Sometimes, all it takes to get you interested in a game is the setting. While we've seen enough bald space marines to last us a lifetime, and have near future military games coming out our ears (thank you Call of Duty), Raven's Cry explores a period of time less covered by games - but one dripping in inspiration and intrigue. The 17th Century Caribbean.
At gamescom in Germany, we sat in on a presentation of a work-in-progress demo of Raven's Cry, and while what we saw showed a game that was clearly still under development, it was also overflowing with potential. With a sizeable Caribbean ocean to explore, islands to discover, ships to pillage and plunder, treasure maps to find, a collection of ships for you to buy and upgrade, and a crew to manage, to say Raven's Cry is ambitious would be an understatement. It ticks every pirate box going, and then some.
A life on the ocean waves
The story here, as is often the way with all things pirates, is one of revenge. One sunny evening in the Caribbean, a seemingly unprovoked and bloody attack turned Christopher Raven's life upside down, as he lost not only his parents, but also his left hand. Left deeply mentally traumatised by the event, Raven vowed revenge - and one day, a chance encounter with a ship gives him the opening he deserves. Spotting a flag of the Devil's Tines, a group of pirates long thought dead, led by the nefariously named Neville 'The Devil' Scranton, Raven sets out on a quest to get revenge on the people who murdered his family, by hook or by crook (ho ho ho).
So far, so piratey, and while the name of the main baddie doesn't exactly scream dastardly (who can take Nev the Pirate seriously?), the rest of Raven's Cry promises to be much moodier. Painting a picture of a dark, gloomy, and dangerous Caribbean, where outlaws rule the roost, Raven may have a noble cause, but he has no qualms about throwing his friends, crew, or even random civilians under the bus (or rather, boat) to achieve it. Heartless, ruthless, and motivated by revenge alone - he'll stop at nothing to get his hand and hook around Nev's throat, and any casualties along the way are mere collateral.
The demo we saw opened in the port of Saint Lucia, a kind of rebel outpost with no-one in control. While the game's four factions, the British, French, Dutch and Spanish have control over most of the game's islands, and each has their own waters they patrol, Santa Lucia is kind of like Raven's Cry's equivalent of Mos Eisley, where shady people meet up to conduct shady deals while drinking shady rum and singing even shadier shanties (no, really - there's even a video of it. We warn you in advance though, it's very, very rude, and Very NSFW). Unfortunately for us, the British have sunk our ship, being the excellent seafaring nation that they are, and so we've found ourselves stranded in the less than salubrious land.
And stay out!
First things first, it's time to find a new ship - but this being an open world game, there's a few ways of going about it. First, we could try and get the money to buy a new ship, but ships, as you'd likely imagine, are expensive things. Having just dragged ourselves out of the briny depths, we aren't exactly overflowing with money - but "luckily" for us, there's a loan shark at the local tavern who'd lend us the money if we really wanted. The only downside is, he has an interest rate that makes pay day loan companies look like saints - and, unlike them, he'll send hit men out to get you if you don't pay him back on time. It's an option, then, but perhaps not a very good one.
The other option is to take a ship, rather than buy one - and luckily for you, no sooner have you set foot in the tavern that you get word of a rumour from an old shipmate. It turns out there's another captain in town, Captain Terrell, and he's looking a bit worse for ware. Having gone doolally on a combination of rum and sun (a deadly combo, as any holidaymaker will tell you), his crew have rapidly grown fed up with the cantankerous sea dog, and want him got rid of. There's a mutiny brewing - and while his crew don't have the cojones to do it themselves, they won't stop you should you wish to challenge him. A free crew, and a free ship, all for beating an old drunk? Don't mind if we do.
A few moments later, and we'd tracked the captain down, challenging him to a duel in the most fantastically voiced cutscene you've ever seen. We've been assured that the voices we saw on the day were only placeholders, as the real voices are being implemented as we write, but having seen how great this cutscene was, we're convinced there should be a cheat code or something to get them back. Think 'Allo 'Allo, but cheesier, and you're half way there. Either way, a challenge and a few swear words later, and we were plunged into combat with the captain, with a ship on the line.
Swashbuckling galore
Combat is your general button mashing approach, with four basic moves on offer - a light attack, a heavy attack, a counter/parry, and a dodge. You also have four special moves that can spice things up, and offer additional rewards, if you can mange to pull them off. From kicks, to "hook strikes", and even ordering your weird raven, who constantly circles overhead, to go and peck a pirate in the shin, all of the attacks are upgradable, like most other things in Raven's Cry. Winning battles will earn you experience, which in turn will unlock new abilities in your skill tree, letting you decrease the damage your ship takes, earn more cash from gambling, or a myriad other options.
Either way, with a bit of button mashing done, we were left with one defeated captain, one free ship, and one free crew. Although it was only a small, pokey vessel, it'd do - so long as we could afford to keep running it.
