We put updates on our progress in the Community Forums, but we wanted to post up some details of the new weapons and upgrades that are coming as part of the next Beta Branch update, just to whet your appetitie :)
This is a very small part of what we have coming, and we're really excited to show you everything when the update is ready to launch.
Gargoyles are an alternative upgrade that goes in the Harpoon slot.
If you come into contact with an enemy vessel, they spew out gouts of flame onto your ship, acting like one-shot flamethrowers.
The player is in control of when their own Gargoyles will fire, so has greater agency over when to deploy them.
The Anti-Boarding spikes line the rails of a ship, and any enemy leaping across will take damage as they do so.
Perennial boarders taking on ships with Gargoyles and Anti-Boarding Spikes may have to think twice before engaging!
These go into the Cannon slots on your ship, and only work at FAR range. However, they are the most powerful weapon in the game when it comes to causing hull damage.
If you like to control the battlefield and keep your distance, Catapults can be extremely devastating.
If you're on the receiving end of them, you'll want to get closer - fast!
This Swivel Gun fires a blast of Lightning at the enemy crew. The lightning will chain across multiple nearby crew members, causing damage. This damage is increased if there is rain in the combat.
One interesting facet of the lightning gun is that when it hits crew members, it briefly interrupts their actions, which can be put to good use disrupting them at key moments.
The Web Gun is a Swivel Gun that encases crew in a web cocoon. While in this state, the crew member is trapped, blocking the space they occupy (useful for shooting people on single-manned items like the Ship's Wheel or Winch).
It takes a long time for a crew member to break out of the cocoon on their own, although other crew can help cut them out - if you're prepared to drag other crew away from their duties.
If you like to harass and disrupt the enemy crew, this is the weapon for you.
Occupying the Swivel Gun slot, the Berserk Dart targets enemy crew. When hit, it turns that crew member berserk, attacking the closest target, regardless of whether they are friend or foe. Once the effects of the berserk dart have elapsed, the crew member returns to normal.
Another great weapon for griefing the enemy!
The Timed Bomb is a mortar that launches a projectile with a fuse.
That projectile will embed into the enemy deck, and a timer will appear above it. If the timer expires, the bomb will explode in a very large radius, causing massive damage.
However, if a crew member can reach the bomb in time, they can defuse it (defusing pauses the timer), where it will be harmlessly removed.
This is useful for pulling enemy crew away from other duties, but the real fun starts when you combine this with some of the existing and new crowd control weapons. A Timed Bomb plus Acid Mortar combo is quite devastating, and it's always a pleasure to hit defusers with the Suppression Gun moments before the bomb goes off.
We've been having a lot of fun testing these weapons on the enemy, and dealing with the effects of the enemy using them on your own crew :)
When the update goes live (ETA late July if all goes to plan), we'll post about it here, and leave it in the Beta Branch for a while to get feedback on the latest additions. Any necessary balancing tweaks and bug fixes can then be made before bundling Beta Branch Updates 3 & 4 into our next Major Update that will be released into the Main version of the game.
We're busy working away on our next Major Update, which is going to be packed with loads of exciting new systems. As we implement new features we trial them on a publicly available Beta Branch for feedback and testing. This Beta Branch Update includes what we've been working on recently, and we'll talk more about what is coming soon!
To learn how to gain access to the Beta Branch, click on this link:
If the version number in the bottom-right corner of the Main Menu ends in 8765 or later, you have the correct version. Some bug fixes plus new features mean your saves from previous versions will not work with this update, although those saves will work fine if you revert back to the main version of the game.
Let's take a look at what's in this latest update:
Expanded Crew Sizes, New Skills
This has been a popular request, so crew size is now dependant on the ship class and on the larger ships, goes up to 8.
-- Only the biggest vessels will support a crew of 8 --
We've also given the rest of the crew unique skills to differentiate them further:
Captain: Leader. Provides a passive bonus to whatever action the crew on your ship are doing.
Navigator: Evasive Manoeuvres. When manning the wheel, reduces the accuracy of enemy fire.
Marine: Dodge. Reduces the damage received.
