Ship of Fools is a frantically fun but challenging rogue-lite seafaring game that's playable solo or co-op through local or online play with a maximum of 2 players. Whether players team up or sail solo, Ship of Fools is tough to master. Players must balance shooting sea monsters with cannons, keeping bugs off the deck, harpooning handy resources, and restocking ammo to keep the boat afloat and progress across the quirky seas of the Archipelago, beginning with The Forgotten Waters map.
As an adventure game with typical rogue-lite gameplay features, players must have their wits about them at all times to avoid being sent to the depths and back to the Great Lighthouse starting point if they fail. Players who want to succeed and defeat the end-level boss must avoid these common mistakes.
8 Picking Any Map Tile
On the Fool's ship, players select the helm to choose their course on the map, made up of hexagon tiles that slowly drop into the approaching shadow. The game doesn't directly explain the meaning of map symbols, so players must familiarize themselves with them as they choose which tile to sail to by trying different tiles and learning the UI in the corners of the screen.
It's best to choose wisely, as players may want to try to find rewards or stock up on resources before sailing to more enemy encounters like boss fights. Those who pick their course randomly and don't learn the UI symbols are less likely to succeed, as they may face battles they're unprepared for.
7 Not Storing Cargo Properly
At each battle in Ship of Fools, players receive a treasure chest containing different rewards, depending upon the map tile selected, such as a stack of wood for the wood tile icon. Some items like harpoons are quickly storable or equipable by pressing the A button next to them while using an Xbox controller, while players must manually store others to keep them.
Cargo rewards like The Bombs Artifact, which doubles the number of bombs in boxes, or different kinds of ammo like hermit shells, must be stored on one of the three central cargo stands. If players leave them anywhere else, they vanish when players begin the next battle. Players can press the select button to view their available cargo store and trinket options in the bottom-left menu.
6 Facing The Wrong Way When Deflecting Attacks
Performing a successful projectile deflect attack can be tricky, so sometimes it's easier not to attempt it at all, especially for players sailing solo when squishing bugs on the ship becomes a more demanding priority without the help of a human crew. Players must face the direction of the enemy and correctly time the action while standing in the designated circle on deck to perform the attack.
Deflection is easier in the tutorial with only one enemy to contend with, so players are likely to make mistakes while engaging in full-on naval combat, including facing the wrong way.
5 Not Knowing How To Repair The Ship Or Where To Find Wood
To succeed in Ship of Fools, at some point players are likely going to need wood to repair damage to their ship from various sea monsters, particularly before attempting any boss bottles. Proceeding forward on the map without finding ways to repair the ship is a risky, quick way to fail and have to start all over again. Therefore, learning how to repair the ship and where to find wood is often crucial for success.
Players can sometimes harpoon wood floating in the sea if they are quick enough, purchase it in shops, or aim for the wood icon tile on the map to resupply, providing they win the round.
4 Buying Upgrades Too Early
New players might be tempted by Halga's strange soup concoction upgrades early on at the Great Lighthouse base. However, it's often best to save tradable resources like tendrils for better options discoverable in the world, like in Gertrude and Wood's shops, such as shields that players can attach to the ship to delay damage.
With that said, it's worth noting that players need different kinds of currencies for each shop and their quirky, memorable shopkeepers. For Halga, players need tendrils to buy upgrades; for Gertrude, it's sand coins; and for Woody, it's a risky trade-off between ship lives represented by the diamond symbol and various ammo, trinkets, artifacts, and resources. Players can see their ship's health status and its life in the top-left corner of the screen.
3 Missing Enemy Critical Hits
When many monsters attack, there's a lot going on, so it's easy to make the mistake of not hitting enemies at crucial times. The game tries to help players know what creatures to prioritize and when, as a red exclamation mark appears next to an enemy that's about to deal a high-damage and potentially devastating attack.
Hitting enemies at the right time becomes especially important when big beasties like crabs attack the boat up close when players are often best hitting them with their paddle combo attack. Looking out for warning signs is also crucial to surviving the Kraken-like battle with Tentacles, Shadow Of The Undergrowth boss, as players must prioritize damaging specific tentacles to win.
2 Missing Resources In The Water
In the thick of battle, it's easy to miss resources floating in the water that can help increase a player's chances of success, like shields to defend the ship, extra harpoons, and even wood. Therefore, during and after each battle, eagle-eyed players must spot and quickly fish out resources from the sea by using the harpoon.
To enter harpoon mode while using the cannons, players must hold the left trigger button and press X to fire. There's often only limited time to do this while the ship sails away, so players need to quickly scan the area and switch to the harpoons before they vanish beyond the screen.
1 Not Smashing Suspicious Boxes
In Ship of Fools, players sometimes come across shops where they can purchase upgrades for their ships, random treasure drops, and even fun and rewarding mini-games. However, when distracted by sand coins burning in players' pockets, it's easy to forget to scan the area for hidden resources, especially before pursuing and purchasing a shop's wares.
Players can often find resources and even additional characters like Gill hidden inside suspicious boxes dotted about the level. Therefore, players may want to smash these boxes to find extra rewards, which can sometimes even be extra coins to spend.
Ship of Fools is available to play now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.