[h1]Verdict[/h1]
At its heart, Winds of Trade is just an abandoned trading sim, but with its, rough edges, and frustrating mechanics, it feels barely worth it's $12 price.
[h3]Pros[/h3]
[b]Trade Automation[/b] - You can set up automatic trade routes, which is convenient once you get going.
[b]Stock Market[/b] - You’re able to buy stock in a company and then profit from trading their goods, which adds some strategic depth.
[h3]Cons[/h3]
[b]Hotkeys[/b] - The game only has a single hotkey; nearly every function requires clicking through menus.
[b]Unbalanced Production & Consumption[/b] - Because the world is randomly generated, most ports don’t produce or consume enough resources to even fill your ship holds.
[b]Nation Mechanics[/b] - After more than 24 hours of play, I still can’t tell what prosperity or recession actually do. Wars between nations don’t change the map and the only effect for the player is access to low-paying wartime missions.
[b]Border Gore Islands[/b] - Random generation often creates awkwardly divided islands. In about ten playthroughs, I only saw one without messy three-way splits.
[b]Few Sliders[/b] - Want to sell more than 500 shares of stock? Get ready to click through confirmation prompts for each batch of 100.
