Whatever it is, right now I feel like being part of a well-lubed crew is less interesting than being part of a rowdy crowd of new players. Maybe some social element beyond a player-run vote, or some motive beyond running down the enemy’s tickets – possibly the least interesting competitive multiplayer design since the vanilla deathmatch. When your ship gets rammed, the resulting bedlam is invariably hilarious.īut for all of this, it feels like there’s still a hole in the deck. There's good and bad weather that has a real impact on the fighting. There’s a method to wearing down the enemy vessel and a method to breaking away from a dangerous chase. There’s a grappling hook that can only be used if the captain gives a direct command to do so via the in-game orders. There’s different types of shot to load into the cannons, some damaging hull and some damaging crew. There are swivel guns that damage sails and slow your targets. There’s definitely a strategy to the battles, especially at the level of the cap’n. Some essence or feature that can throw good teamwork or good captaincy into disarray. Efficiency is how you win the game, it’s what every captain is aiming for, but it’s also what makes the experience of being a sailor less interesting. It feels like there is something missing from these naval skirmishes. But after repeating the same tasks over and over, the fun is destined to dry up like a bone bleaching in the sun. I can grab the powder and load the shot with the best of them. But it’s also what keeps me from enjoying Blackwake as much as my crewmates. It’s a part of what makes teamwork-based games good, what someone once described as the joy of videogames in it’s purest form - “being assigned a task and then completing that task”.
When you work side-by-side with everyone, sponger I and loader you, you become a small component in a larger machine, ready to fulfill your duty come hell or high water (and the latter is a constant worry). I can see the appeal in having one job and doing it well. But there is trouble, for me, in finding a reason to stay once you’ve got the hang of it. Or, if you’ve successfully nominated yourself as the captain on arrival, a game of giving good orders and not suffering a mutiny (this is just a player-run vote that can happen at any time). Of following orders and making sure your manpower does not go to waste. The battles normally feature three pirate ships versus three navy ships (although there is a 1v1 mode) with the winner being the first to diminish the enemy’s “tickets” in the style of ye olde Battlefield.Īt it’s core, it’s a game of teamwork. And there’s something claustrophobic about seeing the same place five minutes later through the blue blur of water as you all swim around trying to patch up the holes that are causing the massive hulk to sink. There’s something impressive about looking down this line of guns and seeing a man stationed at each one, ready to fire on the captain’s orders. There are a few ship sizes, with the largest being a monstrous galleon packed with cannons below deck. In which case, it’s cutlasses and broken bottles at the ready, because the guns reload at the comically true-to-life pace of a 17 th century weapon. Should the opportunity arise, you might try to board the enemy. Tasks range from loading and firing cannons, repairing hull damage or sail damage, pumping out water, restocking the cannon supplies, or taking potshots with your musket at enemy crewmen if they are close enough. They steer the ship, and you’re on red alert. Even as you too are blasted away into the sea.Īs a crewman, it’s your job to do something useful and follow your captain’s orders.
When you’re walking along deck and you see your fellow sailor blown away in ragdoll glory by a distant and well-aimed cannon shot, it’s hard not to smile at their misfortune, even as you patch up the hole in the deck with your hammer. It’s what I’d call a ‘Hall-of-the-Mountain-King-like’, because that's the royalty-free music that early access games often use in their trailer to invoke a sense of chaos and silliness, a musical composition that has, as a result, become a coded signal for games which are roughewn and therefore “funny”.Īnd Blackwake can be funny. It’s large-scale naval warfare with crews of up to 16 people. Ahoy friendy! If you want to be a true-to-life sea dog just like me, the firey bosom of Blackwake awaits. This time, the maritime multiplayer mayhem of Blackwake. Every week we send Brendan onto the high seas of early access to see what booty he can plunder.
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