I hope you brought your sea legs for this one. Rogue Waters is a new tactical turn-based roguelite dripping with a pirate theme. You’ll be training up your crew and harnessing the power of some very deadly sea creatures to take your revenue. Let’s dive in to see if this one is worth setting sail for or if it needs to remain lost at sea.
In this review, I will be going over the following.
Story
In Rogue Waters, you set sail as Captain Cutter and his crew on their quest for power and control over the sea. Along their quest they also seek vengeance against someone that betrayed you. The crew alone might not be enough. They will also need help from the creatures of the deep. They might only be strong enough to get revenge and rule the sea for themselves. It’s not going to happen on his first try, but hopefully, Cutter can learn from his defeats and come back even stronger each time.
Gameplay
From sailing your ship from node to node to boarding ships and knocking opponents overboard, Rogue Waters leans into the pirate theme with full force. We will talk a little bit about the map before going over the two-phase tactical combat system, and then we will cover the roguelite elements in the Pirate Cove.
Map
Rogue Waters has a node-based map system like many games in the genre. What it does differently, though, is that you actually sail your ship from destination to destination, whether that be to a port or to take down an opposing ship. You can preview the upcoming nodes before you set your course to a new destination. There are quite a few different destinations to explore.
The most common destinations are going to be combat nodes with a few elite battles sprinkled in. There are different factions on the map that will have different units on their ships, which is something to take into consideration. They also have different ships that will have varying cannon layouts for you to deal with in the ship combat stage. 
Other destinations that you might come across include things like Shrines, Dockworks, Arsenals, Bazaars, and story events. Then, of course, at the end of every map is the boss fight. These battles can be extremely difficult and really test whether you prepared yourself enough along the journey. The good news, though, is that you will gain experience for your crew and resources for upgrades, no matter if you are able to defeat the Boss or not. The only difference will be if the story processes or if you have to try that section of the story again. There are also two additional journeys to take if you do not want to take the story route or if your crew needs to level up a bit more before facing the difficult story boss.
Ship Combat
When selecting a combat node, your ship will sail over to the enemy ship in map mode. Then the combat will begin. The first phase in Rogue Waters combat system is the ship combat. This is where you and the enemy take turns weakening each other’s ships before the skirmish phase begins.
There are three rounds in each ship combat. You will use your command points, which refresh each round, to fire your cannons at the enemy vessel. Some cannons required different amounts of command points to be used. They also vary on what round they can be activated. Things like mortars might not even be available until the third round. So keep that in mind when selecting the cannons for your ship.
Now, you can aim your cannons at three types of targets. Those are the enemy cannons, their ship modules, and their crew. The ship modules and the crew will affect the difficulty of the following phase. Each target has a health bar. Once the health is depleted, then that target is eliminated. For cannons, that means they cannot fire the rest of the combat phase. For modules, that means their benefit will no longer take effect in the next phase. Lastly, for the crew, they will not appear in the next phase.
Which targets you can select will depend on your cannons. Some cannons can only select one type, whereas some can select anything as a target. This adds a lot of strategy on when to use which cannons on which targets. You can see what the enemy cannons are targeting for that round, so you have to decide if you want to take out their cannons to protect your own stuff or if you can afford to take some damage to destroy something else. If your crew gets hit but not eliminated, the damage that they took will carry over into the skirmish phase.
One last thing to keep in mind for this phase: each time that one of your cannons or modules is eliminated, they will have one less health in future combats. The same goes for your crew. Certain ports may allow you to repair your ship or heal your crew back to their full health. If your cannons or modules do not get eliminated in this phase, then their health is fully restored for the next ship battle. 
Skirmish
After the grueling three rounds of the ship combat, it is time for your crew to board what is left of the enemy ship in Rogue Waters second combat phase, skirmish. You will want to review what module effects are still in effect for both you and the opponent before boarding. You will also want to review the positioning and environment for the best placement of your crew.
Boarding
Once you have fully scoped out the enemy ship, you can select some of your crew to board the ship in the designated boarding zone. There are a few different types of units that you can select for boarding. These are Captain Cutter, crew members, and mates. You will usually only be able to deploy up to four people to start with.
When one of your units falls in combat, you will be able to deploy a replacement unit at the start of your next turn. Similar to ship combat, if one of your crew falls in a skirmish, then they will have one less health point for future combat. Partial damage will be healed.
Combat
Unlike the naval combat, the skirmishes in Rogue Waters do not have a round limit. This gives you the freedom to set up your moves and be as strategic as possible. Don’t take too long, though. The enemy is highly aggressive and will take any opportunity to cut down your units. Or, better yet, kick them overboard.
