Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

A light-hearted platformer with plenty of action. A swashbuckling journey awaits you!

87%Game Brain Score

music, gameplay

grinding, stability

93% User Score Based on 1,823 reviews

Critic Score 82%Based on 19 reviews

Platforms

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About

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a single player role playing game. It was developed by WayForward and was released on April 23, 2015. It received positive reviews from critics and very positive reviews from players.

Embark on a brand new adventure with Shantae, the hair-whipping belly dancing genie. When she loses her magic, Shantae must team up with her nemesis, the nefarious pirate Risky Boots in order to save Sequin Land from an evil curse. As a pirate, Shantae gains new weapons to advance her quest, slay monsters, battle epic bosses…and hopefully get her magic back in the bargain! But can she really trust…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse screenshot

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93%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,823 reviews

music350 positive mentions

grinding34 negative mentions

Engaging and fluid gameplay with tight controls and satisfying platforming mechanics involving unique pirate gear instead of transformations.
Charming, humorous, and well-voiced characters combined with an entertaining, lighthearted story and lovable cast.
Outstanding pixel art and character design with vibrant, colorful environments, plus an excellent dynamic and memorable soundtrack by Jake Kaufman.

Technical issues with the PC port, including lack of frame rate cap resulting in excessive game speed on high refresh rate monitors and resolution limited to 1080p, necessitating manual workarounds.
Significant backtracking required between levels and islands, sometimes involving tedious or unintuitive quests which may frustrate some players.
Notable difficulty spikes, particularly in the final dungeon and boss fights, which can be frustrating and overly punishing for some users.

