff that you keep in your inventory ships another issue there... this game is fun but don't expect too much devs need to polish this.”
graphics
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
32%
7%
The graphics are generally praised for their stylish, pirate-themed visuals, smooth animations, and pleasing cartoonish art style that enhance immersion. While some users find them visually stunning and well-executed, others consider them decent but not exceptional. A few reports mention occasional technical issues affecting performance, but overall, the graphics complement the gameplay and atmosphere effectively.
- “Pretty fun game with great graphics and great combat but the game has all the downsides of a roguelite and none of the replayability and run variation that makes the genre good.”
- “Graphics were sharp and suited the pirate theme, voice acting, sound and music was also very good.”
- “The visuals are great and the pirate theme is executed perfectly.”
- “Graphically boring.”
- “Only problem is something about it keeps causing my graphics card to flip out and crash my system every once in a while, even though I have the most recent drivers and well exceed the minimum requirements.”
- “I tried reducing graphics and turned off vsync but it is still crashing.”
grinding
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
97%
The game is widely criticized for being overly grindy and repetitive, with upgrades often feeling tedious or ineffective, which can detract from long-term enjoyment. While some players appreciate grinding as a way to enhance progression and achievement value, many find the resource farming and combat monotonous and discouraging, especially given bugs and limited variety. Overall, grinding is seen as a significant barrier that hampers the game's pacing and balance, making it feel more like a mobile-style, time-consuming chore rather than an engaging roguelite experience.
- “It's fun, not too grindy and about the right length.”
- “If the developers changed the design of the game to not require such heavy grinding and reworked the ship combat, this game would be amazing.”
- “If you had the ability to rebuild and heal between events during missions it would be tolerable but still unbelievably grindy but with no out of combat healing and very, very few chances to rebuild your ship during a mission the game is just too hard to be enjoyable and will require at least 30 hours of grinding before you have a good enough crew and ship.”
- “I love tactics games and I love run-based roguelikes... but then again, this isn't a roguelike but a roguelite with all the terrible balancing and phone game style grinding that it entails.”
replayability
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
47%
16%
Replayability opinions are mixed, with some praising the game's challenging roguelite structure, varied crew options, and enjoyable strategy elements that offer solid replay value, especially at higher difficulties. However, many note a lack of depth, run variation, and content variety, leading to repetitive gameplay that can get boring quickly. Overall, the game provides several hours of fun but may require additional updates or be better enjoyed on sale due to limited long-term replay appeal.
- “Overall, a very solid strategy game with lots of replay value.”
- “The roguelite structure is central to Rogue Waters’ replayability.”
- “A very nice surprise, this is a true roguelike game with nice graphics and a lot of replayability.”
- “Pretty fun game with great graphics and great combat but the game has all the downsides of a roguelite and none of the replayability and run variation that makes the genre good.”
- “Should have heeded the warnings that said this game has absolutely no replayability and gets boring really fast.”
- “This game lacks content, it lacks variety, it lacks replayability; for a rogue-like that last point is a cardinal sin.”
music
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
21%
16%
The music is generally praised for its atmospheric, pirate-themed orchestral and sea shanty influences, enhancing immersion alongside strong voice acting and sound effects. While some find the soundtrack enjoyable and fitting the setting, a few consider it decent but not particularly memorable. Overall, the music contributes positively to the game's polished and immersive experience.
- “The music is atmospheric, leaning into orchestral sea shanty influences with a touch of the supernatural, and the voice acting does a solid job bringing characters to life.”
- “The sound effects during naval battles, the ambient music, and even the voices of crew members all added to the immersive experience.”
- “The graphics are great, the music very pirate-ey, and the whole game feels polished.”
- “Like the voice-acting, some of the animations, not that much in the way of music or map diversity.”
- “Solid soundtrack.”
- “Music and artistic elements are definitely a plus.”
humor
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is a mix of raunchy pirate jokes and subtle, clever lines that often elicit laughter, though some sexual humor feels out of place. Voice acting varies from excellent to hilariously bad, adding to the comedic charm. Overall, the humor contributes significantly to the game's lighthearted, fun atmosphere.
- “Overall: the game is funny and does not take itself too seriously.”
- “The script appears to be very good, with good pacing, dialogues featuring subtle and pleasant humor, and good character designs.”
- “So often I find myself laughing at the various lines they spew out.”
atmosphere
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
78%
22%
The atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and authentic pirate theme, enhanced by solid voice acting and lively, colorful characters. The orchestral sea shanty-inspired music complements the setting well, though it is memorable mostly for mood rather than melody. Overall, the game delivers a vibrant, fun, and engaging pirate experience that effectively captures the adventurous spirit of the genre.
- “The music is atmospheric, leaning into orchestral sea shanty influences with a touch of the supernatural, and the voice acting does a solid job bringing characters to life.”
- “The best part is the atmosphere, the pirate theme is immersive; you really are a swearing, rum-swilling, plundering rogue of the sea.”
- “The gritty, pirate atmosphere really came to life, and I found the voice work to be top-notch.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with frequent bugs and glitches that often render it unplayable. Despite some interesting ideas, technical problems and occasional freezes severely impact the overall experience.
- “Buggy mess, the game is technically abandoned.”
- “Buggy mess - literally unplayable.”
- “When all pirates are stunned by fishermen, game also freezes.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game demonstrates excellent optimization, running smoothly with good performance and intuitive controls, especially on the Steam Deck. Graphics and animations are impressive without compromising performance.
- “Very cool graphics, the ending animations make a cool difference, very good performance.”
- “It runs smoothly on the Steam Deck, with great, intuitive control bindings, making it a perfect fit for the platform.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Character development is supported by well-designed, visually appealing characters that blend stylized and gritty elements. The script features good pacing and engaging dialogues with subtle humor, contributing positively to the overall characterization.
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users perceive the monetization as aggressive and primarily profit-driven, despite being presented in an appealing way.