Port Royale 4

got this game to CHILL but unless i keep moving fleets about i ALLWAYS end up banckrupt! stupid game wish i could refund it

EDIT: After thinking mechanics were missing or bugged I have realized that the bonuses exist in the 'tech tree' in this game. They work so disregard the previous review but I will keep it up for honesty's sake.

I recommend this game if you are into trade. I was very sore an old franchise I loved had been given the early access release treatment but I really do enjoy the trading mechanics introduced and now implemented properly now. If you like trading then I really recommend you try it. Only real complaint is the lack of acknowledgement of the history of the area and why moving townsfolk (i.e. historically enslaved peoples) are called 'sailors' etc. A small acknowledgement of the really ugly history would be nice.


I wanted to like this game, but it follow a trend of games which are able to retain a player's attention during the beginning stages of gameplay then begin to fall apart later when bugs and scrutiny of systems are introduced.

To preface this i am a longtime player of the Port Royale series and to this game's credit I feel like there are some really neat mechanics which are introduced like the character's backgrounds and buffs given to each nation.

However, this praise goes out the window when those mechanics straight up do not work or exist in gameplay. The tooltips exist, but the mechanics do not. For example I played as the Netherlands which supposedly gets a bonus to residential areas, but upon testing to see if this was actually true I found that the housing bonus was the same across nations in Freeplay mode. Another example was playing a character that has the ability to build ships they have defeated in battle. Again, this mechanic does not exist in freeplay even though I defeated several different ship types and they did not appear in my building options.

Some of the mechanics do work (trader's not needing trade licenses, building adjacency bonuses) but unfortunately I've been searching around for other folks hitting these bugs and it seems like updates and general community for this game died in 2021.

This is an abandoned early-access game released without polish that has a few good hours of basic trading gameplay early but falls off after wanting to engage with some of its deeper mechanics/content.

It seems to follow a trend with some Kalypso games where they obtain a niche-loved franchise (Tropico 1-4 then acquisition: 5/6) then strip it bare of mechanics that were beloved by the previous community. I would avoid this game and play PR 1-3 which are better and scratch that trading itch.

Good version of the game with almost endless alternative methods of playing. Some battles can feel repetitive, but in general it's possible to vary play style in game to keep it fresh.

a relaxing game for rainy weather

I like it easy to learn

I'm told it has been abandoned.

The gameplay feels uncomfortably, and forcefully slow. There were some nice new features, but they do not outweigh the restrictions on the player. As a huge fan of Port Royale 3, I think the turn based combat is too painfully slow for the empire I was hoping to build.

Great game - I came to it straight from Port Royale 2, never played 3, so it's quite removed from the concepts of PR2. However, if you take it on it's own merit, it is very polished in many areas and certain things (trading notably) is SO much more enjoyable. The automation aspects are so very welcome. It lacks a little bit of realism in some aspects, particularly the tactics in the turn based battles, however they add a fun side function to the battles.

The age of Piracy in the Caribbean Trading simulator. If you don't want to create your own Empire the way YOU want, then get Tortuga - A Pirate's tale and personalize your ships.

This game can be made super easy. Or this game can be very complicated and tedious, because you just don't do easy.

**Create your own Goals!**
Become the Beer Baron and the Ruler of Rum in the Caribbean by owning all of the breweries and distilleries. Force all prices to skyrocket by choking off supply to the region.

Be a ruthless pirate in buccaneer mode and have everyone hate your guts. Change the game from a trading simulator by forcing your skills into plundering towns, fleets, and stealing ships for your own Armada to conquer the Caribbean.

This game is a simulation and doesn't have a real end unless you want it to.

Want to be the Viceroy and Rule the Caribbean by removing your country of origin and declaring your independence.

Gave it my best shot. No way to succeed in the long run. Opponents don't face the same limitations. Unable to defend against attack, if the Viceroy doesn't offer an letter of Marque. Just watched the siege of a city I might have prevented if allowed, after 259 hours of work my opponents are granted unlimited resources in unending war. a war unfightable without letters of marque. Almost a game worth playing.