Money is an important part of Raven's Cry, and is used to keep all the wheels spinning. From hiring a crew (who need to be paid), to funding repairs on your ship, or upgrades, you'll need to keep a steady stream of money coming in - but how you do that is up to you. If you're feeling nice, you could take the trade approach. Each island has a market, and each market has its own economy, offering different prices for goods. If one sells bread at a bargain basement price, while the other wants to buy it for a small fortune, you can buy up a load of bread from the one, sail it across the Caribbean, and sell it at the other. There's a limit on how many loaves you can buy, of course - you can't just fill your gunwales full of bread and hope for the best - but it's a legitimate way to make money - providing pirates don't come and attack you along the way, anyway.
The other option is to go the privateer route, and this is where things get interesting. With your band of cut throats at the disposal, you can take up bounties on other rough neck pirates who've been stirring up a bit too much trouble. Setting sail on the sea, if you can sink their ship, or take them out, there's a prince's ransom in gold awaiting, and enough money to keep your ship running for weeks. If you're feeling slightly more piratey, you can pick on merchants and steal their stocks - but it's worth remembering, it could well come back and bite you on the backside.
Loading up goods in a port
You see, Christopher Raven has a certain level of notoriety, and while you can gain a reputation on land for beating people up, the same holds true for the sea as well. Lead too many attacks on merchant ships, or even galleons of one nation's armada, and you'll start to gain a reputation at sea - people will recognise your ship, your masthead, and your flag. While that's not too much of an issue when it comes to ransacking merchants, it's a bit of a bigger deal when you're trying to enter a port without any trouble. If you've been taking potshots at the French fleet, if they spot you, they'll come after you, and if you have enough of a reputation, they'll keep hunting you down.
Of course, there are a few ways you can fight back here too. The first is fairly simple - if the authorities know what your ship looks like, you can change how your ship looks. You can repaint it, change its flags, or even fit a new masthead. But perhaps more excitingly, you can even change your flag to represent a different nation, and pull off a false flag attack. That means you can sail up close to a French ship, knowing there are two Dutch ships on the horizon, and take a few pot shots, before legging it out towards your waiting Dutch "friends". When they see you're under attack by the froggy, they'll take your side, and send the French ship to Davy Jones' locker, leaving you a clear run at the port. Pretty clever, right?
Even better, what Assassin's Creed promised from ship to ship combat, Raven's Cry looks set to deliver. Combat is up close and personal, with weapons that don't just reduce a health bar, but actually tear your foe's ship to pieces. Cannonballs smash holes in the side of the ship, grapeshot turns your cannon into a shotgun, and takes out the crew, while chain balls swing through the air, and slice through the ship's mast - if you can get them in the right place. Watching a well placed cannonball shatter a ship's mast and bring its sail crashing down is impressive enough - yet alone when it was your shot that did it.
Sneak snack snook.
And it's this recreation of Caribbean life that has us excited. It's one thing to let us sail a boat, but it's another thing entirely to let us use it however we want. With seven ships available, whether you want to be a tradesman, a privateer, a pirate, or even an explorer, you can put your ship to use however you want, and can even upgrade it if you have the cash. While there's a limit to what you can do here - you can't stick 40 cannons on the side of your ship, for example, lest you want to go the way of the Mary Rose - you can double the number of guns, increase the power of your cannons, or upgrade your ship's performance, turning your tiny little ship into a veritable floating fortress.
Oh, that's one other thing we haven't mentioned - the exploration. Another key part of being a pirate, every now and then you'll come across treasure maps, which may - or may not - lead you to riches beyond your wildest dreams. While acquiring these maps isn't the easiest, and they aren't always easy to follow, sometimes asking you to find four pieces, and at others giving you riddles to solve, it shines a light on another part of Raven's Cry - the puzzles.
Having discovered a treasure map, we followed it to a remote island in a pretty rough patch of ocean. The map promised it was leading us to a temple full of undiscovered treasure - but of course, it's also on an island full of bloodthirsty cannibals. After a bit of (optional) stealth to get there - who knew a hook hand would make for a good stealthy weapon? - it was into the temple, and straight into a puzzle that could have been lifted out of Indiana Jones or (old school) Tomb Raider. With switches to pull, a floor that moved/raised, and only tiles with certain designs that could be walked on, it's a much appreciated change of pace from the adrenaline of the high seas - and another string in the bow of an already well orchestrated game.
In fact, perhaps that's the only worry we have about Raven's Cry. It's not a case of not aiming high enough here - it's whether the developers can manage to pull it off in time. With so many features packed into the game, and a demo that seemed a fair way from being finished, there aren't all that many days left until the game's scheduled late October release. With versions in the workings for PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC and Linux, there's a lot to get right.
Here's hoping they can do it. With the right amount of polish, this could be something special.
