Ships at Sea (PC) - Preview

I’ve mentioned my only experience of being on a boat at sea before a number of times, a fishing trip where I left more of myself there than I took out. Yet despite that horrible experience, I’m always looking for fishing games that go a bit more in-depth. Set in the archipelago of Lofoten, Norway, Misc Games’ third title focuses similarly to the developer’s Fishing series. Ships at Sea is a very dry dad-sim. I say this as someone who loves a Euro Truck/American Truck Sim, a Construction Sim, Gas Station Sim, and countless others.

That said, anyone who views Ships at Sea as a high-octane, action-packed game should pick a more interesting favorite color than beige. Put simply, Ships at Sea is graphically stilted, the performance is questionable on higher settings, and the gameplay is quite simple and “dull.” So why do I find myself enjoying it so much in early access? I’m partial to a dad-sim/a “boomer” sim if you’re young enough, but even then I’ve not found one where I’m writing about it as I travel 13 knots an hour between islands to make a delivery 20 miles away.

Starting with a rowboat out of the harbor of Røst: yes, there will be a lot of non-English-based letters and characters, we’re talking about Norway. With your rowboat, you have to row, row, row your boat, gently out to sea to fish with something called a “Jigger.” It looks like a child’s rattle toy, but nonetheless, you’ll do this to appease the tutorial which doesn’t explain much at all anyway. From there you’ll gain an ungodly amount of money and progress to a boat at least from this century. From then on you are doing delivery quests and fishing in an open-ended business sim.

I can’t fault Misc Games for much (though I will), even if the map is a bit wonky, almost everything is proficient enough that with a bit of guidance, you could easily understand. I also like that the tutorial isn’t holding hands and telling you where every button is. However, I would have at least liked to have known there was an autopilot so I could plot a course and go make a three-course meal. At that point, I think the major “flaw” of Ships at Sea creeps in: Why am I even here if there is nothing to do?

This might seem like a tangent, but there is a point to it. Euro and American Truck Sim doesn’t give you straight roads to drive on because that would be boring. Gas Station Sim doesn’t have you just working the register because that would be dull eventually. The trouble with running commercial fishing boats and cargo transport boats is that seas are big and fairly empty. At least in this early access release, the world is flat (metaphorically) and lifeless. Every other boat in the known universe seemingly docked up, and despite the mention of fines, no port speed limits or out-of-season fishery fines.

At the time of writing, Ships at Sea is less a proof of concept that needs refinement and more proof of existence. I’m not saying this to dissuade anyone, I’m saying it to be realistic. From Røst to Værøy it is a nearly 20-mile trip in a straight line, ducking and dodging bits of land jutting out of the sea maybe adds another 2 miles. The thing between the two? Nothing. No sea life, no humans drowning themselves out of boredom, no fishing boats sitting still trying to catch cod, absolutely nothing for (to quote The Who) miles and miles and miles.

Yet somehow through all of that, I’ve found myself in one session going from 3 hours played to 15 hours played. It helps I’ve had months of podcasts built up, though even then I’m sat here with the tier 2 cargo boat gently auto-piloting to Vedøya, writing and refining this written piece on a second screen. I’m trying to figure out what exactly a “common” player would be doing right now. Would they be watching YouTube videos? Flicking through social media? Writing up essays on the latest in screws used to build these sizes of boats? I honestly can’t think of what it could be.

The truth is Ships at Sea doesn’t want you, at this point, to have any sense of direction and its tutorial ends at “ok, buy a cargo boat and play with yourself.” The commercial fishing “tutorial” is hidden away in a help menu, and those menus were designed by the bargain bin committee. I like that the graphical options are apparent in real-time and there is a detailed in-game frame counter/set of performance stats, right down to the milliseconds it takes to generate those frames. However, the menus themselves do everything they are supposed to and no more.

Returning to the point about the tutorial and commercial fishing: It would be nice if you knew what was going on there as you can make one to two million a day. Better still, it gives you something to do, almost. You are still setting auto-pilot plots and following that, but you do have to bait long lines, hook the fish back on board, and sell them, resulting in 1000% more gameplay than cargo offers. I wish I could be more excited, but the truth is the truth. Fishing (much like golf) is dull, yet for some reason, I enjoy it anyway.

What might have helped at least a little is if the electrical issues and fires noted both in the skill tree and the help menu were actually there. Admittedly, I didn’t take those skills but after 24 hours of playtime, you’d think these things would crop up, right? Maybe not every 10 minutes, but certainly now and again damaging the boat a little to incentivize me into taking those skills to solve the issues. The question I have is: If they aren’t showing up, negatively impact the health of the boat, and are only active once I have those skills, why would I take them?

Among the countless bugs and graphical glitches you’d find, maybe this was one of them. I’ve had boats that have been raptured, I’ve had boats that were (while docked) dragged to hell, I’ve had fish make like John Denver and fly, I’ve had cargo go missing, and everything else you could think of. Aside from the cargo issue and the cranes not registering drop-off points in Værøy after a long trip from Røst, the rest are funny “oh simulators!” issues. These issues will hopefully be fixed by the full release date.

It might not seem like it given how much I’ve complained about Ships at Sea, and it’s true, I think this may have been a little early to release but I also enjoy it for what it is. Hopefully, Misc Games can add more boats, add more things to do, have more interactivity, and generally make Ships at Sea more about ships and less about small boats. I enjoyed the majority of my time with Ships at Sea, though I can’t say it was (pardon the pun) all plain sailing. Ultimately it is a flawed early access release, but one that’s enjoyable if you have any interest in games about commercial fishing.

A PC preview copy of Ships at Sea was provided by Misc Games for this preview.