Become a pirate captain in Red Rogue Sea that combines FTL and deckbuilding with a demo out now

By Liam Dawe - 9 Apr 2025 at 12:59 pm UTC

Red Rogue Sea is one high up on my wishlist! After being completely hooked by FTL: Faster Than Light when it originally released, I'm always keen to see more like it and now a demo is available.

I originally wrote about this back in October 2024 and the developer has since put up an FAQ to give a bit more detail on what to expect from it. Noting that it's obviously inspired by the classic FTL: Faster Than Light for the main gameplay loop. But, it also adds in a deckbuilding mechanic as one of the main elements. The combat is turn-based, with a narrative that "incorporates light RPG elements through event-driven storytelling" with a story that unfolds via these events.

There's also a newer longer trailer to give you a good glimpse of it:

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The new demo only has a Windows version currently, so you'll need to run it via Proton (I tested it working with Proton 9.0-4). However, the FAQ notes clearly that Linux and Steam Deck will be supported.

Nice to see more games made with the free and open source Godot Engine too.

Red Rogue Sea

Official links:

Steam

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.

Tags: Native Linux, Proton, Steam Deck, Demo, Godot Engine, Indie Game, Steam, Upcoming | Apps: Red Rogue Sea

4 Likes

About the author - Liam Dawe

I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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5 comments

MicHaeL_MonStaR 3 days ago

While this one looks interesting, I will never get this trend of shoving "cards" into videogames. Tabletop games should stay right there. - What's next?... Virtual pen and paper and dice in RPVGs??...

2 Likes

Purple Library Guy 3 days ago

Deckbuilding? Look, I understand that in a pirate game you're going to be improving your ship, but it doesn't even start with a deck?! What about masts?

3 Likes

Drakker 3 days ago

I like the concept of deck building, but I am not looking for a new FTL clone with deck building at all, there's already plenty of them around already. I'd like to go back to having access to all my ship/crew abilities all the time, and not having to worry if I'm going to draw good cards this turn or not, thank you.

2 Likes

wytrabbit 3 days ago

Mega Supporter

What's next?... Virtual pen and paper and dice in RPVGs??...

Ahem.. https://store.steampowered.com/app/310060/Knights_of_Pen_and_Paper_2/

3 Likes

Philadelphus 3 days ago

I gave the demo a try, since my initial thought was similar to others expressed here and I wanted to give it a chance to change my mind. I like FTL (and Slay the Spire), and a turn-based FTL feels like it could potentially be interesting, but my conclusion is that adding deckbuilding doesn't really…improve the fun aspect. At least for me.

My main issue is that there's a sort of double-frustration, where to do anything you must have both a card that lets you do it and a crewmember in the right position, where they can only move (across ~⅓ of the ship) and do an action once per round. I had one situation where my crew couldn't fight a fire on my ship because I kept not drawing Extinguish cards (frustrating from an FTL perspective), and another time where I couldn't fight a fire despite having an Extinguish card because none of my crew members could reach it (frustrating from a StS perspective). Now in fairness the enemy is also bound by this system, but since I can't see their hand of cards it's hard to tell if they're also being forced into less-useful actions like I am, so the only frustration I can see is my own. It's clearly a passion project by a small team and I wish them all the best and hope they find their audience (I did leave some constructive feedback on their feedback form relating to a few things I noticed apart from the genre-mashup), but it just wasn't all that fun for me.

3 Likes

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