Battlewake is a bit of a mixed experience. While its looks great and handles very well the multiplayer definitely carries the whole thing as the campaign is a little lacklustre. The combat is a good laugh once there are a few of you to banter with but it does get somewhat repetitive and so do the locations. Sea of Thieves in VR this certainly is not, on the other hand, for those not after sinking dozens of hours into a videogame to get anywhere Battlewake will have you wondering where the rum’s gone.

With fantastic graphics, balanced and engaging gameplay, and a brief but fun single player campaign, Battlewake is an amazing VR pirate combat game. The only thing it doesn’t have is a larger audience. My crew is ready, and it’s time to set sail -- who’s with me?!

Though a bit bare-boned, Battlewake will satisfy those looking for a solid VR seafaring adventure. It has a reasonably lengthy single-player campaign and enough multiplayer modes to tide you over – provided you can find other players. It’s just a shame that there isn’t more to the gameplay to keep repetition from setting in because, at the end of the day, blasting holes into enemy ships is glee-inducing fun. Battlewake is simply missing that extra – but very necessary – oomph to elevate it into a must-play.

Battlewake is a very solid pirate ship combat game that has great presentation, fun gameplay, and good core mechanics, but it just doesn’t have enough depth. The campaign is over just as you feel like you’re coming to grips with each character, multiplayer lacks the breadth and depth it needs, and generally it’s missing a unifying framework to tie it all together more strongly. It feels like Survios expected the multiplayer to really take off here, but without cross-play or a good reason to keep playing for weeks and months on-end, the buried treasure in this pirate conquest loses its luster far too quickly.

Battlewake serves up a short campaign and buffet of online modes that mostly do their job, although it's hard to say whether the plucky little pirate battler truly lives up to its full potential. The campaign, which should be an important anchor in times of VR multiplayer uncertainty, presents a melange of same-ish enemies and a forgettable story. The game's online modes aren't taking any risks either, although there's no telling how the community will take to Battlewake, which presents some fresh locomotion ideas and a good dose of wow-factor.