Ship of Foolsis a fun, quirky, and frantic seafaring rogue-lite game from Fika Productions and Team17 that lets players sail solo or join up with other players via co-op, either locally or online. Players sail as the Fools from level to level in search of the Eye of the Storm, battling all kinds of sea beasties along the way, including the renowned Kraken.
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However, keeping afloat and progressing across the map inShip of Foolsis challenging. Players must battle enemies and prevent their ship from sinking, or it’s back to the beginning to start all over again. Despite this, as per the traditionalrogue-lite game style, players retain any points and collectibles earned along the way and can obtain upgrades to help them on their journeys. For the best chance of success, beginners must quickly learn how the game works as they toe-tap to the game’s catchy shanty song, especially when playing solo.
10Keep Cannons Loaded
After theShip of Foolsbeginning tutorial, players start the game with a manual cannon and an auto-turret. The turret is an invaluable resource for all players but especially for solo players, as it’s almost like having a second crewmate on board. However, it’s crucial to keep all cannons topped up with ammo before, during, and after battle levels, as ammo doesn’t last long, and there are swarms of enemies to kill.
Players have an indefinite number of seashell cannons from the central cargo position on the ship, which is a quirky but apt weapon of choice and may remind some players ofturtle shells in theSuper Mariogames. However, players can get creative cannon fire by loading different discoverable resources that dish out different effects, such as poisonous darts that weaken enemies.
9The Cannons Are Portable
Unlike in othernaval combat games, cannons inShip of Foolsaren’t fixed, and picking them up and moving them to the opposite side of the ship to face the attacking enemy is often crucial for success. Enemies spawn on either side of the boat, and the camera pans in on approaching enemies at the start of each level, encouraging players to remember to pick up and move their cannons into the firing position.
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Players can pick up cannons by pressing the Y button on an Xbox controller and placing it on one of the 4 cannon plinths on either side of the ship.
8Prioritize Hitting Slugs
To keep the ship afloat and avoid having to start over, players need to keep an eye out forcute but pesky insects landingon the boat as they make holes in the ship. Players can destroy slug-like insects with a few swipes of the paddle, but things can get frantic when many lands on the boat. Players must prioritize destroying them as quickly as possible to reduce damage.
If playing co-op, players can easily split roles between the cannons, slug-patrol, and resupplying, but solo players have to balance hitting them in between attacking other creatures. The screen borders turn red when the ship is in trouble and cannot take much more damage.
7Find Wood To Repair The Ship
InShip of Fools, players can see the ship is damaged when individual brown wood textures appear on deck and sometimes burst, with a red border appearing around the screen. Holes must be repaired wood; otherwise, players risk going back to the start.
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Players can sometimes harpoon wood from the water during gameplay battle levels, but more often, they must sail to the wood symbol map tile and successfully win the level for a chest of wood reward. Alternatively, sometimes players can find wood inside suspicious boxes at upgrade shops found on some map icons, where they can also purchase these using sand dollar currency from Gertrude’s relics shop.
6Swap Between Characters For Different Abilities
In addition to the twoplayable pirate charactersselectable at the start, Todd and Hink, players can unlock eight more characters, each with unique ability trinkets. There are different ways of obtaining each character, with some characters found in the world while exploring, like Gill, discovered when players break suspicious boxes at one of the treasure stops on the map.
Gill’s Trusty Bandana ability enables players to gain a harpoon on harpoon hits. However, harpoons are readily available in the world, so players may find that other characters are more beneficial to play as. On discovering characters in the world, players can swap between them or back at the starting area.
5Time Paddle Hits For Deflection Attacks
Timing is everything when it comes to deflecting projectile attacks and incoming bugs effectively. To perform a successful spinning deflection shot, players must also stand in the designated circle on the deck and face the direction of the enemy, or the shot fires off-target.
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Players also need to hold their paddle to swing it when the projectile is close enough; otherwise, they’ll swing too early and miss. Deflection can be useful to help stop insects from getting onto the ship, but more often than not, the cannons can do most of the work, only stopping to bat bugs away.
4Rolling Is Ducking
Players must duck under totem lasers or get temporarily stunned, which can cause havoc when bugs are invading the ship. There is no ducking button, but players can roll underneath lasers by pressing the right or left shoulder or trigger buttons on an Xbox controller to quickly dive safely under laser beams.
Rolling also helps players get to the other side of the ship faster to hit slugs. This is a handy move when the pressure is on with lots of insects on the ship, so players can whack them with the paddle before they can deal any damage.
3Line Up Cannon Fire Shots
It’s worth noting that the cannons inShip of Foolshave a maximum turn angle of 180 degrees, meaning players can sometimes shoot enemies side-on and directly in front. However, when some angles are impossible, players must pick up the cannon and move it to the other side of the ship, and players can also take control of the auto-turret manually when needed.
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Lining up the shots is relatively straightforward with the guiding line, but it might take a bit of trial and error for the most accurate shots to hit moving targets. It’s also possible to upgrade cannons using tendrils at the Lighthouse base after players find the character Rust on their adventures.
2Trade-In Resources For Upgrades
InShip of Fools, players can trade in various resources, namely tendrils, for upgrades. Beginner players have access to Halga at the Great Lighthouse respawn base, who uses tendrils for strange soup concoctions for ship upgrades, like Plank Soup, in an unusual twist on soup recipes reminiscent ofcooking games likeOvercooked.
However, it’s often worth holding out or better upgrades discoverable or purchasable in the world, such as shields to harpoon out the water during battle encounters, which help protect the ship from damage. Using the map to plot their course, players can discover Woody’s shop to buy different types of ammo, artifacts, trinkets, and resources, as well as bombs and other items from Gertrude’s shop.
1Learn Map Course Symbols And Strategize
How players reach their destination is somewhat up to them, as they can choose what path to take on the map when taking the helm. It’s ideal for new players to learn the symbol icons on the map and in the game’s UI as quickly as possible to plot the best route. Some tiles on the map are unpredictable, like the question mark. Players should also ideally aim to repair their ship before selecting the Kraken boss encounter tile represented by a skeleton symbol.
It’s also worth noting the wind icon gives players a free pass forward, which can be ideal if players are trying to reach a destination quickly. However, it means they won’t get any rewards for the turn, so it’s best used sparingly.
Ship of Foolsis available to play on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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