[h1] Konkan Coast Pirate Solutions: A literal pirate sim with fun programming-style mechanics [/h1]
[quote] [h2] Verdict: ★★★✩✩ (6/10) [/h2] [/quote]
[h2] [u] Background [/u] [/h2]
Developed by India-based one-person studio “chapliboy,” Konkan Coast Pirate Solutions is one of those one-in-a-hundred games with a truly bizarre premise. An interesting thematic mix of pirates and the corporate world, Konkan Coast follows the eponymous tech startup “Konkan Coast Pirate Solutions” as it works on the development of a new simulation program — which they dub the SimEngine — to help manage the flow of pirate traffic due to a “sharp increase in pirate crashes.”
The player begins the game with Swami, the new CEO of “Konkan Coast Pirate Solutions” who is tasked with testing out various scenarios and ensuring their product’s viability. As the game progresses, the SimEngine goes through new iterations, and the company’s lead designer Mani rolls out new updates while the market-savvy Rajan meets with potential investors and clients.
[h2] [u] Block-Based Programming [/u] [/h2]
Konkan Coast’s simulation mechanics echo a diluted version of block-based programming in its drag-and-drop commands. Each level’s board contains black-sailed pirate ships that need to stop at pirate harbors and white-gold merchant ships that need to pass gold-filled docks; every other game element is designed to help or hinder the player (sometimes both) as they look to set up an iteration of the scenario where all ships reach their destination without crashing.
To complete a level, the player must drag and drop a “turn left,” “turn right,” or “stop” command at the appropriate locations and make sure the simulation runs with all ships completing their route. Levels are initially barebones and require little planning, but as new obstacles and components are introduced — from lighthouses to ocean currents and glaciers — they become much more complex, making it harder and harder for the scenario to run shipshape.
[h2] [u] Fun but Repetitive[/u] [/h2]
Gameplay does get stale after a handful of levels, and it honestly begins to feel like a slog after getting through the first set of the more complex optional levels. The best puzzlers have levels with their own individually difficult struggles and equally rewarding payoffs; Konkan Coast is not one of those games, as much as it attempts to be.
The game doesn’t offer much lore-wise, either — only revealing the barest details of Swami’s, Mani’s, and Rajan’s journey through their foray into entrepreneurship, just enough for the player to get behind its anachronistically absurd premise — but I did enjoy the trio’s interactions together in the little time they were featured on-screen.
[h2] [u] Final Thoughts [/u] [/h2]
Konkan Coast isn’t bad, nor is it particularly memorable. But for a slow-burner puzzler, it achieves exactly what it set out to do, and that’s not a bad thing.