music
537 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
65%
34%
1%
The music in "Shantae and the Pirate's Curse" is widely praised for its catchy, energetic, and atmospheric soundtrack that perfectly complements each area and enhances the game's tone. Composed by Jake Kaufman, the soundtrack is often highlighted as a standout feature, with memorable tracks that many players continue to enjoy long after playing. While a few mention occasional repetitiveness in loops, the overall reception celebrates the soundtrack as one of the best in the series and a key component of the game's appeal.
- “Complementing the visuals is a standout soundtrack filled with energetic and atmospheric tracks that reinforce each island’s personality.”
- “From casual playthroughs, 100% runs, or blitzing through as fast as possible, Pirate's Curse delivers on all fronts with great level design and a stellar soundtrack.”
- “The music is fantastic, is rather simple, but it is so catchy that you will find yourself humming the song of every stage while playing it.”
- “I find the music grating -- the loops are way too short, and given the backtracking you will be hearing the same loop over and over again.”
- “And running in itself wasn't really fun due to sensation of being out of sync, or to be more accurate, music doesn't mingle with gameplay in a way that it'd provide you with impactful punch, that entwine game components with 'crowning touch' or 'accent', and brings engagement into the game to another level, which is made it fun and joyful in previous game in the series.”
- “The feel of the controls, the enemies, the level design, enemy placement, the dumb jokes, the music, everything just completely grates.”
gameplay
486 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
54%
1%
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse offers tight, fluid metroidvania-style gameplay that is widely praised for its smooth controls, enjoyable platforming, and inventive use of pirate equipment replacing traditional transformations. The game features well-designed levels, challenging bosses, and a satisfying progression system that enhances both combat and exploration, making it a standout and often considered the best in the series. While some players note occasional difficulty spikes and minor mechanical rough edges, the engaging mechanics, fun movement abilities, and charming, upbeat presentation make the gameplay deeply enjoyable and replayable.
- “Blending tight platforming, vibrant pixel art, and a cleverly structured metroidvania progression system, it refines the franchise's formula into something both accessible and mechanically satisfying.”
- “Removing Shantae's core mechanic of the transformation dances and putting a larger focus on the movement mechanics for this title makes the game flow a lot better, and it's genuinely much more fun to play.”
- “Beautiful pixel graphics, one of the best soundtracks ever, fun tight gameplay with lots of interesting mechanics (the pirate weapons alone make this game so much better than the previous two), very funny writing and story; highly recommended!”
- “The art and sprites are cute, the music is decent and the dialog got a chuckle or two, but the actual gameplay is kind of miserable.”
- “There's a forced sudden-death obstacle gauntlet that acts as a prelude to one level, and a forced stealth section with an instant fail mechanic in another.”
- “It is severely lacking guidance, leaving me confused what my objective even was at times; and much of the gameplay was very unintuitive to me, to the point where I ended up relying on trial and error more than anything else in the end.”
story
470 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
61%
2%
The story of the game is simple, lighthearted, and humorous, serving as a fun backdrop for the platforming gameplay. It continues directly from the previous title, "Risky's Revenge," but can be enjoyed as a standalone with an easy-to-follow plot focused on Shantae teaming up with her rival to stop an ancient curse. While not deeply complex or groundbreaking, the story features charming characters, witty dialogue, and a playful tone that enhances the overall enjoyable experience.
- “The story directly continues from the previous game, maintaining the goofy charm of its predecessors while telling a much more intriguing story with the given setting.”
- “The story is engaging, funny, and filled with quirky characters, with great development of Shantae, her friendships, and Risky Boots, who ultimately shows depth beyond a simple villain.”
- “The writing and story are above average for this type of game, with well-crafted characters, humorous dialogue, and a satisfying progression that keeps players invested throughout.”
- “Boring, bland fetch quests gate almost everything you do and leave you talking to a dozen random NPCs to find the next story trigger.”
- “It’s not really a fully-fledged metroidvania, despite people calling it one, since there’s no interconnected map; instead, there’s a linear sequence of areas that you revisit to solve the later story puzzles, and those revisits feel very forced.”
- “The one thing holding this game back is the story, specifically the fact that it is a sequel to a bad game that is a sequel to a horrendously unplayable game.”
graphics
312 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
50%
3%
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse features strong, beautifully crafted pixel art that blends retro nostalgia with modern clarity, complemented by detailed backgrounds and vibrant, colorful visuals. While some reviewees find the pixel style charming and well-executed with smooth animations and expressive character portraits, others note minor issues such as inconsistent art styles between gameplay and UI or a lack of high-resolution enhancements in the PC port. Overall, the graphics are widely praised for their distinctive art style, lively animation, and how well they support the game's lighthearted tone and engaging gameplay.
- “Visually, Pirate’s Curse showcases some of WayForward’s strongest pixel art work.”
- “The art style manages to evoke retro nostalgia while maintaining modern clarity and detail.”
- “The pixel art style cannot get any better than this in sheer quality.”
- “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic low-quality art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
- “They obviously haven't been redone from the 3DS version (which has a much lower resolution screen than most PCs) and, as they aren't pixel art and are instead pixel-interpolated bitmap graphics, they look pretty terrible at 1080p.”
- “The art style seems rather inconsistent, with most characters and some background objects being true pixel art, while other objects are standard drawings that were obviously created at a higher resolution then simply downscaled to a lower resolution without adjusting colors or even clamping the transparency.”
humor
262 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is widely praised for its charming, witty, and often self-aware humor, featuring clever dialogue, quirky characters, and funny situations that balance lightheartedness with occasional emotional moments. Players appreciate the well-timed jokes, playful writing style, and humorous interactions that enhance the overall enjoyable and engaging experience. Though the humor occasionally leans toward silly or fanservice elements, it is mostly well-received and a standout aspect of the game.
- “This was an almost perfect metroidvania with gorgeous art (on the level of Owlboy), stupidly catchy music, hilarious writing and an entertaining, satisfying story.”
- “The game also had me genuinely laughing at many points, and is a testament to prove those who say that 'comedy cannot be done right in video games' completely and utterly wrong.”
- “One last thing I need to mention is that the game is extremely self-aware and funny.”
replayability
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
57%
7%
The game offers strong replayability through collectibles, multiple endings, unlockable modes, and speedrunning challenges, appealing especially to completionists and fans of fast-paced gameplay. Although the main campaign is relatively short, varied difficulty, additional modes like pirate mode, and achievement hunting provide plenty of incentives for multiple playthroughs. Some players note the replay value hinges on interest in mastering the game or pursuing 100% completion.
