![]() ![]() There are also various other systems in place, which constantly demand your full attention. Trade fame goes up as you begin to recognise how capitalism can be exploited by flogging your boon for frankly vulgar amounts of gold, which you can then then spend on said irritatingly pricey cannons, as well as special little fish things that help you navigate your way around the seven seas. This kind of fame can be earned in multiple ways - you can fight massive spider lads in dark forests with your landing party, or blow kraken-esque colossi to smithereens by loading your fleet with irritatingly pricey cannons. Meanwhile, combat fame is relatively self-explanatory: it rises when you emerge victorious from tussles with pirates, monsters, and, if you’re truly desperate, unfortunately unaware merchant fleets who are just trying to transport some grain. This predominantly comes from seafaring in boatform, which allows you to document previously uncharted waters. Simply put, your fame is divided into accomplishments tied to exploration, combat, and trade.Įxploration-based fame increases as you unveil more of the naval world, which provides you with unique information you can sell to cartographers at port. It’s a tad intimidating at first because it appears slightly more complex than it actually is, but after playing for a short while you’ll be able to see the ocean for the whirlpools. This phenomenon is tied to the game’s passive fame system, which operates in the background. Talk of your adventuring spreads to coastal towns at the nautical equivalent of the speed of light, and some more entrepreneurial explorers quickly begin to recognize where they’ll be most likely to catch your eye. Towns you visited early in your quest may change rapidly over the course of your naval odysseys. Although there is plenty to do on land - you can trade with merchants, train new classes, gain favour with rival courts, and even hang out with literal cults - I spent most of my time sailing, and only anchored my fleet when I was in need of either food or money for my ever-ravenous crew.īut it’s sailing that makes landing worthwhile in the first place. Landing at ports changes the perspective from distant birds-eye sailing sim to top-down Zelda-like town levels, and your ship is subbed out for a landing party of five members. They don’t ask much from you - except a coin a day for their service - but put a mug in their waiting hands and they’ll be your new best pals in no time.Īs you gradually build up some solid capital from the spoils of war and plunder, you can splash out on extra ships for your fleet and afford to hire even more sailors from the ports you trade with most regularly. Before long the banter will begin to flow even when your ships are still - provided you’re sat in a cafe and have bought the lads a round of the local speciality, which is often alcoholic in nature. However, as you spend time together and explore the vast ocean around you, they’ll begin to open up both to you and to one another. You bump into them in humble little cafes while docked at port, and pay them a small fee upfront with the promise of extra compensation paid per day thereafter. It’s modest at first - you might have little more than a plain cargo cog, staffed by a ghost crew of four or five solitary beer-guzzlers looking to don their sea legs in pursuit of fame and glory.Īt the beginning, these mercs are total strangers who are likely only interested in the coin you pay them to stick around. ![]() The gist is this: you, the Commodore of an independent fleet, are tasked with recruiting pub-dwelling seafolk to man your armada. ![]() Although there is a narrative in place - with joyously raucous maritime dialogue consistently dotted throughout its trajectory - sailing aimlessly in search of exploratory endeavours is what marks it as something truly special. ![]() Horizon’s Gate is a seafaring survivalist adventure that boasts a gorgeous, retro pixel-art style. Morale took a hit - likely courtesy of their grotesque bodily pungence - but we were sufficiently fed to sail another day. So, I sailed into deep water until I was attacked by a horde of sea monsters, lambasted them with a barrage of rip-roaring cannonballs, and salvaged some distasteful but edible meat from their buoyant carcasses. A seafaring RPG about charting your own path across oceans and towards fame, Horizon's Gate is a joy to play.Īs I sailed westward along a remote, equatorial coastline, I clocked an unfortunately major issue that was about to befall me: my food supplies were in dire shape, and there wasn’t a single port in view for my crewmates to fill their rumbling bellies at. ![]()
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