Welcome to my review of Ship of Fools. This game is brought to us by developers Fika Productions and publishers Team17. It is a seafaring roguelite game where you play as the “Fools”.
The fools are the only creatures foolish enough to brave the open seas. The game is out now on PC via Steam, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 5. For the purpose of this review, I was sent the PlayStation 5 version.
There Be No Fools On This Ship!
Continue reading to see my thoughts on Ship of Fools. You can also check out our previous reviews.
The Game
So let’s get this out in the open, this is meant to be a cooperative game. However, you can play it solo just fine, so that’s what I did.
Being a roguelite game, it technically means that no two playthroughs of Ship of Fools should be the same. I can confirm that is the case so far for myself and nothing has felt repetitive. That’s why I love roguelite/roguelike games as they keep adding to the fun.
The game sees the Fools sail across the sea of the Archipelago in an attempt to fix the recently destroyed lighthouse named The Great Lighthouse. This lighthouse once protected the Archipelago, but since it was broken a storm of malice and corruption is on its way.
Our main transport in the game is our ship titled the Stormstrider. The ship has many cannons to help you and a friend (or just you!) to defeat various monsters of the seas of the Archipelago.
Sounds Oarsome!
During your run, you will come across various items to help you in battle. These are trinkets and artifacts that will help you defeat the biggest of sea monsters. There are over 100 of these to collect so it’s just down to your technique and wit to overcome these foes and progress further on your run.
The game not only contains sea monsters but you can also be on the lookout for some colossal leviathans whilst traversing the seas. These are absolutely massive “boss fights” that will test the toughest of the sailors amongst you.
Just like other roguelike/roguelite games you can see what’s ahead when you finish a level. For example, when playing Slay the Spire you can map out how you’re going to progress through the run. The same principles apply here, as long as you look ahead you should be fine.
Look & Sound
I love the graphics style that Fika Productions went with for Ship of Fools. It not only looks great but runs fantastic on the PlayStation 5, as expected. The artwork in the game is actually hand-drawn so this is why it looks so unique.
The sound of the game really suits the gameplay in my opinion. The soundtrack is fantastic and immerses you in the game in the heat of battle.
Length & Replayability
As Ship of Fools is a roguelike, it can last players literally until they get bored of the game. Naturally, it has trophies (or achievements on PC/Xbox) of which there are 25 (including the platinum) for you to unlock.
Conclusions
Ship of Fools is a fun game that will see players spending lots of time playing and not realising they’ve done so! Team17 has published yet another cracking game.
I score Ship of Fools an 8/10.
A code was kindly provided for us to review this.
