Ship of Fools [Xbox]
Developed by Fika Productions and published by Team17, Ship of Fools is a strategic roguelite, where you - as one of the ‘Fools’ - must rebuild the little town in the midst of this storm-wrecked archipelago, and save it from the horrors lurking in the seas nearby. By setting out to find resources and helpful characters, you’ll improve with each run, enabling you to progress further and further each time.
There are a bunch of different playable characters for you to choose from, with the starting lineup consisting of Todd and Hink, with others available to be unlocked as you meet certain criteria. Each character has their own benefits that come with choosing them, from random bonuses that come with each repair you make on the ship, to a stronger melee hit or even increased damage from your cannons, it’ll take a little trial and error to see which Fools work best for you on each run. Playing alone, you’ll have an automated sentry-turret cannon to accompany you, with only a need to keep it filled with ammo and facing the enemies to help you out, though playing co-op - either locally, or online - is definitely the way to go. It feels far easier to manage enemies when you have a fellow Fool sailing alongside you; and for all the help that the sentry cannon gives, it just doesn’t quite live up to having another pair of hands on deck.
The main island hub world is where you can purchase various upgrades from NPCs once you’ve rescued them. Halga will help you with Ship upgrades in the form of soup - all she needs are some tendrils, as does almost everyone you meet. Briny deals in shiny pearls, that will add new items into your item pool for finding in future runs, ranging from Trinkets to new Ammo types and more. Reed enables you to use the Siren Caves an additional time each visit - but his help comes at a much steeper price, with each Cave’s tome costing 50 Tendrils. Having such a variety of items to choose from - all of varying values, both currency-wise and to the strength of your future runs - makes it all the more encouraging to just keep going back out on the seas to gather as many tendrils as you can. You never really feel like a run is wasted, even if you don’t make it very far; it all goes towards improving yourself in the long run, making for a very fun gameplay loop.
Visually, Ship of Fools looks gorgeous, with a really distinct cartoony style. Characters are well varied with adorable designs, and enemies are fantastically grotesque, and well suited to the areas in which they reside. The world follows a hexagonal grid structure for moving through the levels, with a Boss at the end of each region. Grid tiles may have various icons on them to show what lies within, including characters awaiting rescue, treasures such as trinkets, or even new islands for you to gain rewards or gamble away your riches. Each of the regions has their own overall theme, with common enemies throughout that match the area’s design: The Forgotten Waters, The High Seas, The Edge and The Darkness. At the end of each region of the map you’ll come face to face with a boss - ranging from giant monstrous krakens, to strange two-headed duck creatures - and these offer a much more challenging battle than the normal enemies you find in levels, especially since they often call upon these minions to help out. The soundtrack is great throughout, and the sound effects work well to keep you alert to what is going on around you - especially when things get busy. Taking damage on your ship will cause holes to appear, and once you’ve taken too much damage (but just before you die), the music will grow muffled, with a hazy, damaged border around the screen to highlight just how in-danger you are.
Combat can be challenging, regardless of whether you’re playing alone or not. Trying to manage the swathes of enemies coming at you, making sure that you have your cannons set up at the best spot (and keeping it loaded) is harder than it first seems. You do start to get the hang of things, but one silly mistake can easily spell the end for a run. After each boss is defeated you’ll come across an area where you can improve further - either by donating an item into sacred waters (in return for something potentially better), or to duplicate an item, which can make you insanely powerful if you’ve got an item which either increases HP or DMG. As much as it can be frustrating when you feel that you are doomed on a particular run - maybe due to your ammo not being as good, or maybe you’ve picked up a curse - the challenge keeps it fun and engaging.
A recent free update for PC - The Great Lighthouse - is coming to consoles in September, giving you even further options for play, with new difficulty levels via the lighthouse brightness (the brighter you set it, the more challenging the enemies will be), additional items to find, a new NPC to rescue and much, much more. Two new Fools will also been added, through an optional (paid) DLC: Angus and Jules. This Deep Sea Duo look great, and I can’t wait to try them out. I do feel that the game is a little low on content currently, as even though it takes a bit of getting used to and building up your strength to get through everything in a single run, but once you’ve finished the four regions, you’re done - though it is encouraging to see that this future content is being added, and hopefully more will continue to be added over time. Overall, I’ve had a great time with Ship of Fools, and feel that this is a game I’m likely to come back to repeatedly, especially given how enjoyable it is to play with a friend. If you feel like you want to dip your toe in, you can get it for £12.99 on Xbox.
In the end, we decided to give Ship of Fools the Collecting Asylum rating of 9/10.
Are you interested in Ship of Fools? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Team17 for the Ship of Fools Xbox review code!
