From here, you can monitor the currents, and keep your fleet from storms or pirates, or zoom in close and watch people walking around the cities while monitoring the production of some of the many goods each city can produce. Zoom out to see the ships sailing to any of the sixty or so cities. And let’s be honest, this is as close as most of us are going to get to the Caribbean any time soon. You can zoom in and out the world with ease and it’s beautiful to see from any angle. Speaking of beauty, the massive 3D world of Port Royale 4 is gorgeous. After playing the campaign for hours, I can see the beauty and potential of the free play mode. The occasional hand-holding and constant objectives keep you moving (mostly) in the right direction. To that point, the campaign, which can be finished in 10 to 20 hours for experienced players, is a great way for beginners to get into the game. Thankfully, there are a ton of in-depth tutorials that will get you into the minutia of trade routes, buying and selling goods, managing the ocean currents and fighting at sea, etc. And speaking as a newcomer to the genre, there is a fairly steep learning curve to Port Royale 4. I hope that my ignorance gives me a unique perspective on the game, especially for other gamers who may be new to the genre but interested in checking it out.
In fact, I have very little experience with the city builder/economy simulator genre. I need to say upfront that I have never played any of the installments in the Port Royale franchise. The free mode offers an impossible to explain the amount of customization that allows fans of the genre to get deep into the weeds of colonial trade in the Caribbean sea.
You can play a campaign mode for any or each of the colonial nations that I mentioned or dive into the series favorite free mode. Only Spain is available in the beta, so that’s what I’ll focus on. Each of them will provide different benefits (and downsides) that will keep each playthrough unique. In the final release of the game, you’ll be able to choose from Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands. If you’re not already a fan of the series or not familiar with what it’s about, it’s basically a 17th-century economy simulator with in-depth city building and turn-based naval battles.
Had the privilege of checking out a beta release of the anticipated return of the Port Royale series, Port Royale 4.