An Introduction to Dread Admiral

I'm Erich, the solo developer behind Dread Admiral, and I wanted to take some time to introduce the game and talk about what makes it special.

At its core, Dread Admiral is a turn-based naval roguelite where every decision matters. You'll command a persistent fleet across a hostile archipelago while being relentlessly pursued by the Black Fleet. Every ship you lose is gone forever; time is always against you.

What is Dread Admiral?

Dread Admiral is a turn-based strategy game about naval warfare. Each turn, you'll attempt to capture cities, build up your forces, position your units, and then engage in combat.

I've put together a short video below to give you a better look at what Dread Admiral is all about:

The campaign is where you'll spend most of your time choosing between missions as you move across the archipelago. Each map is unique, has its own mission, has its own reward, and can have modifiers that give the opponent various advantages, such as an ambush, fortifications, or control over multiple cities at the start of a battle.

Your only time limit is the threat of the Black Fleet. Every turn, the timer ticks down by one, and when the timer runs out, your enemy will receive free reinforcements every turn, meaning your eventual failure is quickly inevitable.

However, each mission objective is optional in the campaign.

The only thing required is that you cross the map with your fleet to the exit area and get your flagship out alive.

Your fleet travels with you between maps during the campaign, as well as your money, any remaining turns you had from the previous map, and any other rewards that you earn. Your only overriding goal over the entire campaign is to survive it and then destroy the Dread Admiral himself.

What's the longevity like?

Each campaign is 10 missions long, and each battle will average about 1 hour. Your game is saved every turn, and losing your flagship will end your campaign.

The game includes 14 ships, more than 20 building options for your cities, dozens of perks to modify your economy, experience gained, or many other options. You'll earn these perks alongside difficult achievements and a meta progression system of 54 ranks spread across five levels of prestige.

Each rank will allow you more upgrades for your flagship, and each prestige will allow you more perks for your navy.

Additional game modes include Quick Battle and Skirmish, which you can try in the demo.

Quick Battle is effectively "dad mode," allowing you to get a battle in within 15 to 20 minutes, and Skirmish allows a tailored experience of both difficulty and grandeur, taking about 1 hour depending on the map size and difficulty modifiers.

The campaign is intended to be brutally difficult, akin to FTL or Darkest Dungeon, but on release, there will be four difficulty options.

Closing Thoughts

I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions you have in the comments or on our Discord Server!

Thanks for taking the time to learn more about Dread Admiral!

If what you've seen sounds like your kind of challenge, I'd love for you to give the SNF free demo a try and let me know what you think. Your feedback has been incredibly valuable throughout development and continues to help shape the game.

And if you'd like to follow the journey and support the project, please consider wishlisting Dread Admiral on Steam.

Dread Admiral Demo