Sailor: Special Repairs. Provides a bonus to extinguishing fires, repairing hull cracks and pumping water.
Gunner: Accuracy. Increases the chance of hitting when firing cannons or mortars.
The Surgeon of course already has their 'Heal' Skill.
Autofire
Another popular request: every single weapon in the game can now be toggled between manual fire and autofire!
-- Weapons set to Autofire will have a gold highlight that circles the Weapon Button. Right-Click the Weapon Button to toggle Autofire on and off --
Major Balancing
We've been undertaking some major balancing improvements to the entire game. This has been necessary due to previous updates, as well as the changes to crew sizes, and to fix / improve some existing issues. Some highlights include:
The way the AI scale in difficulty no longer has anything to do with your ship class, so it should remove / reduce the feeling of "I've got a new ship, and so did the enemy".
The AI are now more aggressive than previously.
Cannon Targeting has now been visualised with a system which is much clearer to read, and Section Damage has been re-balanced so it is less attritional. It now feels more viable a strategy to target a section and destroy it without the AI being too proactive and immediately fixing it.
Fires and Hull Cracks are more likely to appear when firing weapons that cause them. Fires and Hull Cracks will be less dangerous on Easy Mode and more dangerous on Hard Mode.
We'll continually tweak this as we develop, but from what we've played internally, this feels like a solid improvement. Let us know what you think!
-- Targeting the enemy ship with cannons will now display a red highlight to show which section you are targeting --
Iron Captain Mode
In previous updates, we added Magistrate Saves; a way of manually saving if you found a rare Captain's Log. 'Iron Captain' Mode is something you can select when creating a new game and means there are no Captain's Logs in the game.
Key Bindings Menu
You can now re-map your keys in the new Key Bindings menu!
Community Translations In-Progress!
Some amazing members of our community are busy translating the game. So far we have translations for French, German, Spanish and Italian in the pipeline, and as work continues we'll make these available via the Beta Branch system until they're completed.
We've got extensive documentation and a super-convenient tool that allows local testing of translations in-engine, so if you're interested in being part of the Community Translation Project, then check out this link here:
We've fixed a load of bugs and made lots of other improvements to the game. Some worth bringing to your attention are:
Crew commands can now be given when hovering over their widgets in the bottom left (e.g. making it easier to heal when the surgeon is selected, or stabilise someone who has been incapacitated)
Monologues and single-choice event message boxes can be continued by pressing the main "Enter" key.
Escape can now be used to close the Settings UI and "Cancel" Confirmation boxes
Reduction in crew standing in the same space to improve readability when boarding.
There is a new music track in the game, which can be heard in Sub-Tropical areas. For those that own the Abandon Ship Soundtrack, you'll have already heard this.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this latest update, so follow the instructions in the link to find out how to gain access and provide feedback:
We're really excited about what is coming as part of our next Major Update: New Weapons, some additions to Exploration Mode, plus a couple of BIG surprises too! We'll provide updates on our progress.
Thanks for all of the support and feedback :)
The Abandon Ship Crew
Abandon Ship Soundtrack out now!
We've received a lot of requests for releasing the soundtrack, and with good reason - Composer Aaron Miller has created an epic score, suitably rousing and appropriate for ship battles in tumultuous seas!
Aaron has remastered the music from the game into an album. The full track listing is as follows:
Abandon Ship (Main Theme)
Head Hunters
Beyond The Great Divide
Battle Of The Prodigal Son
From The Silence To The Resound
Big Game Hunting
Folly's End
Skin Merchant's Lament
His First Children
Battle In The Tropics
Return To Landfall
Voltraré
You can get a hold of the soundtrack by visiting the Steam store:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/848370/Abandon_Ship__Official_Soundtrack/
You can also buy the album or individual tracks through Bandcamp:
https://aaronmillermusic.bandcamp.com/
Spotify and iTunes availability is on the way!
Major Update Released: Treasures of the Deep
Greetings Captain!
Our first major update focuses on feedback from the community, and we've added some big systems that substantially improve the game. These concentrate on the following areas:
Implementing an alternate solution to instant-killing crew in events
Offering ways to get out of the 'downward spiral' that could occur if things were going badly or recovering from ship destruction.
