1995 · Impressions Games · Adventure · Historical

High Seas Trader

1995 video game

Released: 1995
Platforms: MS-DOS
Genres: Adventure Historical Simulation Strategy
Developers: Impressions Games
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Themes: Action
Country: United Kingdom

About

High Seas Trader is a naval business simulation game published by Impressions Games in 1995 for MS-DOS and Amiga. The player runs trade routes, fends off pirates, collects artifacts and offers transport to fellow countrymen in need, all for the sake of climbing up the game's ranking ladder, which in turn allows the player to buy bigger ships, more firepower and larger cargo holds to progress more quickly in the ranks.

Keywords

pirates
sailing

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game is set in the year 1650. The player starts out with the most basic ship (Fluyt) and 5,000 (5k) gold.

The player chooses a nation at the beginning of the game. Consequences lie in the relations between nations; which nations declare war/peace will determine which ports the player can access at given times, and which ships will open fire on them at sea. The options are:

Reception

High Seas Trader received mixed or average reviews. The game was reviewed in 1995 in Dragon #221 by John Brunkhart in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Brunkhart gave the game 2 out of 5 stars.

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "Although the subject material may be a little too dry for some gamers, High Seas Trader is definitely a must for strategy fans."