All ashore that's going ashore! The Ship was one of my favorite disappointments of my earlier Steam days: a wonderful idea that never got the player base it deserved. It was the Sims meets Hitman, as you not only had to stalk and dispatch your prey with a creative arsenal but also had to manage a variety of needs such as Hunger, Thirst, and... Nature's Call. Nothing could compare to waiting for your quarry to sit down on the commode to do their business and then bursting in with a samurai sword. And now it's being Remasted... er... remastered.
In The Ship, the players are invited aboard the titular Ship (actually one of several different ships, depending on the level chosen). Once there, they are given an avatar with random features, a random name, and a quarry they must kill out of sight of the game's Law, represented by guards and security cameras. The quarry is unaware of who exactly is hunting them, only that one of the other passengers has it in for them. Successfully slaying your prey netted you money based on how often the weapon was used: if everyone was getting kills with the bat, bat kills yielded less money.
As if contending with a killer from the shadows wasn't enough, you also had to take care of your passenger. Their needs bars would constantly be rising and falling, forcing you to, say, visit the dining car to sit down at one of the tables and catch a quick bite, or perhaps going into one of the dreaded stalls, a popular killing ground, to relieve a different need. If you neglected these needs, you would die in a suitable fashion and be out of the round. My favorite needs based death was death by dehydration, where your passenger crumbled to dust and blew away.
The game was far from perfect, as the controls were less than tight and there was no substantial penalty for killing the wrong target, so many games just degraded into mindless bloodbaths as opposed to the thoughtful game of cat and mouse it was supposed to be. But at the end of the day, it just never garnered a large enough fanbase. There are still some servers around, as far as I can tell, but not many. Here's hoping that this Ship floats better than its predecessor. The Ship: Remasted is sailing into Early Access this February. Click here for the official website, and check out the trailer below.
As if contending with a killer from the shadows wasn't enough, you also had to take care of your passenger. Their needs bars would constantly be rising and falling, forcing you to, say, visit the dining car to sit down at one of the tables and catch a quick bite, or perhaps going into one of the dreaded stalls, a popular killing ground, to relieve a different need. If you neglected these needs, you would die in a suitable fashion and be out of the round. My favorite needs based death was death by dehydration, where your passenger crumbled to dust and blew away.
The game was far from perfect, as the controls were less than tight and there was no substantial penalty for killing the wrong target, so many games just degraded into mindless bloodbaths as opposed to the thoughtful game of cat and mouse it was supposed to be. But at the end of the day, it just never garnered a large enough fanbase. There are still some servers around, as far as I can tell, but not many. Here's hoping that this Ship floats better than its predecessor. The Ship: Remasted is sailing into Early Access this February. Click here for the official website, and check out the trailer below.