Don’t get it confused with Rouge Waters, a different game that’s about makeup application on the high seas.
Pirates are like vampires—they should make perfect videogame protagonists, but there are only a handful of genuinely good games about them. It’s tricky because we want such specific things from them. The ideal pirate game in my head is a raid-and-trade game of battle on the high seas, but also one of portside economic simulation; broadside-maneuvering but also dueling on storm-tossed decks.
Rogue Waters isn’t that imaginary game. It’s something altogether different.
The word «rogue» isn’t just in the title to suggest the presence of rapscallions and rascals, though of course they are present and accounted for. Rogue Waters is a run-based roguelite, and each raid you and your crew undertake follows a map straight out of Slay the Spire. You’re choosing a branch not just because you think you can take the elite Glass Trader ship it’s presenting you with, but because it puts you on the path that leads to an armory you want to shop at. Whether you die or win the final battle of the raid, usually against a well-defended fortress, you’ll be back at base where you can upgrade your ship and crew—as well as whatever friendly sea monsters you’ve unlocked so far—before setting off on another raid.
While the nodes on those paths include choose-your-own-adventure stories where you deal with trap-filled treasure islands or injured sea beasts, a lot of them are ship battles. These play out in two phases. The first sees you trading cannon fire for three rounds, trying to take out whatever artillery is aimed at your crew or upgrades while destroying, say, the rum barrels that will give your opponent’s crew a point of regeneration every turn.
