Wartales: Pirates of Belerion Review (CavalierArcher)
Long time Early Access player here, and Wartales is easily one of my top fave games, with hundreds of hours spent adventuring. The recent free additions in Gosenberg and Alazar were really good. Specially liked the later, and was surprised it wasn't a DLC. So I had high expectations for Pirates as the first proper paid DLC.
I like the new DLC, but I don't love it. While overall it's fun, a few of it's systems really miss the mark for me. I would give it a mixed review if I could.
Early on you are presented with a ladder to climb to become the pirate lord, taking out various rivals along the way. But the duel mechanic used to dispatch them just isn't great, or fun, and looks quirky. The mini games are perhaps the weakest part of Wartales, and to lean into those with duels wasn't the best move. On top of it you can loose good fighters in Ironman because the duel system completely ignores their gear, stats and skills.
The region while beautiful is is also too separated from the rest of the map, both in geography and the systems. I call it Pirate Bubble, as that what it feels like. Returning to the mainland is jarring and disconnected. An example is that the region it has it's own healing recipe...which does exactly the same as a normal mainland one. But because they've over burdened the region with unique items, they had to create one specifically. So we now have a bunch of ingredients to carry around that do the same thing.
Ship battles are ok for the first few, but then become repetitive with the exact same layout. I don't think they're a great addition either. And the boat is just yet more materials with it's own long list of ingredients that just make the already challenged inventory even worse. Sailing is a slog, and again you can't sail to any part of the mainland.
Not the worst DLC, but not Shiros best work either. Over burdened with systems we didn't need, and a dueling mini game that misses the mark. Wartales is a fantastic game, and the devs are talented, but this is one best bought in a sale.