Any new Pirates! clones out there?

[spectre]

So, I'm having that itch to play City of Abandoned Ships (with Gentlemen of Fortune or somesuch mod) again and I've been wondering if there were any new developments in the genre in the past few years.

Know what I'm saying? RPG lite character development, sandbox game world, some detailed ship models and nice weather visuals, the satisfaction when you blow a merchantman to smithereens and when you skewer its captain in melee.
Minimum amounts of Johnny Depp retardation if at all possible.

I remember there was an mmo called Pirates of the Burning Seas, though I heard it was pretty horrible, even for an mmo
and the servers are a barren wasteland (still, it was F2P, so not ruling it out entirely).

I also heard about something called East India Company, though the reviews were pretty mixed. Not sure if I'm sold on the managing your trading empire aspect.

And then there's the recent Assassin's Creed, not particularly fond of the AC bit, but I wonder if it holds its own as a Pirates clone.

Anything else on the horizon that you would recommend? Or is Akella's shoddy coding still the best in the bunch?

 

[Lady_Error]

My favorite Pirates! clone is Uncharted Waters 1 (KOEI).

 

[Damned Registrations]

Uncharted Waters 2 is also quite good, very very similar.

 

[Gregz]

I assume you've played the original and the 2004 remake, both of which are excellent.

If you missed one of them, I'd highly recommend playing that.

 

[Lady_Error]

Uncharted Waters 2 is also quite good, very very similar.

Unfortunately, the second part got anime-fied and looks like a typical JRPG (at least when walking in towns). Uncharted Waters 1, on the other hand, has the same style as Celtic Tales.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Uncharted Waters 2 is also quite good, very very similar.

Unfortunately, the second part got anime-fied and looks like a typical JRPG (at least when walking in towns). Uncharted Waters 1, on the other hand, has the same style as Celtic Tales.

?

is more anime-fied than

?

 

[Lady_Error]

Here is what a town looks like in the PC version:

There is no Zelda-sprite running around, you just click on the buildings.

 

[spectre]

I assume you've played the original and the 2004 remake, both of which are excellent.

If you missed one of them, I'd highly recommend playing that.

Played them. Hence, I'm asking if there's something newer and better than Sea Dogs + mods. You know, post 2009.

 

[Turisas]

Nothing new, no. Mount&Blade 2 is in development, at least, which is kinda sorta similar. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is Good for What It Is as a ninja parkour game, but a Pirates! clone it is not - the naval combat, trade and such is very simplistic and limited (even more so than Pirates! was, that is, but worth a try I suppose).

 

[Kalin]

Not really a clone, but Cutthroats: Terror on the High Seas is a lovely pirate game, quite complex too. Might be heresy to say this, but despite its flaws, I actually like it better than Pirates!

 

[FuelBlooded]

Pirates of the Black Cove?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Pirates of the Black Cove?

This looks interesting, anyone here played it?
Can't into video.

 

[JudasIscariot]

Well, there's Caribbean although that's still in development from where I sit

http://snowbirdgames.com/?cat=11&lang=en

 

[spectre]

My biggest gripe with the Pirates of the Black Cove video is the caricatural art style and the dumbed down sea battles (quite a feat in itself, seeing how simplistic it already was in Pirates!). The former I could live with, the latter not so much.

So, somew new stuff I managed to dig out:

Apparently, there's another installment in the Age of Pirates series by Akella called Pirates Odyssey, to each his own.

Seems like an evolved CoAS, which is fine by me. An english version was supposed to be comming out last summer, unfortunately it didn't.
(Unless it's one of those cases when the EN version was released under a totally different name and slipped under everyone's noses)

Then there's Raven's Cry, which looks interesting, unfortunately no way to tell if it actually has any sandbox sailing gameplay, or if it's ever coming out. The release date is there, but there seems to be some dev/publisher legal shenanigans going on.

 

[Cyberarmy]

AC 4?

Spoiler

 

[JudasIscariot]

AC 4?

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[sser]

Rise of Venice looked fairly similar, but I haven't played it and the reviews are wishy-washy.

 

[Invictus]

AC 4 is fun and the sea battles are great so you could do worse but really the best Pirates clone is the 2004 remake, it has a nice art direction with that animated vibe and the great mini games

 

[:Flash:]

I admit I haven't played them, but weren't Port Royale 1&2 supposed to be good? Especially part 2 got very positive reviews.
There's also a Port Royale 3, but it wasn't developed by Ascaron (which was bankrupt by then), so I'd be careful with it.

 

[Burning Bridges]

These remakes suck hard.

Some guys are developing a free to play sim "Naval Action", so far it looks pretty good.

http://www.navalaction.com/

 

[laclongquan]

Port Royale 2 can be played as a pirate game the way you can use a computer for Office alone. Can do, just not the best use.

 

[spectre]

These remakes suck hard.

Some guys are developing a free to play sim "Naval Action", so far it looks pretty good.

http://www.navalaction.com/

Indeed, it looks good. To bad it most likely won't have abt single player, and I'm not 100% sure if there will be any swordfighting either. Bummer.

but really the best Pirates clone is the 2004 remake, it has a nice art direction with that animated vibe and the great mini games

What can I say, I even quite liked the dancing minigame everyone was raging about. For all its simplicity, it has its charm. Unfortunately, I wanted a bit more depth here and there, which is where Age of Pirates series came in.

 

[Horus]

Pirates of the caribbean game with new horizons mod is pretty good. There are a one character story where you play as a Johnny Depp though but it's optional so you won't have to suffer through with it. I personally couldn't get into sequels after Potc game so it stayed as my favorite through the years.

 

[Skunkpew]

Commander: Conquest of the Americas is supposed to be a revamp of East India Company, but it looks like a miss.

These aren't new games, but Tropico 2: Pirate Cove is okay, though it's centered more around city-management simulation. Or what about Tortuga: Pirates of the New World?

 

[sea]

This looks interesting, anyone here played it?
Can't into video.

We got a review copy at GameBanshee under the pretense that it was a "pirate RPG"... no, it isn't. It's like Sid Meier's Pirates! but if someone replaced the resource management angle with a really bad RTS mini-game and the absolute barest of ship upgrade trees. It has less depth than Pirates!, is much slower-paced and is just nowhere near as fun to play. For instance, it features a big open sea map but there are no procedurally-generated quests or goals, only main objectives and a small handful of optional ones - and since there's no reason to actually have the open world elements the developers tried to justify it with, yes, you guessed it, pointless collectibles. Even the turn-based ground combat in Pirates! is ten times more tactical than the mediocre RTS combat in Pirates of Black Cove. The best thing the game has going for it is the naval combat, which is actually pretty fun.

It's not a terrible game, in fact, it's even enjoyable for what it is, but really is not worth your time and money unless you want another Pirates!-like and are willing to put up with a paper-thin RTS on top of it. I just don't understand how someone could take one of the most blatant mini-game-fests ever, add "proper" systems to it and still somehow end up with something that has less depth to it.