As the developer Cyan Worlds puts it, Stoneship, the latest game from the people who brought us the gaming classic Myst, is a lighthearted new puzzle title that seems almost at odds with their previous serious adventuring style. However, should you skip out on playing Stoneship out of some odd form of elitism, you'd be doing yourself a disservice.

For a game that revolves around turn-based strategic exploration to optimize your pirating operations and defend it from against fellow pirating foes, it's an incredibly easy game to dive in to. Each round involves attempting to explore the current map, searching for safe harbors to network with each other, increasing your available number of crew, while also looting caches of weaponry and fighting monsters of the sea to increase your renown before that final showdown. Once each level is completed you'll be awarded points for the efficacy of your operation and despite nothing changing on each level, repeat performances can be tricky as you attempt to memorize everything on the board.

A light, simple cartoonish visual style ties the game together, however there's not a lot of variety other than a handful of interesting monsters and pirate ships to briefly shoot at. As you progress you'll also unlock new 'first mates' to provide specific bonuses that will help to get those gold level completions.

While the strategy may not be deep, Stoneship's light puzzle gameplay has a moreish appeal that's just perfect for casual puzzlers on the go and is definitely worth checking out.