David Wesst

Sagres is a game that pulls on my nostalgia for Unchartered Waters: New Horizons for the SNES. And although I went though it, I can understand why people without the nostalgic feeling would get through the entire game.

What I Didn't Like

The Battle System

The battles are the same as New Horizons duel battles. It's one-on-one duels that are based on rock, paper, scissors. There are some "special moves" you can unlock for your deck, but it comes down to randomness which is not my thing.

You get unlucky card pulls, you lose. It doesn't feel good.

There is not much of a punishment or anything, assuming you save often and such, but it's not very enjoyable as a gameplay mechanic and there are a number of fights. The "hard" or "boss" fights just need to be repeated until you get lucky enough to get the right mix.

One View & Menus

The entire game happens in a single view, the world map. Consider most of the game is the player sailing around the globe, it makes sense for simplicity, but it would have been nice to have some variety.

For example, in Uncharted Waters when you went into a town, you got to explore it a bit. Different stores, in New Horizons there were NPCs to talk to. It wasn't much, but it was a change of pace. In Sagres, you arrive at a port and you get a menu with options of where to go. Buildings are replaced with icons.

To be fair, it's pretty much the same thing as Unchartered Waters, as the town view in Unchartered Waters is really a fancy menu for the player. But it feels different arriving at a new port and wondering around it to see what you can find. The player is engaged, rather than just clicking icons.

It leads to mindless clicking of menus for the different types of quests, and feels very repetative.

What I Liked

Nostalgia

This game is the closest I've seen to something like Uncharted Waters: New Horizons, which is an achievement onto itself. I started playing this game with the point, "Meh, it's not as good" but ended up playing it through the end because it was as close as I've seen-- and it felt good.

On-Land Exploration

They leaned into the exploration of the world in this game, as compared to Uncharted Waters, and added on-land exploration which is a nice touch. Now you could find new towns and discoveries anywhere on the map, which added a new element of challenge.

Does it add to the realism of the game? No-- but it's not supposed to be realistic. It's supposed to be fun, and this adds to the fun.

"Idleness" Gameplay

There is a strange idleness in the gamemplay, where you just rince and repeat to build up your money and explore the world. There is a chill vibe to the whole thing as you explore, and although it is repetative, it's relaxing.

Although this can be considered a problem with the game, the mind-numbing idleness of the game kept me coming back like a comfort food.

Light but Fun Narrative

I enjoyed the story. It wasn't complicated, but the characters grew on me over time and I enjoyed seeing how my crew were impacted with our adventures.

Again, like the idleness, it wasn't complex, but it was nice to have and engaging enough to keep me wondering what I was going to find next.

Conclusion

I started this game by literally demoing to my partner to show her how it wasn't as good as Uncharted Waters: New Horizons. Then I wanted to see if it got a bit better.

It did.

Sure, it's missing a bunch of the little things to make the game more immersive and draw on that nostalgic feeling from one of my favourite games from back in the day-- but it's good. I hope they develep a sequel and build on the strong foundation they have started today.