Sea of Conquest Review: Pirates, Plunder, and a Whole Lot of Cannonballs
You had me at “floating tavern.” Sea of Conquest wastes no time throwing you into a vibrant, ever-moving world of pirates, port raids, and ship upgrades that would make Blackbeard weep with envy. This isn’t your grandpa’s gacha game, it’s a tactical cruise through a salty sandbox of sea monsters, smugglers, and surprise PvP ambushes. Before you chart your course, here’s what it’s really like to set sail.
My First Voyage Was Full of Rum, Rats, and Regret
The Opening Hours: A Ship, A Dream, and Some Very Loud Cannons
The moment Sea of Conquest loaded, I knew I wasn’t getting off this ship anytime soon. It hits you with that classic pirate flair: creaky docks, ominous music, a parrot or two squawking something rude. Before I could even say “ahoy,” I was building my flagship with wood I didn’t have, upgrading cabins I hadn’t earned, and meeting a pirate lady who looked like she moonlights in a shampoo commercial.
They hand you your first ship, a couple of wide-eyed sailors, and say, “Go explore.” So I did. I clicked the shiny compass icon, got swept into a cloudy, blue map of the open sea, and boom! Tutorial island was behind me. In its place? A hungry fog bank, several enemy ports, and a floating vendor selling suspiciously good deals on gunpowder.
Within ten minutes, I had sailed, scouted, battled, and recruited a pirate captain with a giant hawk on her arm and absolutely no patience for my indecision.
Meet the Crew: Hot Heroes, Angry Cooks, and One Slightly Haunted Carpenter
Sea of Conquest lets you collect and upgrade a crew of outlandish pirate captains, each with their own quirks, voice lines, and heavily stylized wardrobes. You don’t get bland “pirate guy #47” here, you get someone with a fire whip and a tragic backstory about losing his beard in a cursed storm.
My personal favorite? A cook named Meat Hook. He’s grumpy, complains constantly about ration shortages, and gives passive buffs to food production. He also told me once that if I ran out of emeralds, he’d “find a use for rat stew.” Not sure if it was a joke.
Hero collecting becomes its own addictive loop. You upgrade them with medals, assign them to cabins (more on that mess in a second), and rotate them into your flagship formation. Some boost attack speed. Others reduce repair time. All of them seem like they’d throw a bottle at you for waking them before noon.
Cabins, Customization, and “Oh No, I Just Built a Brothel”
Every flagship comes with rooms you can upgrade and fill with stuff. Want a bar? Done. A chapel? Why not. A VIP bedroom with suspicious red lighting and two parrots? That’s also available. The game lets you go full interior designer with your ship, unlocking more slots and decorations as you progress.
Each room provides bonuses depending on which captain you assign to it. Put a healer in the clinic and you’ll get passive HP regen. Put a brawler in the training hall and he’ll punch your stats into shape. It’s cozy, it’s strategic, and sometimes wildly unnecessary, but that’s part of the fun.
Also: there’s a bathtub. You can place it anywhere. Mine is on the top deck. No regrets.
The Combat Loop: Map Fog, Fleet Fights, and Angry Whales (Not the Spending Kind)
Naval battles happen on a real-time overworld. You select your target, launch your fleet, and they clash in a swirl of cannon fire and explosion effects. You can steer your flagship manually to avoid danger or collect random loot bobbing in the sea. It’s chaotic in the best way.
Early fights are manageable. You attack pirates, hunt sea monsters, and escort suspicious cargo through enemy waters. But as you level up, you’ll start bumping into other players who’ve been grinding (or buying) their way to power. One minute you're taking down a smugglers’ den. Next minute, a level 98 ship appears on the horizon, and you know it’s personal.
But PvP isn’t required. Not really. You can opt for a solo adventure lifestyle, focusing on trade routes, gathering supplies, and occasionally yelling at the AI for calling you a “seagull-chaser.”
Port Control, Politics, and the Social Side of Piracy
Eventually, you’re asked to join a guild. You’ll want to. Most of the game’s long-term goals (port takeovers, big resource hauls, weekly events) are designed with alliances in mind. I joined a crew called “The Salty Pickles.” No regrets.
Guilds coordinate attacks on fortresses, hold massive fleet battles, and bully each other in chat like it’s pirate middle school. If you’re into political drama, shifting alliances, or arguing over which port to claim next, you’ll be right at home.
On my third day, we were ambushed while moving resources across the map. A rival guild sank three of our transports, and someone in our Discord just said, “Release the kraken.” We didn’t have one. We lost everything. Still fun, though.
Daily Grind: Events, Dailies, and That Sweet, Sweet Loot
The loop is tight. You log in, do your dailies (gather wood, upgrade a cabin, harass a sea turtle), complete your weekly goals, and maybe dive into a limited-time event where the rewards are as flashy as the hats.
Events change often. Sometimes it’s a ship race. Sometimes it’s a survival mode where you fend off waves of ghost ships. Sometimes it’s just “collect 100 bottles in 24 hours or else.”
What keeps it fresh is how flexible the game feels. You can play 20 minutes a day or several hours if you’re deep in port politics. There’s always something to build, someone to recruit, or somewhere to explore.
Monetization Moments: Emeralds, Upgrades, and the Siren Song of Bundles
Let’s talk emeralds. The premium currency flows like rum at a pirate wake. You earn a trickle through events and quests, but if you want faster upgrades or exclusive heroes, the game happily opens the shop door. Flashy bundles dance across the UI. “80 percent off!” they cry, even though it’s your third day seeing that same offer.
It’s easy to ignore at first. But then you want to speed up repairs, or unlock a new formation, or buy that limited-time hero who throws bombs and quotes Shakespeare. That’s when the temptation hits.
I resisted. Mostly. I did buy a starter pack with some extra sailors and a bathtub skin. Listen, it was a good bathtub.
Final Thoughts from the Deck Chair
Sea of Conquest does a lot, and surprisingly, most of it works. The aesthetic is lush. The hero designs are ridiculous in the best way. The ship combat is punchy. The cabin-building adds charm. And the world feels alive, packed with floating drama and opportunistic plunder.
It’s a pirate sandbox that knows exactly what it is: a bit goofy, a bit grindy, and very good at sucking you in for “just one more upgrade.”
Whether you’re here to dominate the seas, decorate your floating home, or just mess around in a fictional pirate drama with 200 other people, there’s something waiting in the fog for you.
Just make sure your sails are patched, your crew is grumpy, and your cook isn’t eyeballing the rats again.