Sea Dogs: City of Abandoned Ships
- November 2, 2018
- Akella
- 3h median play time
Get on SteamIn "Sea Dogs: City of Abandoned Ships," become a feared pirate or loyal navy captain, sailing the high seas to explore, raid, and plunder. Solve ancient mysteries, cross swords with notorious pirates, and choose from 3 characters and classes in this swashbuckling adventure. Myth and reality intertwine in the dark jungles of South America.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a vast and immersive pirate RPG experience with a lot of freedom to explore and complete quests.
- Despite its age, the gameplay remains enjoyable and is enhanced significantly with mods like 'Gentlemen of Fortune'.
- The ship battles are highly praised, providing a thrilling experience that many players find addictive.
- The game suffers from numerous technical issues, including frequent crashes and bugs that can hinder progress.
- It has a steep learning curve with minimal guidance, making it difficult for new players to get into the game.
- The graphics and interface feel dated and clunky, which can detract from the overall experience.
- story34 mentions
- 12 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The game's story is criticized for its poor design, lack of engaging writing, and minimal voice acting, leading to a disjointed experience where players feel disconnected from the narrative. While there is a wide variety of quests and opportunities for exploration, many players encounter significant bugs that hinder progress, making it difficult to fully engage with the main quest lines. Overall, the story suffers from a high learning curve and clunky interface, detracting from the potential enjoyment of the game's narrative elements.
“And just when I thought I'd seen all the game had to offer, I discovered I hadn't even started any of the main quest lines!”
“What I like to do the most in this game is to do unique missions, nation questlines, and capture colonies under the name of the nation I represent.”
“There are small and repetitive missions and unique, big and important quests which you can only do once, but they are rewarding.”
“This game is not 'good.' It has an extremely high learning curve, no tutorial, a clunky interface, poorly laid out and unintuitive quest objectives, sub-par writing, semi-frequent crashes, and is heavily dependent on the community 'combined mod' to smooth out its rough edges.”
“My back and forth was useless; that story advanced and concluded without me, despite me, and without showing me anything.”
“Dated graphics, swordplay takes forever, ships move slow, the story is not interesting, and there is almost no voice acting.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally considered improved over its predecessor, featuring a better engine and more realistic elements, but they still fall short of modern standards, with some players finding them dated and unappealing. While the visuals are acceptable for a pirate-themed game, they do not significantly enhance the overall experience, leading to mixed feelings among players regarding their quality. Many hope for a remake or sequel that would elevate the graphics to contemporary levels.
“It's a much expanded-on Pirates of the Caribbean game by Akella from 2003, featuring a better graphics engine, improved physics, more ships, a different (realistic) map, and more of everything else.”
“This is a very fun game and I hope it gets a remake or another installment with modern quality of life and graphics.”
“Similar concept, only better graphics and historically accurate ships.”
“Dated graphics, swordplay takes forever, ships move slow, story not interesting, almost no voice acting...”
“Their older game (Pirates of the Caribbean) is far better in terms of gameplay, design, and graphics.”
“The graphics are acceptable, but some folks will certainly find it unappetizing.”
- gameplay12 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its engaging mechanics and realism, despite the game's outdated visuals and occasional clunkiness. Longtime players recommend it highly for those interested in naval supremacy games with role-playing elements, emphasizing that the experience remains enjoyable even if the recorded playtime appears low.
“I used to have a disc of this game somewhere and it was my favorite; I liked the realism it had for the time and the mechanics of the game just awed me.”
“I can wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone who wishes to play any naval supremacy game with RPG mechanics.”
“It might look old and at times play a little clunky, but gameplay-wise it's great.”
“Btw, never mind the 0.3 hours of gameplay I have on Steam; I have been playing this game since 2009.”
“Also, Steam records me having 36 minutes of gameplay.”
- stability8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game experiences frequent freezes and crashes, leading users to recommend using quicksave often. Despite these stability issues, many players find it enjoyable and consider it one of their favorite pirate games.
“Freezes too much.”
“Sometimes buggy, and crashes quite a lot, so use quicksave frequently.”
“Although buggy, it is a lot of fun.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere, set in the Caribbean era, is highly praised for its immersive quality, allowing players to lose themselves in the experience. Reviewers highlight the depth, freedom, and overall fun that contribute to this captivating ambiance.
“The atmosphere of the Caribbean era here is probably the main point of the game; it's so engrossing I literally lost myself in it the first time I played.”
“As mentioned, great depth, tons of freedom, fun, and atmosphere ooze out of this one.”
- music2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is often criticized for being repetitive, leading some players to recommend modifying the game files or using mods to enhance the soundtrack. Many players opt to add their own songs to improve their experience.
“This game is old, and I recommend you modify the files or use mods. In my case, I play without mods, but I added my own songs to get rid of the repetitive soundtrack.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game boasts high replayability due to its four distinct nations, each featuring unique questlines and territories that provide varied experiences for players.
“High replayability: Four nations with different questlines and territories will offer unique experiences.”
“High replayability: Four nations with different questlines and territories will offer unique experiences.”
