There are no variable difficulty settings for the overall game, but the normal game mode does present you with a handful of custom settings that shape the way your career will unfold. It can be surprisingly difficult to get started as a rookie pirate or trader in a normal game of Port Royale, but fortunately the game features a tutorial that provides a detailed walk-through of the game's basic elements. Still, the game is much better than Patrician II, not only because of its more refined interface and graphics but also simply because there's now plenty to do when you're not in the mood to design the best sea routes for buying low and selling high. But developer Ascaron's prior work on Patrician II-the 2001 strategy game based on medieval Hanseatic League sea trade-is reflected in Port Royale's sophisticated trading system, and the new game has a similarly dry, detail-oriented style. Those who played MicroProse's classic game Pirates! will find many of the same basic elements in Port Royale, including real-time ship-to-ship combat, career advancement, treasure maps, and story-based missions involving the search for lost family members. Port Royale drops you in the beautiful-and dangerous-waters of the Caribbean to trade peaceably or engage in piracy.
Once you get past Port Royale's steep learning curve, you may find yourself enthralled by the game's promise of profiteering and pirating on the high seas. Port Royale sets you loose in the middle of this world to make your way as a trader, privateer, pirate, or some combination of the three.
Intermittent wars between colonial nations made this frontier even wilder-well-armed traders would often be pressed into duty as privateers with a license to sink or capture enemy ships. At the time, huge Spanish galleons loaded with gold carried enough cannons to keep ordinary pirates at bay, but there were still plenty of less-defended trade ships that were easy prey for dastardly pirates and buccaneers looking to amass a quick fortune. Ascaron's strategy game Port Royale takes place in one of the most exciting seagoing settings for a game: the pirate-infested Caribbean of the 16th and 17th centuries.