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2012 · KingsIsle Entertainment · Adventure · MMORPG

Pirate101

Pirate101 is a pirate-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created by KingsIsle Entertainment and released in 2012. A sister game to Wizard101 set in the same universe, players assume the role of heroic pirates who set out in search of the treasures of the "Spiral".

Released: 15 October 2012
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Adventure MMORPG Role-playing Strategy
Developers: KingsIsle Entertainment
Publishers: —
Modes: Multiplayer
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action
Engine: Gamebryo
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB E10+
Languages: English

About

Pirate101 is a 2012 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by KingsIsle Entertainment. It is a sister game to Wizard101, set in the same fictional universe of the “Spiral”. The player assumes the role of a pirate, who, after being rescued from a prison ship, begins searching for pieces of a map that could take them to the mythical, long-lost world of El Dorado. The player is in a race to reach it with Kane, the game's main antagonist.

Players can complete quests, sail ships, recruit companions, and battle enemies in a turn-based combat system similar to those used in board games.

›Story

The game opens with the player character, a young pirate orphan, imprisoned aboard a ship in Skull Island after rebelling against the Armada. Boochbeard and Mr Gandry rescue the player from the ship and send them to the hub of Skull Island to meet Captain Horace Avery, an extremely wealthy retired pirate who is the owner and steward of the entire Skyway. The player does quests for Avery in order to earn their keep, eventually being sent to discover pieces of a map to El Dorado, a long-lost world made entirely of gold.

The player travels to various worlds of the Spiral—such as the imperial China-themed MooShu and the American frontier-themed Cool Ranch—in search of the map pieces. The player collects the majority of the pieces and defeats members of Kane’s Court as the game progresses.

Presently, the game’s finale is set in Valencia, an Italian Renaissance-themed world which is where Kane and the Armada originate. The world is dominated by an enormous floating machine, which Kane intends to use to destroy the Spiral. The player ultimately defeats Kane, though Queen is left alive. The game’s plot is yet to be concluded beyond this point.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

The game opens with the player character, a young pirate orphan, being recused and then escaping from an Armada-operated prison ship in Skull Island. The first section of the game involves the player completing various quests for Captain Avery, an extremely wealthy retired pirate who is the owner and steward of the entire Skyway. The player does quests for Avery in order to earn their keep, eventually being sent on a quest to discover pieces of a map that could lead them to El Dorado, a long-lost world made entirely of gold. The Armada, meanwhile, is racing the player to obtain the same map pieces.

The player travels to various worlds of the Spiral—such as the imperial China-themed MooShu and the American frontier-themed Cool Ranch—in search of the map pieces. Eventually, after the player collects three of the seven map pieces and the Armada collect two, the player confronts and defeats the Armada leader Kane, although his greatest creation Queen escapes, and the player receives a message from their parents' ghosts telling them to abandon their quest for El Dorado, and that they are proud of them for saving the Spiral.

Reception

According to a KingsIsle Entertainment press release, Pirate101 had five million registered users in October 2013, matching the first year success of Wizard101. In a review of the game, Suzie Ford of MMORPG noted the game's bright aesthetics and commended its use of strategic turn-based gameplay; however, she considered the micromanagement of units overwhelming for kids, making the combat system too complicated for children. Nick Tylwalk of GameZebo said that the helpful interface makes combat very clear and is of great assistance to children. Karen Bryan of Massively said that KingsIsle Entertainment had succeeded in making a complex enough system to challenge players without over-complicating it.

Two months after the release of Pirate101, the game won the Player's Choice Award for Game of the Year from MMORPG with 27.8% of the vote, edging out Guild Wars 2 by just 0.5% of the total votes cast.