The Pirate Queen virtual reality game falls short due to its brief gameplay, shoddy narrative, and misrepresentation of Cheng Shih’s role in history.
There is little vitality in Lucy Liu’s portrayal of Cheng Shih, and the story contains speculative parts that run counter to historical facts.
While the art department does a fantastic job at creating a visually pleasing setting, the gameplay and storytelling of The Pirate Queen are lacking.
Since Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, pirates have been a popular theme for action and adventure, but aside from the occasional outlier that occurs once every generation, they have never been a major theme in video games.
I’m constantly searching for new pirate games, even while I’m not expecting every one to be the next Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag or Sea of Thieves. You can only imagine how thrilled I was to learn about a virtual reality game that was based on the fabled pirate queen.
A pirate perched on a ship’s edge, one foot on the rail, smoking a cigarette. Asnah Yatim leans against the right rail.
An Unsuccessful Attempt at Southeast Asian Representation by Skull & Bones
One of the most infamous women to travel the high seas, Cheng Shih (also known as Cheung Po Tsai), is featured in The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend. This climb to power is approached, at least in principle, in a more dramatic manner with an emphasis on her ascent to the unofficial title of “pirate queen.”
As it happens, The Pirate Queen is not very redeeming. The entire experience takes around an hour, which is quite short. Almost two thirds of that time is spent sailing across open waters between boats. It is occasionally necessary to climb across rope grids, a feature that has been present in VR games since the invention of motion controllers.
Some are occupied with imitating a paddling motion to propel your kayak over obscure waters. The paddling motion only serves as a means to an end because the courses are linear; it never encourages mechanical innovation. You spent most of your time listening to oblique voices in the vicinity explaining things in more detail. Although there is only one path to take, there are some stealth components included as well, but it all feels very meaningless in the end.
The puzzles that resemble escape rooms are the finest parts. The puzzles in these chambers are of the “this unlocks that, which unlocks that” sort, adding some excitement to the otherwise monotonous kayaking or rope climbing. Sadly, they too turn out to be unimpressive. Every challenge was quite simple and needed very little in the way of constructive problem-solving; in fact, I frequently found myself second-guessing the significance of inconsequential artifacts scattered throughout the chambers, thinking that there could be no way they could be that simple? As it happened, they were.
The British Navy unexpectedly attacks both her and Guo’s force as she is returning. Whoever destroys both ships first will, for whatever reason, be deemed the new leader. When Gao hoists his flag first, Cheng Shih chooses to consult her neighborhood temple boat to the sea goddess, Mazou. A cutscene from the near future when each fleet chooses a new leader and supports the red fleet occurs as the game comes to a close.
Neither the poisoning attempt nor raising the flag first, nor the (apparent) consultation with Mazou, changed anything. All of the hard work up until the credits was in vain.
What about Cheng Shih’s remaining years?
Concerning the notorious closure of Tung Chung Bay? Or how she persuaded the Guangdong government to drop all charges against them in exchange for their retirement? She even pursued legal action against a government official for embezzlement and opened her own gambling establishment, leading a fascinating life even after retiring. This is all ignored in favor of a single, maybe unrealized instant in time, and is not addressed in any way throughout the game.
Lucy Liu’s portrayal of Cheng Shih flattens this already uninteresting encounter even further. Whether it was meeting with the sea goddess, scuttling inside the ship of a rival fleet commander, or firing guns at a naval attack that we never really saw.
The story also has some degree of discrepancy. The game provides a story full of erroneous or speculative elements in an attempt to emphasize a “forgotten legend.” It draws attention to a fight that, to the best of my knowledge, never occurred. Long after Cheng Shih had proven herself to be the commander of the Zheng pirate confederation, the British Navy joined the battle. She was never at odds with Guo Podai; in fact, most historians believe that she established control of the federation as a whole because of her familiarity with the head of the Black Fleet.
The art department of Singer Studios deserves the most praise. They are able to create an incredibly fashionable and eye-catching setting that perfectly captures the aesthetic and cultural influence of the sampan ships and junks that pirates utilized in the South China Sea. It all fits together really well. Unfortunately, the most of the game will take place in open waters, with little to appreciate but a few sampans until you locate the next puzzle area.
It is not worth your time to play The Pirate Queen – A Forgotten Legend since it is a dull game. Its simplistic gameplay and uninspired narrative did neither thrill or amuse me, and its pitifully little duration only made matters worse.
While Cheng Shih’s tale is fascinating and deserves more awareness, this game does a disservice to her heritage.