Pirate Twist
A top-down naval roguelite where your ship is a mobile base. Build it module by module, sail through dangerous waters, fight pirates, and return to port richer — or don't come home at all. Every run is a gamble.
Build your ship. Brave the seas
Come home richer — or don't come home at all.
Pirate Twist is a top-down 2D naval roguelite where your ship is a mobile base. Cannons on the sides, hull plates in the center, repair station at the stern, storage up front — a 5×8 grid where every layout creates a different playstyle. Sail out, fight pirates, collect resources, return to port to upgrade. Die, learn, run again.
Three Layers of Progression
Captain — earn XP from combat to spend on 9 skills across 3 branches (Combat / Navigator / Commander). A captain's XP and skill points are kept between runs — every voyage makes them permanently stronger, win or lose
Ship — 11 module types, persistent upgrades, a 5×8 grid you fill out over a run
Crew — 6 crew archetypes with passive bonuses; your captain sets the roster (a signature crew plus auto-filled bonus slots), and supplies tick down between encounters
Your Ship Is Yours
Outfit your ship from 11 module types across a 5×8 grid. Light cannons fire fast and cheap. Heavy cannons punch holes. Mortars arc over cover. Reinforced hull plates trade weight for survival. Repair stations let you patch damage mid-fight. Crow's nests extend sight range. You fill the grid out as your run progresses — by the boss fight, your sloop has grown into something the pirates fear.
Every Expedition Is a Choice
The expedition map branches every step of the way. Safe trade routes with merchants and calm seas. Dangerous pirate waters with elite ships and richer loot. Storms that batter your hull but reward the brave. Unknown nodes that roll a surprise outcome on the way in. You pick your path through every expedition.
Combat Is Naval
Enemies don't stand still. Sloops circle-strafe and pepper your flanks. Brigantines and Galleons tank hits and barrage broadsides. Fire ships charge and explode. Every sea ends in a duel with a named boss captain — drawn from a pool of six — that asks the player to read patterns, not just out-DPS.
No cursor, no twitch-aim — combat is pure positioning. Pick your live broadside (port or starboard), swing it onto the enemy, and your guns roar out that side the moment a target's in the arc — auto-fire by default, or switch to manual and time the perfect volley. Easy to learn, hard to master.
Roguelite Loop
A run is a three-sea campaign, played in a single sitting. Lose a fight and you rebuild at Port and sail back out — defeat costs resources, not the whole run. Captain XP / skill points and unlocked captain archetypes persist across runs (1-of-N pick at the start of every fresh run from your unlocked pool). Five captain archetypes — two unlocked to start, the rest earned by winning runs — each with a distinctive buff and signature crew. Replay is the loop — different captain, different route, different ship. The more you play, the harder it gets.
At a Glance
Module types — 11
Enemy types — 5 + elite variants (Sloop, Brigantine, Galleon, Fire Ship, Boss)
Encounter types — 5 (Combat, Merchant, Storm, Salvage, Lucky Treasure)
Captain archetypes — 5 (Rourke, Reyes, Voss, Sable, Marisol)
Captain skills — 9 across 3 branches
Crew types — 6 (Gunner, Carpenter, Navigator, Cook, Quartermaster, Lookout)
Resources — Gold, Wood, Iron, Supplies
Expedition length — ~15-20 min
Session length — a single sitting (a full run is three seas)