Have you ever noticed that most “Age of Sail” games are about being a pirate? How would you like a simulator made around just making some money? Maybe some kind of TRADE simulator?

Have you ever played Sea of Thieves and just wished the pirates would go away so that you can make your mark as a master merchant? Well, strap yourselves in for some heavy micromanagement folks, because the trade simulator of your dreams is here.

Welcome to Port Royale 4, a fleet expanding trade simulator where you get to micromanage as many ships as you can afford to build! For a deeper dive into the game, check out the original review from my MKAU friend RedGraves… https://www.mkaugaming.com/all-review-list/port-royale-4-review/

I was super excited to play this game because I really am a merchant at heart. Who wants to pirate when you can check port to port for the best profit for a product, set up trade routes, and slowly build up an empire of merchant ships?! Unfortunately though, due to it being such a large game it just struggled on the Switch…

I found that gameplay was a bit glitchy from the start, even going through the tutorial. I pre-empted what the tutorial was going to ask me to do and, as I hadn’t waited for the instruction, it glitched the game so I had to start over.

Not the best first experience, however, I found that the whole game tended to lag whenever I tried to rush inputs. That being said, if I was a good boy and patient enough, it wasn’t a problem, so maybe that’s just on me.

The controls were probably the hardest thing to get used to. Not so much the controls themselves, but just the number of menus and options to click through. I would assume this game was designed for, and plays a little smoother on PC.

The graphics are pretty much what you’d expect from a simulator. Considering it’s a game downgraded from PC to Switch, and the fact that the game itself isn’t exactly a 3D masterclass, it wasn’t like I had high expectations. I wasn’t blown away, but neither was I disappointed.

For all my complaints about lag around menus and inputs, I really enjoyed the game. The concept itself is amazing for someone like me that just enjoys the idea of growing a fleet for the sake of financial gain. Sure, there were the occasional battles I had to deal with, along with “setting up colonies,” but I really enjoyed managing the trade routes. I would definitely recommend trying it out on PC though.

Written by: HadesTheHobo