Supplementing the save system outlined in the Roadmap.
Adding a "Quick Start" option that skips the opening section.
These issues often compounded each other and could prove frustrating. The post below describes our solution to these problems, and there is also a short video that explains some of our changes here:
https://youtu.be/Br7c1grFk3Q?t=0s
Before we dive into the latest changes, some important house-keeping: Because we’ve had to change the world to accommodate these new systems, your saves from previous versions will not work with this latest update.
If you are mid-playthrough on the original version and wish to continue it, then you may switch over to this older version of the game via the Beta Branches system:
Go to your Steam Library
Right-click on Abandon Ship and select "Properties"
Go to the tab marked "Betas"
In the drop-down box, select the one called "Launch Version (0.5.8082)"
Wait for the game to finish updating, you should see the branch name listed after the game name.
Badly Hurt
Events no longer insta-kill your crew! Instead, they will make them "Badly Hurt", which means they are unavailable in combat until you have revived them in an Apothecary.
This removes the feeling of unfairness while still making player choice important - and crucially, recovery is under player control.
Crew Traits System
There is now a Traits system, which gives your crew more character. Traits can be either Physical or Mental, and Positive or Negative.
When crew become Badly Hurt, they will gain a Negative Physical Trait. They will also gain one if they become Incapacitated in Combat.
Traits provide a small bonus or penalty to actions in Combat and stack up in ways that can affect your tactics in battle.
We've had a lot of fun coming up with Traits, and we're sure the community will have plenty of fun ideas too :)
Apothecary
If your crew member is Badly Hurt, you'll want to head to the new Apothecary in Ports to revive them.
Apothecaries can also cure Negative Physical Traits.
Prisons
If you've survived Ship Destruction, or escaped a battle with barely any crew, it could be extremely tough to work your way back to the top. Now, if you're down on your luck, head to a Prison.
Here you'll be able to get cheap crew by paying their fine so they can serve on your ship. Prisoners are base-level and have several negative traits - one Mental Trait means they will never gain experience, so while Prisoners can get you out of a tight spot, they're unlikely to hold a permenant spot on your ship.
Magistrate & “Magistrate Saves”
Accessed via the Tavern option in Port, the Magistrate offers you the chance to create a manual save (what we call a “Magistrate Save”). To perform a Magistrate Save, you must use a Captain’s Log. These are finite items spread throughout the world that you must find.
Your Magistrate Save and Autosave are tied to the same playthrough. If you die, you no longer have to resume from the start of the game, but can now continue playing from your last Magistrate Save. You have one Magistrate Save per playthrough, so performing a new Magistrate Save will overwrite your previous one. Your moment-to-moment progress is still constantly autosaved as it has always been.
We feel this method retains the danger of loss should you die, but takes the extreme edge from having to restart the entire game, potentially losing so much playtime that it became frustrating. Now, you have a decision to make: Do you expend these rare items to create a Magistrate Save, or keep going and risk losing more progress?
The Magistrate is where you can also submit your charts of the local area and be paid Gold in return. This is a low-risk way to earn money, particularly helpful if you’re recovering from ship destruction.
Shipwrecks and the Diving Bell
There is a new upgrade available from ports: The Diving Bell. This can be used to gain access to new events scattered around the world: Shipwrecks.
Aside from the more common standard shipwrecks, there are rarer, former Empire flagships to find. If the player uses the Diving Bell on one of these “Golden Shipwrecks”, they can obtain a Captain’s Log, which is required to perform a Magistrate Save.
Golden Shipwrecks are rare. You’ll find one in an entire region, or two in the largest ones. Some regions may not have one at all. If you’re lucky, you may happen across one, otherwise you’ll have to go looking for them.
Quick-Start
We’re aware that some players starting a new game wish to just dive straight into the action, so we have created a Quick-Start option. When you commence a new game, tick the appropriate box to be spawned in a place where you can immediately get going.
