Chantey review — A pirate’s life for me

After acquiring a ModRetro Chromatic, and the first run of launch games coming out, I've been awaiting the next big thing from their publishing arm. Hermano proved to be a fun, if short, platformer, but my eyes were stayed on Chantey: a Gameboy-inspired pirate game with an open-ish world and rhythm-based combat? That just sounds fantastic. Little did I know that on this journey with a Jolly Roger I would find an absolute treasure.

Chantey begins with a cutscene showing you, a lowly cabin boy, afloat in the wreckage of a ship. After being picked up by pirates you find that due to a musical tome, a monster of the deep has been unleashed. It also happens to be guarding quite the treasure, and in order to get it you'll need to assemble a crew, help a pirate captain get out of jail, and jam across the ocean.

If it sounds a bit wild, that's because it is. Whimsical is an easy adjective to use in describing Chantey, which never takes itself too seriously. There are some sober moments, but most have a good laugh in store. Everything is filled to the brim with pirate-y puns, an additional delight to the funny bone as you sail across the ocean.

All of this comes together to make quite a gratifying package. It can be a bit fetch quest-y, but the friends you make along the way, as well as all the escapades you find yourself in the middle of, are outstanding examples of leaning into the theme of your game. I was also surprised to find a lot of great world building inside, along with several characters who get fleshed out along the way. Who’d have thought you’d get relationship levels and companion quests with your crew in a Gameboy game?

Chantey’s design will remind you a lot of something like Gameboy Legend of Zelda or Pokemon. Each map you’ll traverse is grid-based, transitioning to the next grid when you reach the edge. What I didn’t expect was the game to open up to the seas, with you navigating a pirate ship in a similar pattern. It’s an impressive feat, one I didn’t expect to enjoy even if it’s just a fun journey as opposed to a full fledged adventure when out on the high seas. I do wish there was a little more to do while out sailing, but I’ll take what I can get.

I love the choice in art design. Going for that retro, 8-bit style works perfectly for what Gortyn Code is attempting and succeeding at. While I'd have liked a bit more color (this is a Gameboy game), the details of each location are stellar – just look at the pictures in this article and tell me they aren't pushing the hardware to its limits.

Most of the gameplay is centered around conversations with the locals. You might think that to be boring, but this is where that fun narrative comes in. None of your dialogue feels wasted, although there are no dialogue paths in your discussions. You feel led in the right direction in your choices: people are easy to read. It feels like a large, intricate puzzle, remembering previous dialogue that could influence the next step of your current mission.

For instance, I had several times where I was refused entry to a military building due to… well, being a stinky pirate. After a while, I came across a red coat uniform that I acquired through dastardly means. With it, I was able to go into the building and retrieve what was needed to proceed with my task. Of course, I still ended up in a fight when that officer came running once he found his clothes were missing, but this is just awesome gameplay.

Speaking of fighting, Chantey takes a unique approach. There aren’t a lot of battles that occur, but when you encounter one, everyone whips out their instruments. Not pistols or rapiers, no hurdy-gurdies or accordians, but guitars and drums. This is handled Rock Band-style, with a rhythm mini-game that has four prompts descending from the top of the screen that you press as they reach the bottom. If you’re familiar with rhythm games, this won’t be any different to you.

While the prompts can be tricky to get right at the onset, they are a blast in gameplay. The whole point of this battle of the bands is to eliminate your opponent by achieving a certain “hype level” via a meter that charges based on your streak of correct button presses. There are only four, the right and left D-pad and A and B buttons. Missing one is not the end, and largely these seem fairly constructed and well designed to match with the song. It's epic listening to the pirate shanties (hey, that’s the name of the game spelled differently) coming through your ModRetro Chromatic or Gameboy speaker. All of the tracks are absolutely terrific choices, including the regular soundtrack that plays as you go along your way.

I really appreciate the design of the menus in Chantey. Where some games skimp in this area, and I wouldn’t blame them given the compression of the devices these games are on, Gortyn Code has made sure you know where you’re going with a map, what quest you’re on, and more. It’s not comprehensive, but they’ve chosen the right amount of stuff to not overload the game and give you enough to work with.

As great as Chantey is, I did encounter a few crashes along the way. I’m assuming most of this is oriented in how far the envelope is pushed technically. That said, I did have one hard crash outside of the story in Cartagena where I couldn’t pass a lady blocking my path. I never went back to that area after crashing three times, so I’m curious as to if I missed anything considering that issue.