Abandon Ship Review (Shoomakan)
I have mixed feelings about Abandon Ship. One one hand, it's the first game I've ever played that lets me enjoy a proper sea battle. On the other, I feel like they could have added some more content, namely ship designs. FTL is referenced a lot here (I'm an FTL veteran and agree with this) and FTL does ships better. Sure, I get how a Man O War is a better ship than a canoe, but in FTL the differentiation between ships was loadouts and built in abilities (teleporter, flak, mind control, etc) whereas here it's just a crew amount and HP differential mostly. Weapons are kinda limited but honestly.. it's set in the past. And they still manged to give us a Tesla cannon... :D So people complaining about lack of weapons need to remember this is set in the 1800's at best and that miniguns and laser beams didn't exist then.
Would be super nice to have a ship builder that you could do yourself. Like, within a certain class to balance a bit but at least I could make what I want.
Music is good and atmospheric, text prompts and events are equal parts harrowing/amusing/serious. Combat mechanics are good, haven't had a single bug in the game.
This game needs to be played in Iron Captain and hard difficulty. At that point it becomes a fight for survival. Several times I'd have a great ship, weapons, and crew; but an enemy's lucky shot would screw up something vital at a wrong time and I'd be doomed. It's not at all easy and I find it the most fun at this point.
Like FTL, it's a game that's easy to get into but difficult to master. Past a certain point/difficulty, timing becomes as important as loadouts and crew.
I recommend this game at full price, so if you ever find it on sale, get on board!
Avast, mateys!