-- The ship icon shows where you begin a Quick-Start game --
In order to teach all of the new mechanics in this and the previous update, we have made some adjustments to the start of the game. Now, once you leave the area where the Cult attack the Port, you will be funnelled to a map where new players will be taught everything. We’re also expecting to use this map as an opportunity to teach systems we have planned for the future. Outside this new port in the fourth map is where a Quick-Start game commences.
Difficulty
While some of the changes in this, plus previous updates, have made the game less frustrating by removing friction points, we’re aware that some players find the game too easy.
In this update we've made Hard mode spawn tougher enemies in combat. Throughout Early Access we’ll be continually tweaking the difficulty, plus adding options and systems that offer a tougher challenge for those that want it.
New Ships
We’ve added two new Ship Classes to fill the gaps in the roster: The Corvette and Cruiser. This smooths out some of the sudden jumps the AI make in ship size.
As part of our roadmap plans, we’ll be offering more ship variety that affects gameplay and player choice in what they upgrade to.
Miscellaneous
There are of course a whole host of other bug-fixes, polish and quality-of-life improvements included as part of this update, and you can read the list of these here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/551860/discussions/9/3211505894123943351/
This update is just one step along our voyage through Early Access, and we're already working on both improving what is already there, as well as adding some really exciting things.
We'd love to hear your feedback, so please join us in our Steam Community Forums, and thanks to those who have left us a Steam Review. If you haven't done so yet, please do!
Thank-you for the support, Captain. It is much appreciated :)
The Abandon Ship Crew
PS - For those players that stay up-to-date with the Beta Branch versions, thank-you for your assistance and feedback while testing the above.
We’re working toward our first major update. As we implement new features we trial them on a publicly available Beta Branch for feedback and testing – you can read about our previous Beta Branch updates involving Prisons, Apothecaries and Crew Traits here:
http://steamcommunity.com/games/551860/announcements/detail/1655508872001587931
To learn how to gain access to the Beta Branch, click on this link:
If the version number in the bottom-right corner of the Main Menu ends in 8433 or later, you have the correct version.
This latest update focuses on the following key areas:
Supplementing the save system outlined in the Roadmap.
Adding a "Quick Start" way to commence playing, that skips the opening section
We understand that the game could, at times, be absolutely brutal to new players. Our previous update went some ways to alleviate those issues, and the following help, too:
Magistrate & “Magistrate Saves”
Accessed via the Tavern option in Port, the Magistrate offers you the chance to create a manual save (what we call a “Magistrate Save”). To perform a Magistrate Save, you must use a Captain’s Log. These are finite items spread throughout the world that you must find (and are described later in this post).
Your Magistrate Save and Autosave are tied to the same playthrough. If you die, you no longer have to resume from the start of the game, but can now continue playing from your last Magistrate Save. You have one Magistrate Save per playthrough, so performing a new Magistrate Save will overwrite your previous one. Your moment-to-moment progress is still constantly autosaved as it has always been.
We feel this method retains the danger of loss should you die, but takes the extreme edge from having to restart the entire game, potentially losing so much playtime that it became frustrating. Now, you have a decision to make: Do you expend these rare items to create a Magistrate Save, or keep going and risk losing more progress?
The Magistrate is where you can also submit your charts of the local area and be paid Gold in return. This is a low-risk way to earn money, particularly helpful if you’re recovering from ship destruction.
Shipwrecks and the Diving Bell
There is a new upgrade available from ports: The Diving Bell. This can be used to gain access to new events scattered around the world: Shipwrecks.
Aside from the more common standard shipwrecks, there are rarer, former Empire flagships to find. If the player uses the Diving Bell on one of these “Golden Shipwrecks”, they can obtain a Captain’s Log, which is required to perform a Magistrate Save.
Golden Shipwrecks are rare. You’ll find one in an entire region, or two in the largest ones. Some regions may not have one at all. If you’re lucky, you may happen across one, otherwise you’ll have to go looking for them.
Quick-Start
We’re aware that some players starting a new game wish to just dive straight into the action, so we have created a Quick-Start option. When you commence a new game, tick the appropriate box to be spawned in a place where you can immediately get going.