Fun game

nice game

It wasn’t at all what I expected when I got this game. It is very trade heavy with minimal combat or events.
The gameplay is very Zen and hectic at the same time. It’s a mix of town-building and trading sim but is lacking slightly in both, and there’s way too many things to consider if you want to actively play it, I mean, this thing has about 10 tutorials for its mechanics. Overall if you like Zen games this is a good one otherwise skip it or buy on sale, I already don’t think I’ll be playing any more of it after finishing Spanish campaign (there’s 3 more).
Overall score 6/10.

I have always liked the Port Royale games. Now we just need to smash together AC Black Flag with Port Royale sprinkle some RPG on it make it MMO and we can celebrate. Cheers for the great game.

I really like the sea battles. Doesn't take long to figure out how they work and how to win. Tutorials are easy to follow. I'm looking forward to hunting pirates and finding their secret bases; but the game is definitely about trading and building a financial empire rather than commanding a fleet and sinking enemy ships.

Great game, I liked the combination of military strategy and economic one

Great, classic...

While the general game play and economy/build system are really nice, unfortunately the way they have done the sea battles are a complete disaster! A turn based model for sea battles stinks beyond belief if you are a fan of the previous installments and even the very original Sid Meiers Pirates. Don't waste your time/money with this game. Also no multiplayer is a let-down.

Solid Thumbs up. I've gone bankrupt on freeplay a few times now, and its become really fun to play around with the trade routes mechanic. If you like playing games blind (never touched the series), just for the challange (tough logistics, in this case), and like organizing (warehouse, trade, economy manipulation), its definitely pretty good. Initially, after 2.6 hours, I wanted to refund. But again, it was after I got into trade routes that it became much funner. I went from having 30k to 1 million, to then -650k in a flash. It was delightful. Storage costs 450k? how? lol, nice.

I wanted to like this game, but it just isn't that fun. Namely nothing draws me in, you can immediately make infinite money by just rotating trade routes, the development and play loop immediately feels pointless. Unlike a game where you can conquer land i'm not sure what the dopamine hit is supposed to come from.

Been playing this game for years and still love to sit down and play for hours.

Looking at my play time, I think you could say I enjoy this game. The ship battles are turn based which I love. And all the other aspects are very enjoyable to me. You have a nice map to work with. You do have to complete the initial campaign chapter to open all options. Each chapter is challenging but not impossible. Each faction has nicely interesting perks. The Fame tree is interesting and probably 80% the same for everyone. Just that last 20% is the faction perks. Playing "Free Games" allows you to set parameters to your liking. I would suggest starting with the easiest settings just to have a nice walk through, understand the basics and get some Achievements while you're at it. Then you can up the difficulty at your leisure.
Its understanding basic supply chains (The game tutorial basically tells you how not to lose), turn based naval battles, while throwing in some piracy to make things interesting. I would suggest playing "Warehouse Optional" as well. It really messed me up at first. They can be very helpful or mess up your whole game plan. I would give an 8.5 out of 10. I saw the mixed reviews but it seemed like something I would enjoy and I was right!

Cheers! Enjoy your gaming!

As a fan of the former Port Royale games I've been waiting for the 4th part and was happily buying it once it arrived. However after playing it for a bit more than 50h now I can't get myself to loving this game as much as the former parts. There are multiple reasons. I will lay them out here in a quite lengthy format - However be aware I am mostly comparing it to previous titles rather than objectively view this game as a title seperated from previous titles. I'll put my points in spoilers for those not wanting to read through a wall of text and are just interested in a sum-up.

TRADING
Let's start with the main point of the game which is trading. Trading is actually quite good if you are willing to go deep into it. Takes you quite a while to really get the jist of it when playing without the auto trade function but once you got it trading is quite good. However if you are a casual looking to use the auto trade functions you're gonna run into the first couple things that annoyed me. While it takes care of the numbers oof items you buy or sell - once you have the trade route setup - and something in the towns productions changes you have to input that change manually because it does not adjust to that automatically. Sure, that's a minor inconvinience but an inconvenience nonetheless.
Also war severely cripples your trade routes if they reach into the enemy nation - which in comparison to the former titles where you have been independent from your starting nation (and therefore not being attacked by warring nations unless you went for them) means you are now faced with a nation that is hellbound on attacking your retreating trade convoys a dozen times before they reach a safe harbour.

