Port Royale 4 Reviews
Port Royale 4 is a dense trade and economy simulator that doubles as a harsh reminder that I'll probably never get to see the Caribbean in real life. Despite this cruel reminder about my personal station in life, building my own little corner of paradise in this digital world was a chill, if sometimes repetitive, experience. The learning curve is steep if it's your first time in the genre, but if navigating screens and crunching numbers is your thing, you'll be in heaven. For everyone else, it might not be for you.
Port Royale 4 is not a bad game by any means, as it does what it advertises with honors, but maybe I expected a bit more from a game centered around the golden age of piracy. This is actually a relaxing experience, but you can clearly notice it wasn’t created with consoles in mind. It is a PC game, first and foremost.
Pirate's life is not an adventure in Port Royale 4
Review in Italian | Read full review
Apparently this ship has sailed years ago.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Overall, the experience of Port Royale 4 ends up feeling stretched a little thin. Though there are riches to be made, treasures to be found, and pirates to defeat, the whole experience lacks the tension of being in constant competition with an equally powerful rival. Since you’re not in symmetrical opposition to anyone, it’s not a great grand strategy, and it’s not a particularly in-depth turn-based combat strategy either. Instead of feeling like a cunning pirate king or merchant tycoon, you often end up feeling like you’re in a rather aimless sandbox with a list of fiddly errands to do.
Port Royale 4 might have quirks that are interesting at a glance such as automated trade routes and a vast map. Looking closer, you'll realize that its core mechanics are cumbersome and unintuitive, its naval battles are plainly uninteresting, and there's not a whole lot that would seem enticing. It lacks all the dynamism despite a time period known for swashbuckling excitement.
Port Royale 4 starts off strong, but its solid trading and management gameplay just become repetitive over time, eventually turning into a waiting game as numbers slowly get bigger. Managing cities and trade routes also never really overcome the somewhat awkward controls on console, and combat never becomes interesting. Still, if you absolutely love trading and seeing your empire grow is all the reward you need, Port Royale 4 might be for you.
Port Royale 4's gameplay consists almost entirely of all of the bits in other strategy games that you'd normally set to "Automate" because they're fiddly and boring. It's a game set in the era of pirates with nary a hint of swashing nor buckling.
While all the components are there to make Port Royale 4 an immersive strategy game, it just falls short of being completely engrossing. A slow naval battling system and counterintuitive UI hold the title back and make the overall experience sluggish.
The complex systems at Port Royale 4's core never flourish under the weight of its uninspired moment-to-moment gameplay and lack of structural balance.
For a game about logistics and commerce, Port Royale sure looks amazing. Too bad that’s the only thing Gaming Minds got it right. Its overly simplistic trading mechanics makes it easier to snowball into becoming rich, making the game a tedious grind.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The ideas that appear in the gameplay are the same, initially impressive innovations, that take you to a very special period of human history to a very special place on the planet.
Review in Greek | Read full review
In Port Royale 4 we find a management game that, for our personal taste, surpasses many others in the genre due to its complexity and the different options it gives us to manage trade and resource management. All this added to the naval battles, gives a totally good game for lovers of strategy.
Review in Spanish | Read full review