Deck builders have been on a massive rise in the past few years, especially on PC. There's at least one title popping up every week and Xbox also has been on the receiving end of this surge. While these new releases are not as frequent as their PC counterparts, there will be a port of a deck builder almost every 2 weeks. Pirates Outlaws is one of those ports from 2023, so how does it stack compared to competition, does it deserve your time and money ?
Before I jump into Pirates Outlaws itself, I'd like to make a distinction within the genre. Two of the most popular games of the genre are available on Gamepass in the form of Monster Train and Slay the Spire, however those two titles are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Monster Train is a light strategy game with deck building mechanics while Slay the Spire is a full on deck builder, and Pirates Outlaws is on the Slay the Spire end of the spectrum.
At it's core it really is quite similar to Slay the Spire. You start with a basic deck that can not be changed and start to build up and customize it after every encounter or an event on the map. Map in Pirates Outlaws is presented in a 3 phased grand island style with smaller individual islands to traverse in between. After each move you will lose some action points and you need to refuel your ship with the action points at certain junctions otherwise you will incur multiplying amount of damage at each trip between islands and eventually sink into your doom. At the end of the each island is a boss that will challenge you before you can proceed.
However, what separates Pirates Outlaws from Slay the Spire and the other similar deck builders on the StS side of the spectrum is there is no grand goal or a traditional story mode. There's a narrative, even though it's not a central one and there is an ending of sorts ( 3 in total actually ) however these narrative pieces are not intervowen with each other nor are they shared between the 16 playable characters you'll come across. Each hero has their own quest or a quest line but even these quest lines doesn't have a central effect on the map, it's mostly just a basic stop at a highlighted area of the map to proceed forward kind of structure. So if you need a big central shared plot or a grand mystery to keep you going for numerous playthrough attempts these type of games require, unfortunately Pirates Outlaws won't be the game you are looking for. Narrative threads or a lack of storyline is one thing, how about the random encounters or choose your own adventure sections then, as these are the big staple of the entire genre regardless of the spectrum. Well, once again unfortunately Pirates Outlaws misses the mark here too, as there's almost no world building or lore to be found in these random events and storyboard sections. Instead what you have are simple benefit-no benefit text screens, with only occasional secret boss fight or two hidden.
Moving on towards the structure of the game, once again Pirates Outlaws manages to separate itself from the StS and similar titles by offering 3 different modes. On top of your adventure mode where you'll be spending majority of your time there are two more modes : tavern brawl and arena. Tavern brawl is a more streamlined experience that focuses primarily on the gameplay and deck building aspect, there is no map and there are no random events popping up. You simply choose from 4 different pre made packages 2 times at two different intervals and face the same boss at the end every time. Tavern brawl is a fun mode that breaks the structure of the main game in an interesting way as you'll be facing a 5 wave squad at each interval, on top of that developers adds a wonderful twist in this mode by locking out the " save-scumming " as an option, so there is no going back or trying a different strategy after witnessing your doom. Save-scumming is allowed in the other two modes but in tavern brawl once you hit the dashboard icon you lose the run in process entirely and have to start again, which is not a problem as most tavern brawl runs will end under 10 minutes. I think tavern brawl is a good addition to the game, however it would have been a better, more competitive environment if there were online leaderboards. As is, only longevity to the mode comes from the negative multipliers added after each successful run, however without the presence of online leaderboards those multipliers were not enough for me to keep on coming back. Since we are on TA, most likely option is players will try their best to get the achievements that are specific to tavern brawl and move on to the main game or arena afterwards.
Arena mode is more similar to the main adventure mode presented in a non stop 100 step ladder, lacking only the choose your adventure sections, instead they are replaced by a menu based rewards you can choose to build your deck with additional random effects popping in about every 10 floors. After each encounter you will be presented with a random set of choices like adding a card, adding a relic, removing a card etc. and you can customize your deck accordingly. Arena mode also has its own set of achievements and those add a good bit of challenge as those achievements are mostly at odds with the simple goal of climbing to arena 100 in an efficient way. Some people may find this approach obnoxious but I quite like the change presented here by creating a deck that not only will survive the arena but will also pop the achievements, overall a very good mode that's worth trying with or without the achievements.
When it comes to deck variety Pirates Outlaws falters a bit. Despite having an impressive amount of cards and relics available, most of the runs in adventure mode will boil down to two melee specific builds : boosters or bayonette. Unfortunately, in the adventure mode ranged builds just does not have a viable option, even the viable ranged builds will utilize the booster class of cards which is a missed opportunity. Other type of builds are also viable, like an injury damage multiplier build but booster class of cards are simply too overpowered across all characters to ignore, especially in hard mode so they become the defacto option. Pirates Outlaws does try to differentiate build variety across it's 16 playable characters by building them with unique backgrounds that may require specific deck building that utilizes the background or their unique traits. For example, character Cursed Captain will be much more efficient with more curse cards in their deck while playing as other characters you will want to avoid curse cards. Despite this effort, in the main adventure mode most builds will still rely upon the same melee specific builds. Overall this section might read like a negative but it's not, simply because playing Pirates Outlaws is a joy, whether it be your first run or the hundredth run. Gameplay is smooth and quick, there are no flashy animations, art style is easy on the eyes, it's just a joyful experience. Sound design and music is also cheerful without being obnoxious, but the most important aspect of the audio is that it's non intrusive as 95 percent of my time I just kept the game on mute and either played a video of my own choosing in the background or was busy with some other engagement instead of listening to the audio. Pirates Outlaws is just one of those " podcast " friendly games, with a laid back attitude that allows you to do focus on it however much you want. Don't be fooled though, it is most definitely not an easy game, especially in the harder game modes, when you switch to that red background known as the hard mode, successful runs will be rare and far in between.
Overall Pirates Outlaws is a successful endeavour with a plethora of content, with or without achievements you are looking at an easy 200+ hours to see everything the game has to offer. Despite some misses when it comes to deck variety it's an easy recommend to anyone who enjoys a good deck builder with lots to do. It may not be as good StS on it's spectrum, but overall package and presentation is filled with so much content it's hard to find a game with more value for your wallet in the entire genre.
4.0