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Abandon Ship

Abandon Ship - Early Access Impressions

We've been aboard Fireblade's nautical adventure as it sails through Early Access.

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When we first clocked Abandon Ship, we instantly got vibes that screamed FTL with pirates. That mishmash of ideas was enough to have us well and truly intrigued. Since then we've been keeping one eye (the other one's under a patch, naturally) on the game's development, sharing gameplay trailers with you here on GR, waiting for the chance to get our hands on the ship's wheel, so to speak.

Our initial impression of Abandon Ship as a pirate game was a bit misplaced, and after spending a couple of hours playing through the start of the game we've discovered a much stronger emphasis on narrative than what we expected. Instead of pirates with hooks and big bushy beards, there's an arcane element to the story. Rather than searching for treasure and carving out a reputation on the high seas, straight away you're on the run, your very life at stake. As a prominent figure in some sort of arcane cult, you decide you've had enough and decide to make a break from freedom, stopping by the jail to free some captives on your way out the door.

Your getaway car is a modest ship, armed with a few simple weapons, but seaworthy and ready to set sail. At this point, narrative exposition makes way for the isometric view of your ship that accompanies you for most of your nautical adventure. The FTL comparisons come into play here, as you're sending your crew to various stations aboard the ship, either manning the wheel, pumping out water or, of course, firing the cannons. If you've played Subset's masterpiece then you'll have a fair idea as to what to expect, and as you can probably imagine, the concept makes the crossover pretty effortlessly.

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There are a few notable differences that extend beyond the theme, one of which being you can move closer and further away from any opponent you encounter, and regular battles are mixed up with encounters with a Cthulhu-esque Kraken who likes to chase you around the map before wrapping its massive tentacles around the ship, forcing your crew to abandon their duties and slash away until the beast relinquishes its grip.

The combat is actually rather straightforward. Moving between lanes you move towards or away from your opponents, finding the right range that bests suits your cannons and tactics. You can fire specific weapons to target a particular part of the enemy vessel, shredding the sails, cutting the crew, or just aiming at a particular station on their ship. You fire, they fire, with both sets of crews reacting to damage in a dance that plays out a bit more slowly than that we expected it to. It feels like a real slogging match at times, and more important than trying to land a knockout blow is going in with a decisive strategy and holding your nerve and sticking to it.

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These flashes of combat are encountered as you explore the high seas. There's a map that links the whole world together, and each section represents a smaller sandbox play area where you control a miniature version of your ship. You steer the ship like a nautical Micro Machine, slicing through the waves in search of adventure, and each of these explorable areas contains a number of objectives to find, whether they be resources to grab or enemies to fight. Once you've found enough objectives, which are uncovered one at a time as you peel back the fog of war, you unlock the exit and can proceed to the next.

And that, in a nutshell, is the basic setup. You explore the world, take your chances in the many encounters hidden on the map, and occasionally call into a port to upgrade your ship and recruit new crew members to help you on your journey. Having extra bodies onboard is certainly helpful as you can man more stations, and if/when two ships come together and one crew boards the other vessel, an extra sword or two can make the difference. Your crew also has specialisations, which means staffing your ship with care will also give you an extra edge during combat.

Abandon Ship was both a surprise and exactly what we thought it was going to be, although we didn't know much about the narrative layer going in, which made for a curious introduction. Having not played it extensively, it's hard to say how much depth there is, and it's going to be crucial for Fireblade Studios to elaborate on the world they've built and fill it with things to challenge and delight players as they explore. The combat seems quite interesting, and some of the fights we've had went down to the wire, although maybe overall the battles would benefit from a being a little more succinct. That said, we still see potential here, and based on our first hours on the game, we're looking forward to returning once the anchor has been raised and Abandon Ship sets sail out of early access.

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Abandon ShipScore

Abandon Ship

REVIEW. Written by Mike Holmes

"Despite some limitations, Abandon Ship is a polished and engaging adventure"



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