Game file / ROGUE BY ROGUEShip of Fools
Ship of Fools is a seafaring cooperative roguelite. Set sail, man the cannons and battle sea monsters through the tempestuous seas of the Archipelago. Are you fool enough to stop the Aquapocalypse?
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Video reviews
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Archived third-party reviews and community material may refer to different versions. External opinions and ratings are presented separately; consult the original videos for their full context.
Community discussion
A two-player (or solo) cooperative seafaring roguelite by Fika Productions (published by Team17) where you run a ship together, juggling cannons, repairs and steering against sea monsters to stop the Aquapocalypse.
Ship of Fools is well liked, especially as a couch or online co-op game for exactly two people: Steam sits at Very Positive (about 82% of roughly 6,300 reviews) and Metacritic critics give it a 77 (PS5, 10 reviews) while Metacritic users are lukewarm at 7.0 from only 30 ratings. Critics and players praise the chaotic multitasking ship loop, charming art and strong soundtrack, but criticise thin content (only four bosses in fixed locations, a repetitive brightness-level grind), lack of build depth, and weak solo balance. Technical issues recur in reviews: second-controller detection failing in local co-op, co-op progression not syncing between players, save wipes, and Steam Deck breakage after an engine update. The game launched Nov 2022 on PC and consoles; Steam news shows patches through 1.5.3 (early 2026) and a console update in April 2026, but some recent reviewers feel it is abandoned and complain the developer now promotes its next game (Don't Kill Them All) in the menus.
What players praise
- Frantic, Overcooked-style co-op on a shared ship (steering, loading and firing cannons, patching leaks) that generates funny teamwork and arguments
- Charming, cohesive art direction with distinct characters, enemies and bosses, plus a well-regarded soundtrack
- Good couples/friend pairing game: challenging but not overwhelming, and partners can cover each other's weaknesses
- Lots of item and talisman combinations, including memorably game-breaking synergies, without any single item being mandatory
- Replayability through unlockable ships, characters, brightness (difficulty) levels and achievements; players report 30-130 hours
- Excellent controller support and local couch co-op feel; also runs well on Linux for some
- Low entry price ($9.99 on Steam) and frequent sales make it an easy buy for two players
What players criticize
- Hard 2-player cap: the single most upvoted review theme; players want 3-4 player support and say the game is a poor fit for groups of friends
- Local co-op bug where the second controller is not recognised, reported since 2023 and still cited in recent reviews
- Thin post-launch feel: several top reviews describe the game as abandoned and the developer advertising its other game and Discord inside the menu
- Multiplayer progression is per-player and does not sync: one partner can reach 100% while the other is stuck, with developer support reportedly unable to fix it
- Save/progress loss reported by several players, including Steam Cloud not recovering it and runs randomly kicking to the main menu
- Post-update instability on Steam Deck (audio loss, lag) after the Unity engine update, and small/blurry text on TV for couch play
- Little in-game information: no bestiary or codex, stats of guns and talismans not shown clearly, so players look things up externally
- Thin content: only four bosses always in the same places, limited enemy variety, characters differ mostly by one passive
- Network reliability in online co-op: trouble joining, staying on the ship or resuming runs even on good connections
- Missing options: only resolution is adjustable in graphics, gamepad controls cannot be remapped, hardcoded menu binds
Distinctive features
- Co-op roguelite built around physically running around a ship and moving gear (guns, ammo, repair tools) rather than controlling one character
- Tower-defense-meets-roguelite structure: you defend a moving ship in naval battles, compared by critics to a deck-defence game with Overcooked energy
- Paddle-based ship steering with friendly fire, which blends party-game chaos with hardcore roguelite difficulty
- Difficulty driven by unlocking successive brightness levels rather than purely random runs; Binding of Isaac-style item collecting but less punishing
- Deliberately couch-first design for two players, with solo mode as a secondary option
Divided opinions
- Price: seen as a bargain at $9.99 by many, but a reviewer calls 22 EUR pricey for the amount of content
- Difficulty: described as well measured by some co-op pairs, but too casual early and unbalanced late by others
- Friendly fire and chaotic design: adds hilarious arguments for some couples and feels like a clash of tones for others
