Ship of Fools Review

Developed by Fika Productions and published by Team17, Ship of Fools is a roguelite ship-faring game primarily designed to play co-op, although it can be played single-player. With spooky background music designed to make you feel like you are alone or that your situation is bleak, Ship of Fools does have a bleak beginning. You pick from one of the 2 starting fools and you have been advised that you need to try and sail the ship through dangerous waters to find other fools and battle all kinds of beasts on your journey

                You are given a tour of the beginning island which at the start is very empty. As you find others in your journeys more areas of the island come to life. There is a shop where you can buy certain supplies to try and make the journey easier. There is a blacksmith that you can find who sells you different cannons and can also power them up but all for a cost. This cost is Tendrils which is the main currency of the game around upgrades. There is another currency which is used to buy other items and upgrades on your journey but those are only temporary. Whereas upgrades and items bought with Tendrils are permanent.

                In true roguelite fashion, you always start very weak and if you play solo like I did you are given an automated canon to help you in your travels providing you keep loading it up with ammo. You are provided with a map of one of the areas and you travel from left to right in a grid-like fashion. Some of the spaces on the grids have icons on them representing what you can find there. These could be planks to fix up your ship if it gets damaged, shields to increase your ship’s health points, and tendrils to earn some currency amongst many others. But failure is expected and the game is very tough to get a rhythm going early, especially when you are so weak.

                The action comes after you have selected a spot on the grid. Usually, these involve some monsters coming to attack you and your boat from the top and bottom. You will have your automated cannon or co-op pal on one side and yourself on the other side. You have to keep loading ammo into your cannons when they run low and keep firing until all the enemies have been taken out. On some key spaces once enemies have been taken out you get a random reward in a chest which could contain a useful trinket, artefact or some currency. Some monsters when killed can leave money or items floating in the water and you have to use your cannon to fire a harpoon to retrieve it. But you have to be very accurate as you only have a limited number of harpoons

                Then as you progress through the area picking up the upgrades or the Tendrils you will eventually hit a black part of the map which is where you will fight the boss of the area and these can be very tricky, especially on your own. But as it is a roguelite game it doesn’t matter if you fail to beat the boss as it’s expected that you will fall. If and when you do succeed, all that happens is that you are washed ashore back on the original island but this time with the Tendrils you have accumulated. You can then buy upgrades to increase your ship’s HP or to make your cannon more effective which will improve your chances with the boss battles.

                The different fools you find along the way also provide minor perks which can be quite useful as well. For example, one fool will allow you to retrieve your harpoon if you successfully hit the treasure in the water. This means as long as you are accurate you shouldn’t run out of harpoons. Another makes the paddle attack more effective. This can also be crucial as a lot of small critters jump onto your boat to try and damage it and you need to swat them off with your paddle so the increased damage can be the thing that keeps you alive.

                There isn’t much else to Ship of Fools and it’s as simple as most roguelite games are. You have to keep trying to improve and understand attack patterns to progress. Then if you fail you get currency to keep improving your ship to make things easier to progress so you keep getting a bit further each time. I have struggled to get past the boss on the second island. I think this is more down to playing it solo as between having to load ammo for both my cannon and the automated cannon as well as swat the enemies that land on the ship it is very easy to get overwhelmed.

Sometimes you need a bit of luck with the artefacts and the trinkets you find but that is all part of the experience so it feels different each time. It feels like the game was strongly designed to be a co-op game and not so much to be played solo. I feel they have hamstrung themselves in the fact you can only play the game with friends and not with strangers. I am sure there would be others playing solo who would have been just as happy to play with a stranger to try and make things a little easier.

Conclusion

Ship of Fools is a decent roguelite structure with enough ideas to keep things fresh, but simple enough not to make things too confusing. There is as much to make this a strategy game as it is a roguelite game. I feel the experience is probably too tough for a single player which can make progress very slow and dull at times. But for those that like a challenge it could just be what you are looking for. This game would likely be much easier and more enjoyable played co-op should you get the chance to do so.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox Series X/S. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.