King of Seas, the tried
Start
All ' start of King of Seas you have to select one of the two playable characters: the son or daughter of the emperor of the seas. Choosing one or the other seems to be indifferent in terms of bonus or malus. The first mission is quiet enough: we have to take a ship and go to a nearby port for a delivery in our father's name. We use it to become familiar with the control system, in particular with the navigation system. Everything is really very simple: we can raise more or less sails to accelerate and brake and we have a map that shows us where our goal is. While we carry out the simple task, we also have the opportunity to observe the game world: a vast ocean dotted with islands. The whole thing is procedurally generated, so each game should offer a different geography. After the work we decide to go home; unfortunately the situation quickly deteriorates and we find ourselves victims of a conspiracy.Now dying and without a ship, we are saved by a group of pirates, who heal us and put us in command of a small and fast ship, to start a new career and find revenge. After defeating the first danger, an imperial ship that was about to discover our lair, we can begin to carry out more complex missions, such as escorting commercial ships, attacking merchant ships and trading with cities, buying goods where they cost little to sell them where they cost. more. Meanwhile we can also reach some points of interest, such as wrecks, floating chests, fish areas and so on, to get some extra resources. From time to time they also get their hands on treasure maps that pay off really well and help a lot in building our ship. Pirate lives are full of things to do.
Gameplay
In total King of Seas offers five types of boats, all of which can be customized by purchasing equipment in ports and hiring an ever-growing crew and specialized. We were able to try only one, small, light and very fast in maneuvers, so it is difficult to venture hypotheses on the progression offered by the game. For what we have had the opportunity to test at the beginning it is quite defenseless even against the weakest enemies, apart from the unarmed ones, and it is better to continue to carry out missions and collect treasures to have enough funds to invest in the improvement of the ship, before aiming to the biggest and richest targets. By very weak we mean that we struggled to shoot down a ship of our size, while we had to escape several times from more powerful ships that intercepted us at sea. Also consider that without a kit to repair the ship, maintenance must be done in the ports, so facing two enemies in a row can be fatal, especially if you are a beginner. Be that as it may, the combat system itself is in line with other games of the genre, so it's possible to hit enemy ships with side guns, or ram them with the ship's bow. Everything happens in real time, so the speed of maneuver and the ability to put yourself in the right shooting position, avoiding becoming easy targets, count a lot.Although the system seems to simulate real naval battles, albeit in a very light way, there are several interesting variants to consider, such as cannonballs with particular powers, which can be purchased in ports. No, powers is not the wrong word: they are just magical! In fact, King of Seas offers several fantasy elements that distance it a lot from the more realistic brothers. In the time given we've gotten to try two types of cannonballs and one skill (twenty in total), so it's hard to tell if there's the right variety on the pitch. We will definitely talk about it again in the review phase. The same can be done for missions: in the 45 minutes of gameplay we were able to experience a handful, all different from each other. Who knows if the full version will offer many more or if they will start to repeat themselves.
Technical side
On the technical side King of Seas fully shows its nature as an independent title. The developers appear to have been very wise and did not pretend to do more than their resources could guarantee. It must be said that what is there is very well done; in particular the ships are well built. Of course, to notice some details you need to select the closest zoom level (there are three of them), while most of the time you spend looking at the ocean from above in order not to lose your course and, above all, not to missing some point of interest. Let's say that you often look at the water which, fortunately, is very well done. No miracles, but we are faced with a seemingly solid product. We'll see if the initial impressions are confirmed by the final version.King of Seas seems like a really intriguing title, especially for those who love pirate adventures. We haven't been able to try it for very long, but the time we have devoted to it has definitely satisfied us and we can't wait to get our hands on the final version.