-- The ship icon shows where you begin a Quick-Start game --
In order to teach all of the new mechanics in this and the previous update, we have made some adjustments to the start of the game. Now, once you leave the area where the Cult attack the Port, you will be funnelled to a map where new players will be taught everything. We’re also expecting to use this map as an opportunity to teach systems we have planned for the future. Outside this new port in the fourth map is where a Quick-Start game commences.
Because we’ve had to change the map to accommodate these new systems, your saves from previous versions will not work with this latest update. Your main branch saves will work if you opt out of the Beta Branch, but any previous Beta Branch saves will no longer work.
Difficulty
While some of the changes in this, plus previous updates, have made the game less frustrating by removing friction points, we’re aware that some players find the game too easy.
In this update we've made Hard mode spawn tougher enemies in combat. Throughout Early Access we’ll be continually tweaking the difficulty, plus adding options and systems that offer a tougher challenge for those that want it.
New Ships
We’ve added two new Ship Classes to fill the gaps in the roster: The Corvette and Cruiser. This smooths out some of the sudden jumps the AI make in ship size.
As part of our roadmap plans, we’ll be offering more ship variety that affects gameplay and player choice in what they upgrade to.
Miscellaneous
There are of course a whole host of other bug-fixes, polish and quality-of-life improvements included as part of this update, and we will post the entire changelist in the patch notes of the major update when it is released.
The following things are worth calling out though, because they’ve been mentioned in feedback a few times:
Going into and out-of the full-view of exploration mode is now a lot faster
There have been new events added to the map where the Cult attack the port, so there is no repetition here now
Events with an exclamation mark can now have positive outcomes
New Keyboard Shortcut for returning crew to their saved positions (Default is "z"). The keyboard shortcuts are listed in the Launcher Input Tab. In a future update we’ll add this as a screen within the game to rebind them to your preference
Moved the camera closer when boarding (or being boarded by Haliphron & Mutiny). Lots of boarding changes to come in a future update!
Once the Beta Branch version has received sufficient testing and feedback, we’ll migrate all these changes across to the main game.
-- Haliphron versions of the new ships --
We'd love to hear your thoughts on these latest systems, so follow the instructions in the link to find out how to gain access and provide feedback:
After releasing a few hot-fixes for urgent issues, we have been working on high priority player feedback as part of a Major Update. While work continues on this (which you can keep up-to-date on here) we have created a Beta Branch for you to play through the latest features as they come online. This is a good chance to help shape them before they are released as part of that Major Update.
To learn how to gain access to the Beta Branch, click on this link:
Aside from some bug fixes, quality-of-life and balancing changes, the major new systems implemented in the Beta Branch improve two areas:
Events instantly killing crew
Difficulty in getting back into a strong position once things are going badly
These issues compounded each other, and we have implemented the following systems to mitigate them:
Badly Hurt
Events no longer insta-kill your crew! Instead, they will make them "Badly Hurt", which means they are unavailable in combat until you have revived them in an Apothecary.
This removes the feeling of unfairness while still making player choice important - and crucially, recovery is under player control.
Crew Traits System
There is now a Traits system, which gives your crew more character. Traits can be either Physical or Mental, and Positive or Negative.
When crew become Badly Hurt, they will gain a Negative Physical Trait. They will also gain one if they become Incapacitated in Combat.
Traits provide a small bonus or penalty to actions in Combat and stack up in ways that can affect your tactics in battle.
We've had a lot of fun coming up with Traits, and we're sure the community will have plenty of fun ideas too :)
Apothecary
If your crew member is Badly Hurt, you'll want to head to the new Apothecary in Ports to revive them.
Apothecaries can also cure Negative Physical Traits.
Both the Apothecary, and the Prison (which is described below) can be found in Ports.
Prisons
If you've survived Ship Destruction, or escaped a battle with barely any crew, it could be extremely tough to work your way back to the top. Now, if you're down on your luck, head to the Prison.
Here you'll be able to get cheap crew by paying their fine so they can serve on your ship. Prisoners are base-level and have several negative traits - one Mental Trait means they will never gain experience, so while Prisoners can get you out of a tight spot, they're unlikely to hold a permenant spot on your ship.
Of course, these are just some of many changes we have planned, and our focus is on tackling the major feedback points from the community first.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on these latest changes, so follow the instructions on the link above to find out how to gain access.
