Skull and Bones has been cooking away at Ubisoft for what feels like an eternity. Now, with its release only a days away, a rival pirate game, more in the vein of strategy classics like Sid Meier’s Pirates! and Tropico than Assassin’s Creed, has been spotted on the horizon. Tortuga: A Pirate’s Tale is a naval simulator that should appeal to fans of not just the game’s mentioned above, but also heavyweights in the space like War Thunder or World of Tanks – or, more specifically, World of Warships. And it’s out today.
Created by Gaming Minds Studio and published by strategy game specialist Kalypso Media, Tortuga: A Pirate’s Tale is set in the 17th-century Caribbean, during the Golden Age of Piracy, and promises turn-based, tactics-heavy naval battles, fleet and individual ship management, and extensive customization for your pirate character and the cast of fellow ne’er do wells they’ll encounter. As we wait for the full Skull and Bones release date, this could just be the perfect piratey substitute.
Gaming Minds, the in-house Kalypso studio responsible for its creation, has plenty of experience with strategy games. It previously released entries to the Port Royale series of historical strategy games as well as simulators like Railway Empire and its sequel.
Tortuga’s launch is timed nicely to coincide with the end of Skull and Bone’s public beta, which ran last weekend and may have left some players hankering for a bit more adventure on the high seas before Ubisoft’s latest launches this Friday February 16. If you want to try Tortuga for yourself, you can get it on Steam right here.
If you’re still looking for other opportunities to play scoundrel, check out our list of great pirate games or some of our favorite simulation games.
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