- Solo play: some say it is very manageable, critics and other players say it is frustrating and clearly geared to co-op
Repetition and friction
- Unlocking each brightness level means replaying the same few levels repeatedly; restarting runs can feel like a chore
- Once you beat the four bosses, unlock-chasing and achievement grinding are what remains
- Reloading guns and shuffling them around the ship becomes repetitive, with hectic moments that some find more stressful than fun
- Sudden difficulty spikes (final boss, high brightness levels) and later-game balance that some call unfun, especially solo
- Ads for the developer's other game and Discord in the menu
- Short runs of content: several reviewers say they run out of new things to do after about 5 hours and are left grinding to 100%
Hoped-for improvements
- Support for more than two players (a commonly requested feature since the game is hard-capped at 2)
- More bosses per area and more levels/enemy types so runs feel less identical
- A bestiary/codex and clearer UI showing stats for guns, talismans and upgrades
- Fix multiplayer progression syncing and multiple save slots; better solo mode and difficulty balance
- Fuller settings: graphics options, gamepad rebinding, per-action binds, correct PS5 glyphs, readable text for TV play
- Fix the local second-controller bug and engine-update regressions (Steam Deck, optimization)
Launched Nov 22 2022 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Switch to generally favorable reviews (Metacritic 77 on PS5). Critics liked the co-op chaos and unique roguelite take but flagged limited depth and a weaker solo experience. Steam user sentiment has stayed Very Positive (82%). Post-launch DLC adds characters and 'Duo' content packs (Deep Sea, Water Garden, Golden Bay), and patches ran through 1.5.1-1.5.3 in 2025-26. An Unity/engine 'Update Required' in Oct 2025 is linked by reviewers to Steam Deck and performance problems, and a console update shipped April 2026. A 2026 reviewer says the developer told players that supporting its next game is needed to keep updating Ship of Fools, and recent reviews describe the game as feeling abandoned with unfixed long-standing bugs. On PC it is Windows-only (no native Mac or Linux build), though some players run it on Linux. No OpenCritic score was found, so none is reported.
Community sources
- Top helpful positive and negative English Steam reviews (local file) ↗
- Local Steam store data: review summary 82% positive, SteamSpy owners, tags, release date, price ↗
- Steam store page (Very Positive, 6,287 reviews) ↗
- Metacritic critic score 77, user score 7.0, per-outlet critic summaries ↗
- Overview, platforms, release, Nintendo Life and Multiplayer.it scores ↗
- Estimated revenue of about $2.06M gross ↗
- Steam news/event titles: patches 1.5.1-1.5.3, Update Required, console update, other-game promos ↗
Archived creator commentary 1
Third-party summaries based on automatic captions may contain transcription or interpretation errors.
Tier list Part 3 (2025)
Ship of Fools is an action roguelike where you defend a boat by manning cannons, refilling ammo and using a paddle to reflect projectiles, with a destroyed island as the hub. It is clearly designed around co-op, and he played both co-op with his brother and solo, finding co-op more fun. He loves the visuals, music, animation and early-game discovery, but finds the moment-to-moment gameplay thin and the item system too narrow and build-dependent. Post-clear rewards are weak, so overall he lands on B tier, admitting co-op may have lifted his opinion.
What the creator praises
- Art style, environments, animation and music are top-notch and were what first drew him in
- Hub island exploration, NPC discovery and world immersion make the first few hours very enjoyable
- Trinkets/amulets give cool, fun benefits and were his favorite roguelike element
- Each boss ends with a different reward (recycle an item, duplicate an item, big sell shop)
- Areas look distinct and enemies feel varied; bosses look fantastic
- Co-op is more fun than solo
- Paddle reflect mechanic feels good when it lands
Issues raised by the creator
- Gameplay on the boat is shallow and repetitive: refill cannon, shoot, occasionally paddle
- Paddle charges slowly and is visually hard to read
- Only about four ship slots, filled before the first world boss, so most new items are ignored
- Items are highly build-dependent (harpoon, paddle, egg, dynamite), so off-build picks feel useless
- Higher difficulties cost currency to unlock and give minimal rewards, so post-clear motivation is low
- Bosses repeat with too little variation; auto-turret seems too strong not to use
Design observations
- Ship-defense cannon/paddle loop feels like Overcooked-style co-op in a roguelike
- Boss-end rewards differ each time rather than being a generic upgrade
- Design lesson: build-specific items plus very limited slots leads to ignoring most of the content
