Page 109 - PC Gamer - UK (February 2020)

E X TR A LIFE

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NO W P L A Y ING UP D A TE H OW TO MOD S P O T L I GHT DIAR Y REINST ALL W H Y I LOV E M U S T P L A Y

“The alternative to life aboard is

drowning or incarceration”

Everyonegetsasecondchanceatdeathin ABANDON SHIP

I love Planky. Not only MAT THEW ELLIOT T investigating wrecks. I clear pirates
has she saved my life
from trade routes. I even sail the
after my previous ship
THIS MONTH
Second Chance into a stormy sea
Added a criminal doctor.
sunk; she’s
flotsammed (or maybe Didn’t do a Shipman joke. filled with ghost ships.
jetsammed) me to a friendly port. ALSO PLAYED HOSPITAL SHIP
Because even when things go Song of Horror, Having two surgeons is proving
wrong in Lovecraftian Age-of-Sail- The Stanley Parable useful. I can patch up my marines
meets-FTL game Abandon Ship, mid-fight, which is hilarious to
there’s always a chance the sea will or the ocean, and mercifully, only two visualise, but handy when we’re
carry you to more lucrative shores. of them are doctors. It means morale fighting Haliphron, man-sized
is great, if only because the aquatic monsters the Cult uses as
Unfortunately, there was no room on alternative to life aboard is drowning assault troops. Their ragtag origin
Planky for the rest of my crew, whose or incarceration. I decide to rename stories mean each of my crew feels
reluctant souls were condemned to my ship: the Horrible Clam becomes like they have a history and character,
the briny deep. And with my ship the Second Chance. which I love. I’m growing rather
went most of my gold, which makes The central story of Abandon Ship attached to a pretend crew in a game
hiring a new crew challenging. has you escaping from a mysterious with permadeath, but not so attached
It turns out, however, that cult that worships a subaqueous elder to prevent me going into battle with a
arsonists, murderers and ne’er do god, but I’ve diverted from that path ship beside an active volcano.
wells come at bargain prices, and my – not least because my last ship sunk Before long, the Second Chance is
first hire is a disgraced surgeon who’s while I was trying to destroy one of being showered with molten rock.
afraid of the dark – a steal at 15 gold, their forts. Instead, I make it my The only good news is that the
even if his criminal status prevents business to sail around looking for enemy ship is, too. A bell sounds
him from gaining experience. gainful, semi-legal employment. I warning me that hull integrity is
Welcome aboard, Booker! You purchase a diving bell for falling, and I ready a hovering finger
remember your hippocratic oath and over the lifeboat button. But all is not
I’ll remember candles. We sail past a lost: one of my discarded marines is
drowning sailor, pull them from the I EVEN SAIL THE SECOND an expert at special repairs – that’s
sea… it’s another surgeon. The deck CHANCE INTO A STORMY SEA not why I rescued you, Weller – and
looks like an episode of ER with his unique skills save the Second
rigging. My vessel ends up populated FILLED WITH GHOST SHIPS Chance. Not today, Planky. But
by people I’ve liberated from prison probably tomorrow.

The good news is the tidal waves
put out the fires. Wait, is that good?

Prison, or as I like to
call it, the ‘villain mall’.

FEBRUARY 2020 109