Ship of Fools Switch Review – All Aboard!

Ship of Fools is a roguelike game from Fika Productions and Team17 that offers players something many of the same genre don’t – the ability to team up with a friend in local and online co-op play.

Does this exciting mash-up of genres go together like a pirate and scurvy? Or does it leave you feeling sick as a dog? Pick up your eye patch and rum, and let’s find out!

Ship of Fools‘ story begins when you wash ashore on an unknown beach with no memory of who you are and why you are there. Oh, doesn’t that story sound oh so familiar? The shores you have washed upon are known as The Great Lighthouse, and you will quickly discover that the Aquapocalypse is well and truly on its way. You and your 2-man crew (if you have one) must help put a stop to the dangers that inhabit the seas surrounding you. Because who better to stop an Aquapocalypse than a frog with no memory of anything?

Now, it’s not the most riveting of stories. But, then again, it’s a roguelike – we don’t play it for its story. We play it for its annoying-yet-addicting gameplay. On this front, it delivers exceptionally.

The game plays out as we might expect from a roguelike. Players must board the fool’s trusty vessel, The Stormrider, and traverse along a hex-based map, choosing which direction to head next. Of course, this is not a peaceful sea, and turn after turn, The Everlasting Storm shifts to overtake more and more of the map. It’s up to you to decide which route you will take next. Careful, though; getting caught in the storm will put you face-to-face with the sector’s boss.

Your trusty vessel can move one tile per turn, forwards or diagonally but never backward. Most tiles you see will have a symbol relating to what might await you if you land on it. There is a wide range of things to explore regarding these. You can choose to head towards the treasure chest tile and pick up an exciting new artifact or head for the merchant to stock up on supplies. Maybe you want to see your luck in a battle that may reward you with valuable items – who knows? There are over 100 items to discover, all with exciting abilities and uses.

I think would have been cool for the storm to overtake different sections of the map instead of just starting from the right and heading further left. It was a little frustrating starting a level to see a particular tile you know you will never be able to get to in time. It also felt as though the storm would come in a little quickly, leaving you very little time to prepare for the boss battle ahead of you.

Combat whilst out on your ship is pretty straightforward; to start, you will have two cannons on your boat, one to be controlled by each crew member. This alters slightly if you’re alone, but we will go into that shortly. These cannons can be picked up and moved into four slots alongside the ship, two on the left and two on the right sides.

This is where Ship of Fools began to feel like Overcooked for me. No, you’re not going to be cooking on your ship, but it does have that same hectic feel. If you’ve played Overcooked, you know exactly what I mean. The panic, not knowing where to be, people shouting left, right, and centre, so you give up and put yourself on washing up duty, you know?

Ship of Fools brings that same feeling, only replacing food with shooting at numerous enemies. Honestly, this game makes or breaks relationships, and lucky for me, I didn’t have the former. You become so engrossed in it that you find yourself shouting at your partner to shoot in a particular side or way, and that aspect is so much fun.

Like any roguelike, dying is an integral part of the game, and Ship of Fools is no different. When this happens, you will head back to your base area, the beach you woke up stranded on. You will lose any items or money you found at sea, but you will have a chance to upgrade your ship permanently and its arsenal to better prepare you for the dangers at sea, of which there is a wide range.

You can even encounter new playable characters with differing abilities and numerous shopkeepers stranded at sea who will come to your base and offer something new for you to work towards, which was a nice bonus.

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Your trusty vessel also has a limited number of pedestals which will allow the storage of specific items, such as planks of wood that would enable you to repair your ship after damage or even different ammo types to give your cannons an advantage over the monsters you will face.

So how does the gameplay change to suit solo play? Well, it’s a simple change, but it’s handy. One of your cannons will auto-fire at enemies. You can still move it around as usual, but it won’t require you to use it to fire. You will still need to reload it, and it does fire pretty slowly, but it’s better than nothing.

Overall, Ship of Fools is a fantastic take on a roguelike with co-op elements. It’s nice that solo play is still an option, but it is obvious that this was designed with teamwork in mind. I would have liked there to have been some form of matchmaking system, so you could play with people from across the globe if none of your friends had the game, but maybe that will come in the future.

If you’re a fan of the roguelike genre, don’t sleep Ship of Fools. It’s a ton of fun and provides a fair but challenging experience that will see you shouting at your partner in no time.

Ship of Fools Switch Review provided by Nintendo Link
Publisher: Team17
Release Date: November 22nd, 2022
Price: $14.99, £12.99
Game Size: 2.21GB