Bootleg Steamer

Bootleg Steamer is a trading roguelike set in the United States during Prohibition, from 1920 to 1933. As a captain, you buy cheap alcohol from underground brewers and sell it at a profit in cities and towns, each with its own demands. You navigate hazards, manage your money and build a smuggling operation while evading the Coast Guard and dealing with the Mafia.

Build your smuggling operation

Choose from 6 captains, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, and recruit crew members with individual strengths and drawbacks. You can select and upgrade ships or buy new ones, balancing speed, steering, loading times and cargo capacity. The game includes 60 playable ships, 60 crew members and 15 pets, including cats, dogs, parrots and rare sea creatures.

You can use 10 special abilities to handle threats. These include the Tangle Net Launcher, which slows the Coast Guard; the Alcohol Super Charger, which uses smuggled alcohol to fuel the engine; and Divine Favour, which hides illegal cargo during your next inspection if you are caught.

Navigate changing waters

Explore over 50 maps across the American continent, spanning oceans, rivers and lakes. Each map offers a different setting and challenge. Weather phenomena include whirlpools, storms and water currents, which you can navigate around or use to your advantage. Coast Guard pursuit, financial setbacks and your own choices also shape each run.

Deals and events

Take Mafia contracts and use the organisation’s influence, while avoiding its wrath; debts are collected with interest. You can also interact with locals, help a rail baron, support cities hit by the Great Depression and contribute to the construction of the Empire State Building. Build connections with customers and host Sea Parties visible from shore.

Track your career

The logbook tracks your seasonal smuggling operations, including your crew, ships and profits. You can record mistakes and use them to improve year by year as you uncover new misadventures.