If you're interested in knowing what else we're working on as part of this upcoming Major Update, check out this link:
Abandon Ship has been released on Steam Early Access with a 15% Launch Discount.
We're really excited to see what you think of the game! Head on over to the Steam Forums, we'd love to hear from you :)
Your Name in the Game
Some of you may not know that it’s possible to get your name in the game as a randomly generated crew member.
For those that do know, you may be curious as to how and where your name could be used.
In this post we’re going to answer those questions.
How do I get my name in the game?
We have a Newsletter that you can subscribe to, and as an added incentive anyone that is signed up gets their name added to a database that the game uses to assign names to crew members.
Aside from it being a great way to keep up to date with our major announcements, or get first dibs on being a playtester, every newsletter we send out includes some piece of information never before previously released. These exclusive reveals could be screenshots, concept art or whatever we pull from the Abandon Ship archives.
-- A snippet of one of our newsletters. --
If you like the sound of all that, you can sign up by using the form at the bottom of the page linked below:
When the game creates a crew member, whether that be on your ship, the enemy vessel, or one that can be hired, it takes the name from a database.
All of the names of people that sign up to our newsletter have their name added to this database, so you could be playing and one day find a crew member with your own name, or know that in someone else’s game you could be performing heroic deeds (or suffering a dismal demise!)
-- The Tavern menu, where you can hire new crew. --
If you want to change the name of any crew member, you can do this in the Crew Management menu located in the Journal:
But I don’t want Newsletter names in my Game…
That’s absolutely fine, and you can switch them off when you start your game.
-- There is a tickbox of “Player-Generated Names” that controls whether Newsletter names are used or not. --
There are two Names Databases, one that is standard and is filled with names that are suitable for the world and period of Abandon Ship, and the other is the Newsletter Names Database.
If you play a game with the Player-Generated Names switched off, all of the names will be exclusively taken from the standard database. When it’s switched on, it’s approximately a 50-50 split.
What are the rules? Is it too late to get my name in the game?
Every time we’ll do an update on the game, we’ll also update the Newsletter names database. So as long as you’re signed up, your name will either already be in the game, or imminently so.
To be fair on everyone, we manually remove names of people that unsubscribe from the Newsletter, or suffer a “Hard Bounce” – this is a term used to describe Newsletter emails that are unable to get through, either because a mistake was made when putting in the email address, or it’s suffered several “Soft Bounces” (these could be the mailbox was temporarily full). Essentially, if you’re receiving Newsletters, you’re in the game (and don’t forget to check your spam folder!)
-- Hovering your mouse over crew, or their icons in the bottom-left of the screen will display their name in-game. --
One other thing worth mentioning is offensive names are not allowed, and are removed.
Of course, that doesn’t stop a small minority trying to sneak them through, occasionally in an obvious fashion, but predominantly in extremely creative ways (I’m looking at you, whoever put in “Dickson Balzac”).
I do my best to pick up on these before they make it into the game, and I sometimes feel like Moe from the Simpsons, receiving prank calls from Bart – but when scanning thousands of names, some inevitably slip through the net. Well done whoever put in “Lt. Jerkoff”, I missed that one until he joined my crew in one of my playthroughs…
When offensive names get spotted in the game, we remove them – which means they get rectified in the next update. If you see any that you feel are too offensive, please reach out to the team via the Contact page on our website.
It’s tough to know exactly where to draw the line, particularly as some will make me chuckle when I read them (thank-you, whoever put in “Hugh Jass”) – ultimately this is a judgement call and intended to ensure everyone enjoys their game without it being unfairly spoiled for them.
I hope that answers any questions you may have had about how Newsletter names are used in the game. I look forward to you becoming part of my crew, although I’d just like to apologise in advance for all of those horrendous deaths you’ll suffer through my mismanagement in battle!
Abandon Ship releasing 21st February!
We're very excited to announce that Abandon Ship is releasing into Early Access on Wednesday 21st February:
https://youtu.be/TfN0llkouoA?t=0s
Thanks for all the support, we can't wait for you to play :)
From the Depths
In this post, we’re going to take a look at the nastier things lurking in the depths…
The world in Abandon Ship is in turmoil. Since the collapse of a dominant faction, lawlessness prevails.
