The original Pirates Outlaws was a bit of an underdog, to say the least; a roguelike deckbuilding game from a tiny indie studio, it flew under the radar of most players. Despite its humble origins, Pirates Outlaws brought some really interesting ideas to the table, and even made it onto one of our lists of the best deckbuilding video games. Despite my fondness for the game, I didn’t expect to see a sequel, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that Pirates Outlaws 2 (or rather, Pirates Outlaws 2: Heritage, though we’ll mostly refrain from using it’s full title here!) was on the way. Is Pirates Outlaws 2, currently in Early Access form on Steam, worth playing? Let’s find out!

How Do You Play Pirates Outlaws 2: Heritage?

As a roguelike deckbuilding game, you’ll notice a lot of familiar elements in Pirates Outlaws 2 if you’ve played the likes of Slay the Spire, Monster Train or Wildfrost, there’ll be plenty of things that you’ll recognize. Yet there’s also quite a bit that’s different in Pirates Outlaws 2, which has more of a narrative-led focus than those aforementioned titles, as well as an emphasis on exploring a map where locations can be revisited as you travel.

Combat seems familiar too, until you realize that there’s an ammo system and you have to load any ranged weapons with specific cards if you want to use them! Of course, you can always use melee cards to hit the closest enemy to your character.

Not all weapons which require ammo are ranged attacks, so you may sometimes be left with a hand of cards, unable to use them; if you’re out of ammo and only have cards with the ammo requirement in your hand, you’ll have to hit the hourglass. Doing so advances the moves of the enemies, whose intentions you can see above their heads; though this is admittedly pretty standard, each enemy has their own timer adding a further layer of strategy to each encounter. The hourglass counts down each time you play a card too (unless the card specifies otherwise), so you have to carefully time each played card, and each use of the hourglass directly, to minimize the number of times your enemies attack.

Before you get to those combat encounters though, there’s the map. Eschewing the usual roguelike pattern of a randomly generated path on which you visit a particular location, deal with the type of encounter it presents (combat, shop, campfire and so on), in Pirates Outlaws 2 a map is presented which you’ll explore in your ship as you play (and you’ll choose the area you visit from another map before you head into navigation mode). You have supplies of rations (these look suspiciously like rum to me!) which reduce in number as you explore from point to point, and if you can make it back to the tavern with enough loot, you’ll be able to buy yourself more rations and extend your voyage even further. Run out of rations or lose all of your health (which can also be restored at the tavern, for a price) and it’s game over; you’re sent back to town and you’ll have to restart your quest from the beginning again.

Along the way, you’ll be defeating other scallywags in encounters to earn more cards for your deck (gaining upgrades and even transforming a card if you end up with 3 copies of it in your deck), tracking down notorious crews in Elite Missions, gathering artifacts, unlocking new locations to explore and generally making a name for your chosen character on the high seas.

There’s also an Arena mode, which is a more combat-focused series of fights, with the aim of defeating the Champion at Stage 10. You’ll alternate between battles and reinforcing yourself at the armory, gaining a Runestone after every 3 rounds in order to power yourself up.

Is Pirates Outlaws 2: Heritage Fun to Play?

After being really impressed with the first Pirates Outlaws, I couldn’t wait to play Pirates Outlaws 2. I did think to myself that it’d be great to just hit the ground (or the sea, in this instance!) running after getting over the initial hurdle of learning the combat systems of the first game.

No such luck; there are so many layers of mechanics in Pirates Outlaws 2 that it’s initially really overwhelming all over again, and I found that the tutorial wasn’t all that helpful. Especially as some text was obscured by characters appearing on screen; though I adjusted the resolution of the game and this helped a little (and I have absolutely no doubt that it’ll be fixed during the game’s Early Access period), it still seems like a bit of a faux pas by the developers to have text obscured, particularly during the crucial tutorial section!

That said, I did get over this initial learning curve and, once I settled into the game’s unique approach to its combat and exploration, I found Pirates Outlaws 2 to be an incredibly engaging experience. The faceless, stylized visuals of the first game have gone, to be replaced by gorgeously illustrated, vibrant characters that are full of personality. The soundtrack uses an atmospheric, orchestral style and adds a wonderful ambience to the game too.

There’s a huge amount of content to discover and unlock, including new cards, characters (along with character classes), and countless different types of upgrade (even pets!). Even though Pirates Outlaws 2 is in Early Access, it’s impressively fully featured, so knowing that further refinements and additions are on the way means that it’s likely to become an even bigger and better experience over the coming months.

The Card Gamer Verdict

As Pirates Outlaws 2: Heritage is still in Early Access on Steam, we’ll hold off on our traditional conclusion with different scoring categories. After all, this isn’t the full, final release as such, so it feels unfair to rate it in that manner. That said, it’s already absolutely stuffed with content, and once you’ve overcome the initial learning curve, Pirates Outlaws 2: Heritage is an incredibly compelling experience, and it’s very difficult to resist taking one more trip out onto the high seas when an adventure comes to an end. With unique, highly thematic mechanics and a great sense of progression, exploration and escalation, Pirates Outlaws 2: Heritage is a fantastic game for fans of the roguelike, deckbuilding genre.

You can check out the Pirates Outlaws 2: Heritage Steam store page, and add it to your wishlist, using the button below:

Check out our Early Access review of cyberpunk deckbuilder, Into the Grid, and our review of creature battling deckbuilding game, Decktamer!