- “The replay value is also very high, as there are a lot of secrets, multiple endings, and multiple modes.”
- “Definitely has replayability in trying to 100% the game, speed running, 'no-damage' or limited item/health playthroughs.”
- “There's definite replayability too, with multiple endings for item collecting and speedrunning (similar to Metroid games) and an absurdly fun mode where you can start the game with all your unlocked powers.”
- “Game doesn't encourage replayability though.”
- “Not much replay value except for speedrunning and achievement hunting.”
- “Replay value: unless you're a completionist or if the game is so good that you just want to play it again, there's not much replay value.”
grinding
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is a mixed experience: while exploration and ability-driven backtracking often feel engaging, some fetch quests, repeated enemy encounters, and certain levels—particularly the final stages—can become tedious and frustrating. Additionally, players must farm currency at times to purchase all upgrades, which adds to the grind and slows pacing, though the gameplay itself remains generally smooth and enjoyable.
- “The backtracking, unlike in regular metroidvania which makes exploring the world and unlocking new paths exciting and lore-richening, seemed like a tedious chore in this game.”
- “Particularly with the last level, the backtracking would have been so tedious that I chose to forego running back to the shop for supplies and instead hurled myself at the final encounter over and over with the meager healing supplies I had on hand until I succeeded.”
- “If there's any one flaw that I can find with the game, it's that you'll never normally get enough money to buy all the upgrades; you'll actually be required to farm money at some point in the game if you want 100% completion, which gets a bit tedious.”
character development
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
33%
10%
Character development in the game is widely praised for adding depth to fan-favorite characters and enhancing player engagement with the story and relationships, marked by witty dialogue and immersive writing. The character designs and animations are consistently highlighted as charming and visually appealing, contributing significantly to the game's overall appeal. While some note a lack of deep character growth in parts, most agree that the development present enriches the narrative and complements the polished gameplay experience.
- “The character development in this game alone is fantastic, even Risky Boots changes more than I had originally expected.”
- “There's a lot of character development in this game and, especially by the end, I found myself caring more than I would have expected about what happened to them and their relationships with one another.”
- “The game actually feels complete with the inclusion of more bosses, more abilities, more dungeons and better character development.”
- “To start off with the sort-of negatives, there really isn't any character development at all for the most part.”
- “The platforming mechanics in this game are just so much fun I never ended up caring about the neglected story or character development or how much of a BS difficulty spike the last level was (seriously, it's like something out of Super Meat Boy).”
- “The story also adds character development for fan favourites and, as most of the entries in the series, adds more questions that may or may not get answered in future entries.”
optimization
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
47%
18%
The game is well optimized for PC, running smoothly at 60fps with stable performance even on modest hardware, though it caps resolution at 1920x1080 and lacks support for higher refresh rates, causing anomalous speed issues on 120Hz screens. Some minor performance hiccups and control limitations exist, but overall the port is solid, supporting both keyboard and controller without major issues.
- “This significantly changes traversal pacing and encourages speedrunning or optimized routing.”
- “The game performed more than reasonably for me, as it is a 2D platformer and is very well optimized for PC.”
- “Performance | 10/10 (always ran at 60 fps throughout the entire adventure.)”
- “Unfortunately, the game isn't optimized for newer screens or laptops that run at 120Hz, causing the game to run 5 times faster than intended.”
- “The game has a fullscreen mode which offers more resolution options, but I experienced serious performance issues.”
- “Sometimes the game freezes for no apparent reason despite running smoothly most of the time, indicating optimization problems.”
emotional
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a heartfelt and humorous emotional experience, balancing lightheartedness with surprisingly wholesome and touching moments. Its charming characters and witty writing create an engaging atmosphere that enhances the adventure beyond just gameplay. Overall, the emotional depth enriches the fun and keeps players invested throughout.
- “This partnership forms the emotional and mechanical backbone of the adventure.”
- “Even the story and the characters, despite rather grim predicament, continue to maintain a lighthearted attitude, thus creating a perfect balance between funny interactions and surprisingly wholesome moments.”
- “The cast is all around charming and funny, with some hilarious one-liners from the heroes and villains and even a couple of surprisingly emotional moments hidden about.”
atmosphere
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
73%
7%
20%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its vibrant, colorful 2D art style complemented by energetic and atmospheric music that enhances each island's unique personality. Reviewers highlight the nostalgic, upbeat, and immersive feel, with effective worldbuilding through backgrounds, level design, and sound, creating a fun and engaging experience. The soundtrack in particular is noted as essential to elevating the game's ambiance and replay value.
- “Complementing the visuals is a standout soundtrack filled with energetic and atmospheric tracks that reinforce each island’s personality.”
- “The backgrounds and level design are highly effective in creating a sense of atmosphere that instantly communicates what kind of environment you're exploring.”
- “Music and sound effects in Shantae and the Pirate's Curse don't fall short of the graphics, with the game featuring a large number of high quality and atmospheric music tracks, which greatly fit not only the overall game, but individual levels and characters as well.”
- “The whole game has the atmosphere of an amusingly horny Saturday morning cartoon.”
- “[i]Shantae and the Pirate's Curse[/i] is presented in a 2D style with all entities presented as sprites, with a background layer for atmosphere.”
- “Worldbuilding and atmosphere are instead provided by the music, gorgeous art assets, and pleasing animation.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Stability is a concern, with users reporting frequent bugs and occasional fullscreen issues, particularly when using alt-F4 to exit.
- “Incredibly buggy.”
- “Fullscreen seems a bit buggy sometimes when using Alt+F4.”

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82%Critics’ scoreBased on 19 critic reviews

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13h Median play time

14h Average play time

8h Main story

10h Completionist

9-22h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a role playing game.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam Deck and others.

The main story can be completed in around 8 hours, while the entire game is estimated to take about 10 hours to finish. On average players spend around 14 hours playing Shantae and the Pirate's Curse.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse was released on April 23, 2015.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse was developed by WayForward.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse has received positive reviews from players and positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its music but disliked it for its grinding.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a single player game.

Similar games include Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, Shantae and the Seven Sirens, Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom and others.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

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