Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story

About

Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Epic Devs LLC and was released on September 30, 2015. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Swords and Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story is a high seas swashbuckling adventure! Explore the oceans, battle brigands, defend the helpless, find the lost treasure of a forgotten people, build and maintain your very own pirate island, and more! All of this in a fully realized role playing adventure from Epic Devs.

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Single-Player

Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story screenshot

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72%

Audience ScoreBased on 72 reviews

story8 positive mentions

music4 negative mentions

The game features charming characters and witty writing that adds humor and warmth to the experience.
The combination of tactical RPG combat, city management, and exploration provides a unique and engaging gameplay experience.
Despite its flaws, the game is enjoyable and offers a nostalgic retro feel, making it a fun time killer for fans of the genre.

The user interface is clunky and poorly designed, requiring excessive clicks for basic actions, which can be frustrating.
The game suffers from frequent crashes and glitches, particularly during battles, which disrupts gameplay.
Combat can become repetitive and lacks depth, making it less engaging over extended play sessions.

story
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
70%
8%
The story of "Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story" is engaging and quirky, following a new pirate captain on a quest to defeat an evil duke, with a mix of island management and turn-based combat. Players appreciate the narrative's charm and the unique personalities of party characters, although the game suffers from grammatical errors and a somewhat repetitive quest structure. Overall, the story is a significant draw, compelling players to invest time to see how it unfolds.
- “I've spent over two days playing this game (which it turns out is probably five times as long as most people have played it) and it was purely to find out how the story ended.”
- “Still, even with all the complaining I did about the game, it has a fair amount of charm and is pretty interesting. It combines tactical RPG with town management; its story is quirky and amusing, and our party characters seem to be novel and have a lot of personality, tending to be very unique, albeit in a sort of caricatural/parodical fashion.”
- “If you want a well-polished game (aside from a small typo, i.e. 'ahything') with a fun story, I highly recommend Swords & Crossbones.”
- “I've spent over two days playing this game (which it turns out is probably five times as long as most people have played it) and it was purely to find out how the story ended, and it was just to see how the story ended.”
- “Even though you can explore and fight as much as you want, your progress and objectives are still ultimately pretty tightly woven to the game's story missions.”
- “Now I'll simply say beyond that, that the combat is not the strongest element of this game. As I said earlier, limited skills are available, and getting new gear is difficult since it costs so much per item. It means you'll play your characters mostly one way with very little in terms of effective variations, and you'll also do the same side missions over and over for the sake of grinding those few precious resources.”
music
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
65%
20%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players finding it repetitive and annoying, leading them to turn it off in favor of other audio options. However, a few players appreciate the music, considering it one of their favorite aspects. Overall, the consensus leans towards the music being a detractor rather than an enhancement to the gameplay experience.
- “Unlike some people on here, I actually like the music.”
- “The music is actually one of my favorite parts.”
- “- the music, oh god.”
- “The music isn't that great either, especially when it loops around so much.”
- “Music and sound: I turned both off after 1 hour of gameplay, so you know what to expect...”
- “Cons: the music and sound choices are odd at best and annoying at worst, the game requires a lot of in-game waiting to progress, the controls are finicky, and the game has crashed on me three times in nine hours of total play.”
humor
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally light-hearted and features charming characters and witty writing, with some players finding it genuinely funny at times. However, many reviews note that while the game makes an earnest attempt at humor, it often falls short, especially compared to more comedic titles. Overall, the humor is appreciated for its retro feel and meta elements, but it may not resonate with everyone.
- “Charming characters and witty writing that actually made me laugh once or twice.”
- “It's light-hearted, not stressful, actually kinda funny.”
- “Has a nice humor to it, and a retro feel that brings back my nostalgia for turn-based games.”
gameplay
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The gameplay features solid townbuilding mechanics that allow for creative expression, such as creating unique environments like nature preserves. While the game is easy to pick up and offers enjoyable dialogue, the simplicity of the mechanics can lead to repetitiveness after extended playtime, with neither major gameplay aspect standing out as exceptional. Overall, the combination of these elements creates a satisfying experience, albeit one that may lack depth over time.
- “Pros: the gameplay is easy to get into, the dialogue is fun, and the mechanics are solid (for the most part).”
- “The simplistic mechanic, on the other hand, makes this game repetitive after 5+ hours.”
- “Both of the major gameplay aspects are done competently; neither is done to an exceptional level, but the sum of the parts does make a greater whole in this situation.”
- “The townbuilding mechanics have enough weight to them that I ended up basically making half the island into a weird nature preserve with lots of monkeys with a tree each to climb.”
graphics
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
62%
13%
The graphics are considered several generations old, but they are described as charming and fun, particularly when scaled up for PC. Overall, while not cutting-edge, the art design and writing enhance the visual experience.
- “The writing and art design are fun, and the graphics look fine scaled up for the PC.”
- “The graphics are charming as well.”
- “The graphics are several generations old.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is criticized for its grindy nature, requiring significant time investment to build up the town and recruit various non-combatant NPCs for different professions. Players often find themselves repeating side missions to gather scarce resources, and while the addition of a speed feature helps alleviate some of the tedium, the overall combat and gear progression feel limited and monotonous.
- “Tended to be very grindy and take a long time to build up the town.”
- “Now I'll simply say beyond that, that the combat is not the strongest element of this game. As I said earlier, limited skills are available, and getting new gear is difficult since it costs so much per item. This means you'll play your characters mostly one way with very little in terms of effective variations. You'll also do the same side missions over and over for the sake of grinding those few precious resources early on, at least; however, I expect this to continue later as well.”
- “You recruit various non-combatant NPCs onto your colony that take up professions like lumberjacking, farming, building, smithing, mining, cooking, etc. You have to build a house for all of these people and a shop for them to engage in their trade.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is generally enjoyable, but users report significant bugs and stability issues, which are often attributed to its transition from mobile to Steam. Players have noted difficulties with targeting due to these bugs, indicating that stability remains a concern.
- “It's fun, but buggy is the short answer, which is, in my opinion, expected for a game that came from mobile devices and made its way to Steam.”
- “Clicking on targets can be quite difficult and buggy due to the pseudo-height mechanics.”
- “The game is enjoyable, but the numerous bugs detract from the overall experience.”

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1h Median play time

1h Average play time

1-1h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story is a role playing game.

Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story is available on PC, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 1 hours playing Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story.

Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story was released on September 30, 2015.

Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story was developed by Epic Devs LLC.

Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its music.

Swords & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story is a single player game.

Similar games include Regalia: Of Men and Monarchs, Sword Legacy Omen, Dead Age, Dead State: Reanimated, Sproggiwood and others.

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