*Advertising disclosure* - After this review was posted, Black Shell Media became an advertising partner.  This review is not influenced by this relationship.

Thank you Black Shell Media for sending us the review code.

Urban Pirate is an engrossing crime simulator developed and published by Baby Duka. The main character lives on Sheep Island, a large area inhabited mostly by a large city home to all of the “robbers, murderers, conservatives, and other violent criminals”, as the game puts it (of course, they had to associate conservatives with all these other evildoers). They (the main character) quit their job and moved to a forest in the western part of Sheep Island in order to satisfy their lust to live dangerously.

Urban Pirate is played through a series of eleven levels, and in each level, the player must survive a certain number of days. As levels are completed, more locations are unlocked in Sheep Island to go each day to commit crime or buy food/drugs. The player must press the space bar to end each day, but they can only survive without food and socialization for a few days. They are only able to do one thing each day, whether they need to socialize at the “Squat” to maintain pristine mental health or shoplift food at the supermarket in order to not starve. There is no option to buy food at the supermarket; the player must shoplift it without getting caught in order to be able to actually consume something when they press E to eat.

Once the level is started, the player will see a map of Sheep Island with all of their currently unlocked locations and an indicator showing where the character is situated; the character starts at their camp, where they start and end each day. The arrow keys allow the player to move their character about the island, fulfilling their needs for physical and mental nourishment.

If the player is caught shoplifting food, they have to be able to run away from whoever is chasing their character. Otherwise, they will have to pay a fine at the police station with the little amount of money the player does start with and will not be allowed in the store for a few days. Also, upon that happening, it will be harder to get around town, because a police car will patrol the town, and upon the character bumping into it, they will be searched for any illegal or stolen possessions. If the search comes back positive, the character will be in a predicament: they will be fined, jailed, or both.

The Squat is not always available to socialize in, however. Sometimes the player will find that police cars and ambulances will be surrounding the place, preventing any entrances. This occurrence will delay the renewing of the character’s mental health meter that should take place every couple of days.

Another thing that is sometimes required to complete the level is buying marijuana – referred to as weed in the game – from the dealer. Players must press S to smoke it, and doing so makes them hungrier, yet it also boosts their mood by a few points.

In Urban Pirate, the player must use the arrow keys to move about the island, because WASD is not supported. They can at any time press F1 to access the menu, F2 to open the guide, F3 to view their mission for that level, F4 to turn the music on/off, and F5 to turn fullscreen on/off.

In this title, moral warnings are a big deal. Shoplifting, smoking weed, and going to prison count as achievements, and for any person with good morals, that alone raises a red flag. Also, in the trailer for Urban Pirate on the Steam store page for it, near the end of the video the main character’s avatar was showcased sticking both of their middle fingers in the air. The fact that this game encourages such delinquent-like behavior leads me to the conclusion that Urban Pirate is not the best game choice for a strong Christian or a young child.

Otherwise, however, I would recommend this game to a person looking to release their inner delinquent in a manner that does not hurt anyone. It may bring frustration to those who are easily angered by slight inconveniences such as the Squat being blocked by police cars or the character being caught while shoplifting, but other than that, Urban Pirate is a pretty enjoyable game.