Into this vacuum a new power is rising: The Cult of Haliphron.
The Cult worship ancient sea monsters. Their ultimate goal is to consume the entire world, bringing enlightenment to everyone, whether they want it or not.
The origins of the Cult and the main character’s connection to them are explored in the game. For now, it’s enough to say that the Cult is after you and will stop at nothing until you’ve been brought back into the fold.
Here are some of the foul creatures and agents of the Cult that will be hunting you:
Cult Fleet
From small vessels through to the largest Man O’ War, the Cult Fleet will constantly hound you.
Each Cult ship is captained by a Cult Leader, one of the true fanatics to the cause.
They will never surrender, or give up.
Haliphron
-- Fending off a boarding action by Haliphron --
The Haliphron are man-sized aquatic creatures. Still regarded as mythical in some areas (parents tell unruly children to behave “or the Haliphron will get you”) – they are a very real threat, and the reason many lone sailors disappear on dark and stormy nights.
As the Cult has gained dominance, these creatures have returned in force and actively hunt you. They can swim through the water, boarding your ship without warning.
Haliphron have even been known to wait on Cult vessels, diving into the water and swimming across like a torpedo, to board unsuspecting ships at long range.
Even upon death, the Haliphron can be deadly. Special red-skinned variants can explode into a pool of acid upon their demise; a dangerous parting gift to non-believers.
Kraken
The Kraken represents the top of the food chain in the world of Abandon Ship. When the Cult resurrects one, it kick-starts their takeover attempt. After all, with a mythical sea monster prowling the waters, who can stop them now?
In the game, the Kraken is one of the creatures that hunt you. Initially, you do not have the means with which to kill it, so have no choice but to escape and flee.
If you can acquire the right tools to make it surface, you can finally go toe-to-tentacle to decide who rules the waves.
While the Cult is not the only adversary you face in the game, they are an ever-present danger. In some areas, after a certain amount of time, they will dispatch either a high-level ship, some Haliphron or the Kraken to chase you. You can delay this by defeating Cult vessels, or if you decide to flee these events, they will hone in on your position faster.
-- Pursued by a Cult ship --
Once you reach a certain part of the story, there are many Cult targets to take out, from Ports you have to liberate, to vessels carrying slaves. Do you take out their crew, or sink them, thus condemning their innocent human cargo to a watery grave?
Development Origins
Right from the start of development, we knew we wanted to include battles against giant sea monsters. The Kraken was always our first choice of monster to create because that mental image of a giant cephalopod taking down a ship is a very evocative one.
At the same time, we were thinking about a mechanic where the player would be boarded unexpectedly from the sea. We knew we wanted the feature, but needed a dressing for it. This train of thought led to a race of squid-like bipedal creatures. There was also a desire to have a faction that would serve as the primary antagonist throughout the main story, and these different elements came together to form a Cult that worshipped these grotesque monsters.
-- Haliphron chasing you down --
Without revealing too much about the story, you can probably guess it has some Cthulhu-esque influences. The Cult worships these aquatic beings, that are off-shoots from a larger monster (the Kraken). If you've been paying attention to our previous trailers, you'll have seen us hint at something bigger, too.
When it came to finding a suitable name for the Cult, and the creatures they worshipped, we went through the Latin names of deep sea creatures. Once we had pulled out a collection of names that sounded ominous, we put them through the "what comes up in Google Images if you search for this term" test. When designing creatures, we've always thought that if the results are a good approximation for the idea in your head, it's a compelling result.
So for us, the winner was "Haliphron" - or to give its full name, "Haliphron Atlanticus". This is a seven-armed Octopus and as you can see from Google Images, it looks suitably gross:
We then embarked upon creating concept art for these, the results of which are shown below.
-- Concept art of a Cult Leader, flanked by Haliphron --
One last warning about the Cult. Even when you think you defeat them, they have an uncanny knack of coming back stronger. As you’ll find out, there is certainly more to the Cult than it initially appears.