COMBAT
Now to the part that I dislike the most - combat gameplay. While the former Port Royale titles relied on a fluent real-time "strategy" combat system this title switched it up entirely to a round-based combat system where you have both general skills and ship specific skills to use against your enemy. For me personally that took out alot of the fun that I had in the former titles. Combat isn't really as engaging as it was anymore.
Now to be fair - the combat system in itself is not bad and if you are a fan of round based combat you might find your enjoyment in it. However - expect to be swarmed with pure numbers. You can have a maximum of 10 military convoys. Nations usually have somewhere between 15 and 35 military convoys and they will happily throw them at you ´whenever they get the chance. That's because unlike in the former titles where you were kind of independent from your starting nation in this title you are actually bound to your nation entirely until you fight it for your independence. That means whenever that nation goes to war with another nation all your konvoys are good to go for the other nation, casually ripping apart your trade konvoys or happily depleting your military ressources (which you can basically only reinforce by attacking said military convoys because fame points limit what you can have in the heavier ships unless you take them by boarding).
Hunting in enemy grounds also means they are gonna throw numbers at you. You may get one or two, maybe 3 trade convoys before you got a couple of military convoys up yours which singled out can quite easily be dealt with but in numbers will just whittle your force down not because you misplayed but because they just throw numbers you cannot match.
The autobattle function is also somewhat broken. Have had several incidents where I've lost like 6v1 battles with like 4 times the combat power for absolutely no reason - which you could win blindfolded in manual.

GRAPHICS
Now to a point I can't really say anything bad about. Graphics are a straight up upgrade over the former titles.

MAP
Map is basically a reduced version of the former titles - what i mean by that is a straight up reduction in the number of cities. However - the handling of cities by just zooming in allows for an easier handling of cities compared to the former titles.

BUILDINGS & CITIES
*sigh* Okay - now to something that really really upsets me. AI city building is just horrendous. Like for real. They don't care about disapproval of citizens, build in really f****d up layouts and don't you dare lose one of your administered cities - after retaking it have fun basically ripping the entire town apart and rebuilding it as the AI immediately starts f*****g up your carefully laid out layouts as soon as it gets control over them. As an example - the AI managed to get a city of mine with nearly 8k citizens to immediately like 1k inhabitants and basically no industry (and ofc what little industry remains in place is placed to bait the maximum amount of anger of citizens).
Okay ranting about the AI aside - there are some improvements to former titles. Alot of building works the same as in older titles e.g. larger farms. What I really LIKE (yes, indeed - LIKE, imagine) is that the big shipyard now actually allows you to build specific ships - unlike the former titles where you had to consistently scan every shipyard in the game for the specific ships you wanted to buy.
Another positive thing is that PR4 actually allows cities to build up alot quicker than in former titles as settlers are alot more easily gained.

GAME SETUP
Options for the setup of a new free game are an improvement over previous titles as you have more options for the distribution of nations across the map, trading etc

TUTORIALS & CAMPAIGN
I would be lying if I said I finished any of them. Tutorial is unnecessarily drawn out and honestly i skipped it after just a few minutes of being talked to without really being able to do anything. Campaigns did also not really catch me, playing normal free game was just simply more exciting as you are free to do whatever you want (more or less) while campaign ofc forces you to do certain things - as stupid as they might be (and believe me I had alot of headshakes while reading through my assignments).

SUMMING UP
As stated above I cannot get myself to love this game. They tried to reinvent a working system and in my opinion mostly not towards improvement. If you are looking for a continuation of the former titles sadly you are wrong here if you liked the old combat and casual trading systems.
I am kinda sad about Steams rating systems which don't really allow you to rate a game properly. Just a would recommend or not recommend.
For that I chose to not recommend this game as I view this game as a continuation of the Port Royale series and it just doesn't live up to that for me. HOWEVER I have to say that if you are mostly interested in deep trading mechanics and not too much bothered by the new nation and combat mechanics you might actually find this title quite enjoyable.

Hope I did not forget to mention anything.
THOSE ARE MY OPINIONS AND NOT FACTS CARVED IN STONE OBJECTIVELY. FEEL FREE TO DISAGREE WITH ME.

bad design

You deserve to be locked up for good!
No one should have bought it, because it's a betrayal you made. I could write for a long time about what you spoil, but you don't even deserve it. Such a rich developer should not have released such a thing. I don't even understand how the game got so many points, or maybe those who gave it didn't even play it...