- Enjoyable, engaging gameplay with auto-battle options
- Faithful Uncharted Waters remake with modern graphics
- Viable free-to-play experience for casual players
- Aggressive pay-to-win monetization impacts progression
- Repetitive gameplay becomes unengaging over time
- Numerous unfixed bugs and limited player interaction
Emotions
Players are frustrated by pervasive monetization practices, including pay-to-win elements, high prices, and constant purchase prompts, which hinder progression and make the game feel like a job. Technical issues such as frequent crashes, bugs, broken quests, and login problems also contribute significantly to player frustration. Additionally, game design choices like repetitive grind, unbalanced combat, overwhelming UI, and lack of clear progression paths for new players or F2P users lead to a frustrating experience.
Disappointment stems primarily from the game's deviation from the beloved original series, often feeling like a stripped-down, heavily monetized mobile port rather than a true successor. Players are let down by the aggressive monetization, perceived degradation of core mechanics, and overall quality issues, including graphics, UI, and localization. The game's inability to live up to expectations and its transformation into a gacha-heavy, pay-to-win experience are major sources of this emotion.
Players express satisfaction with the game's engaging core gameplay loop, particularly trading and exploration, which are often described as enjoyable and deep. The game's stunning visuals, educational aspects (real-world map), and the fact that it can be enjoyed as a free-to-play experience also contribute to positive sentiment. Improvements over older versions and a friendly online community enhance the overall enjoyable experience.
Anger is primarily directed at the game's aggressive and perceived unfair monetization, which often feels like a rip-off or forces players to spend money to progress. Technical issues like game-breaking bugs, crashes, and unhelpful customer support, especially regarding account issues, also provoke anger. Players feel their time is wasted and express outrage over perceived developer greed and lack of quality.
Enjoyment is derived from the core gameplay elements such as exploration, questing, and the trading system, which provide a fun and engaging experience. Players appreciate the overall mobile experience and the ability to enjoy the game, including its story and fleet building, at a slow pace. The depth of character, ship, and exploration systems also contributes to this positive feeling.
Verdict
Mostly negative
Summary
Positive 31% Ā· Negative 69%. Score: 69 / 100
Positives:
- Players generally find the game enjoyable and engaging, highlighting its addictive gameplay loop, good content, and overall pleasant experience. The game's initial charm and visual appeal also contribute to positive first impressions.
- A significant number of players appreciate that the game is genuinely free-to-play, especially on PvE servers. They feel they can progress and enjoy the game without spending money, making it accessible and fair.
- The game is highly praised for being a faithful and improved remake of Uncharted Waters 2 and other series entries. Fans appreciate the return of classic features like sailing, trading, and naval combat, along with modernized elements.
- Reviewers consistently praise the game's visuals, noting the stunning, pleasant, and modernized graphics compared to older versions. The art style, mixing 2D and 3D, is also highlighted as appealing.
- The game offers depth through its complex systems, including fleet development, combat tactics, and multi-tasking. Players enjoy mastering these systems and appreciate the strategic elements.
Negatives:
- Players heavily criticize the game's aggressive and pervasive monetization, describing it as a 'pay-to-win' mobile port with excessive, expensive microtransactions and gacha systems. This model significantly hinders free-to-play progression and feels like a 'cash grab' targeting 'whales'.
- The gameplay is frequently described as boring, repetitive, and grindy, with slow sailing and unengaging turn-based combat. Many core activities, like exploration and combat, are reduced to automated processes, leading to a lack of player agency and a feeling of wasted time.
- The game is plagued by numerous bugs, including frequent crashes during combat and issues with monetization. Players report a lack of developer responsiveness in fixing these problems, suggesting the game feels like an unfinished beta.
- Player interaction is severely limited due to a problematic and poorly designed chat system that lacks essential features like language separation and guild support. There's also a general absence of direct multiplayer mechanics like grouping or player-to-player trading.
- Long-time fans express significant disappointment, stating the game deviates heavily from the original 'Uncharted Waters' series, particularly 'Uncharted Waters Online'. They feel it's a 'dumbed-down' version that has lost its core identity due to the new monetization model and simplified mechanics.
Gameplay:
- Player interaction is generally limited, primarily occurring through chat functions, the Auction House (which may require paid currency), or specific PvP modes like Skirmish. The game is largely designed for solo play, with minimal need for deep cooperation.
- The game offers distinct server types, including 'peaceful' servers where PvP is entirely optional or absent, allowing players to avoid combat and focus on other aspects of the game. This provides flexibility for different playstyles.
- While the game can be grindy, it is possible to progress without spending real money. Optional microtransactions exist, but they are not mandatory for progression, though they can make the experience easier.
- Admirals, which are key characters, can be unlocked through various in-game conditions, including using in-game currency (Ducats) or specific premium currency (Blue Gems). There are also level requirements for unlocking certain admirals.
- Player progression and capabilities are tied to ship types, fleet size, and admiral characteristics. Admirals function like cards, providing skill sets that boost fleet stats, rather than a traditional class system.
Performance:
- Players are experiencing frequent game crashes and significant performance issues, including lag, even on high-end systems. This indicates a need for optimization and stability improvements.
Recommendations:
- A significant portion of feedback strongly advises against playing or purchasing the game, citing it as not worth the money or time. Some players express regret and have uninstalled the game, indicating a generally negative reception.
- Many players compare this game to the Uncharted Waters series, often recommending older titles or other games like Sailing Era for a better experience. There's a strong sentiment that this game doesn't live up to the legacy of the Uncharted Waters series, especially for those seeking a single-player or traditional experience.
- Despite negative feedback, some players do recommend the game, particularly for fans of sailing, trading, or exploration genres. These recommendations often come with specific caveats or for players with particular interests.
- Players suggest treating the game as a free-to-play experience, focusing on casual exploration and chat rather than deep investment. There's a desire for a single-player, offline experience, even with limited graphics, indicating a preference for a different game model.
- Specific feedback indicates that players who dislike 'unnatural Japanese' or those seeking fast-paced combat will likely not enjoy this game, highlighting particular aspects that might deter certain player types.
Miscellaneous:
- While some aspects like the Admiral chronicle story, companion collection, and specific character elements are appreciated, overall feedback is mixed. There are mentions of potential, but also significant issues like account merging problems and a general sentiment that good points are outweighed by negatives. This is based on limited and somewhat fragmented feedback.
- Players are looking for a sense of grand exploration and a vast world to discover, similar to classic titles. Initial impressions suggest the game has the potential to deliver on this, but early engagement is limited for some.
- There are concerns about server population dynamics, specifically the perceived dominance of certain player groups (e.g., 'Asians' or 'Chinese people') on servers, including American ones. This is also linked to suspicions about mobile platform ratings being influenced.
- The game appears to be a mobile port with insufficient optimization for Steam, leading to a poor user experience. The developer's action of removing and re-adding the game due to negative reviews further highlights these issues.
- Players request quality-of-life features such as the ability to log in/out without fully closing the game and options to delete or create new characters. These are basic functionalities expected in modern games.
