Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships

Lore & Background

Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships is a role-playing game that retains many gameplay features from its predecessors, including trading, fighting, boarding ships, exploring, and real-time sailing. Players may also navigate using a map. The game introduces a faster fight system and a more complex trading system. Players can choose from three different characters, each with a separate storyline and class, and must develop seven main attributes under the game's role-playing system.

Reader's Guide

Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships holds significance as a continuation of the Sea Dogs series, bridging the gap between Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales and Sea Dogs: To Each His Own. Its release on May 26, 2009, for Windows marked the fourth entry in the franchise, though it lacked the names of the two former games for legal reasons. The game's open-ended plot and multiple starting options—including choosing a navy or starting alone—offered players varied experiences. The English campaign's loose adaptation of Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood added literary depth. The game received 'mixed or average' reviews, with a Metacritic aggregate score of 61%. Its legacy includes a re-release in 2017 on GOG and Steam under the title Sea Dogs: City of Abandoned Ships, ensuring continued accessibility. The inclusion of historical ship types and the PIRATES attribute system demonstrated the series' commitment to role-playing mechanics, while the presence of ships like the Flying Dutchman and Soleil Royal added iconic elements.

Did You Know?

• The English campaign is based loosely on the first twelve chapters of Rafael Sabatini's novel Captain Blood.
• Queen Anne's Revenge appears in some ports but is not controlled by Blackbeard, who was not yet a famous pirate in the game's 17th-century setting.
• The game's seven main attributes do not spell 'PIRATES'—that acronym is not part of the official mechanics.