Nearly every melee attack in Rogue Waters will reposition both the attacker and defender. The attacker will advance forward into the space and the defender will be forced backwards at least one space. If there is an object or person behind the defender, then they will bounce off of it for additional damage and move into an adjacent space.
This constant repositioning is an interesting element that not very many games in the genre have. It is something that you have to constantly keep in mind when attacking. You could move into a negative environmental effect or even a compromising position that the enemy can take advantage of on their turn. And they certainly will, such as pushing you into spikes or over the rail of the ship.
Most attacks don’t do very much damage. This results in you trying to set up ways to do push damage or additional attacks from the rest of your crew. Modules that heal your opponent’s units each round make it even more difficult to eliminate them. This will force you to make every turn count.
Combat can be won by either eliminating all enemies or maxing out the fear bar. The fear bar fills whenever you are able to overkill an enemy. This means you do more damage than the life that they have left. For example, you deal three damage to an opponent, but they only have one health point left. The extra two points would go into the fear bar. It’s an interesting additional way to end a battle, but it’s certainly not any easier than just eliminating the enemy entirely. 
Equipment
You will be rewarded with equipment after successfully finishing a battle or from certain events. Usually this consists of new cannons or modules to add to your ship. You might also get rewards for events you can give your crew members. These include things like trinkets, additional weapons, or gear to buff their stats. Equipment can also be purchased at some locations.
The cannons and modules are usually displayed before selecting which combat node you are traveling to. This may help determine which path you are going to take. For the events, though, you don’t know until you are there. It will show you the results of your choices during the event.
Equipment can be added and removed between nodes. Feel free to experiment with what best fits your play style, especially when it comes to the gear you give to your crew members. 
Pirate Cove
Whether you have a successful journey or die brutally along the way, the Pirate Cove is where you will return to between runs. You will want to visit four different locations each time you are here.
The Workshop is where you will purchase upgrades for the ship and the crew. You can upgrade things like starting cannons, how many crew you can take on the next journey, and even upgrade the effects of the sea creatures under your control.
In the Tavern, you can hire new crew members. Each character has a set skill tree for their class as well as two random skill trees to keep characters of the same class from all being the exact same. There are always three new characters waiting in the Tavern to join your crew.
The Quarters is where you will level up your captain and crew after a run. Whether they were successful or not, they still gain experience from the previous journey. Each level will allow you to unlock one additional skill on one of their skill trees.
Lastly, at the Shipyard, you will be able to select which modules and cannons are equipped before setting sail. This is a good time to pick modules that best fit the crew you are about to adventure with. Some modules are specific to certain classes.
Difficulty
The difficulty setting in Rogue Waters is quite interesting. Instead of the game ramping up the enemies during a journey to match your crew’s level, the difficulty setting itself increases each time you successfully defeat the main boss. What exactly does this mean? Well, it means if you start with hard difficulty, then it will automatically jump you up to heroic after you defeat the boss.
You can move the difficulty setting back at any time if the enemy units are too tough for your liking. The nice thing about going up each level is that the rewards increase by 10%. So you can actually level faster and upgrade your ship faster if you are able to take on the harder and harder difficulty settings as they unlock. Kind of an interesting way of going about it.
Conclusion
With all that being said, is Rogue Waters worth picking up in this ocean of turn-based roguelites, or should it be left out at sea? I think the first factor that you need to take into consideration is the theme. Rogue Waters is oozing with the pirate theme every step of the way. Between the combat, the story, and even the voice acting. You feel completely immersed in the world.
The other factor would be the combat. I think it was a great idea to make both the naval combat and the hand-to-hand combat turn-based. A lot of other games would have made the ship combat real-time. I personally think that takes away from the strategic level of the game. There is a reason why players have sought out a turn-based game instead of a real-time one.
There is so much strategic depth in just the three rounds of naval combat by making it turn-based. What should you target? What can afford to take a hit and last another round? Do you play defensively and take out all their cannons, or do you go on the offense and target their crew so there are fewer units to deal with in the skirmish? These are all things that you have to consider each round, and that is what makes the combat so enjoyable. Not to mention all the fun to be had during the skirmishes. 
If both of these things sound like they appeal to you, then I would say that Rogue Waters is a must-play. Go pick it up on Steam right now. I have played a lot of turn-based games this year and this one is towards the top for me. I can’t find a single thing to complain about. Even if you haven’t played a lot of turn-based games and are just interested in a fun pirate-themed game, come check this one out. Simply put the difficulty setting on the lowest option and enjoy the fun story and the adventure along the way.
The developers at Ice Code Games provided a review key.
