Swordship – Test: I was so looking forward to it

On By Garmin Philip
Swordship – Test: I was so looking forward to it

Dodging the lasers and bombs is a tough challenge – but also quite monotonous and, above all, over far too quickly.

Swordship, finally! I stumbled upon this a few months ago and have been dying for the finished game to come out ever since. Because on the one hand I was immediately hooked by the stylish flow and on the other hand I find the gameplay extremely cool. Although it’s constantly cracking and banging while you collect as many points as possible, you can do it almost completely without weapons.

The whole thing works like this: As the eponymous sword ship, you race across futuristic waterways, where you automatically swim at full throttle, but can always dodge in all directions. The latter is necessary because a number of guns, mines and flying drones that shoot lasers and throw carpet bombs want to get at you.

The trick is that they announce each salvo with a red shadow before actually firing. So you always have a short time to position the Swordship so that the announced laser points to a gun, for example – before you swim out of the way or dive so that the shot adjusted in this way hits the wrong target. The reward is energy and points to collect, as well as additional points if you dodge at the very last moment. And a chic change of perspective including super slow motion with an explosive motif in the background.


The earth is hotter than ever, humanity lives on the sea floor – only a few outcasts have to survive on the surface. So they steal containers filled with essential goods.

Well, if dodging and diving were enough! In addition, it is about collecting containers, i.e. stealing them, and transporting them to delivery points that appear later. It’s not that easy when two drones decide to cover you with explosives at this very moment…

Whenever you manage to avoid the red danger zones and play the attackers off against each other, that’s a really cool ride. Even on the normal level of difficulty you have to be on your guard as a mine doesn’t just go up in the air if it is pricked by a carefully planned laser. It will also explode if any other object destroys it. Which, of course, likes to happen when you just want to hiss past her in peace.


The containers appear on these yellow lines, so you should reach them as soon as possible.

That being said, lasers will block each other – or not if one of the turrets blows up and the ship suddenly finds itself in the other’s line of fire. Do you know how many things you have to keep an eye on here at the same time? And I can’t multitask! Add to that the fact that Geometry Wars’ Pacifist mode, which relies on sheer precision on the left analog stick, was never – to put it mildly – my forte. It’s quite possible that I’m just a loser when it comes to swordship. Anyway, for me it’s a pretty tough chunk on the normal difficulty level.

Various upgrades now make life easier. After all, when you reach a certain total number of points, you unlock different ship types, each with a special property, from which you then choose one at the beginning of each run. These include one with slow motion and one with EMP Strike, which briefly incapacitates all enemies. Both require the energy dropped by destroyed enemies. There is also a ship that does not give you any upgrades after each successfully completed section, but gives you twice as many bonus lives per container.


And goodbye! Of course, diving at the last moment involves a lot of risk, but it earns you extra points.

Each container you collect is worth a life in the menu between levels and a randomly rolled upgrade – or 1,000 points if you don’t do both. You decide how many containers are converted into bonus lives or points, which gives every run of this roguelike additional spice. Do you want to get to the boss with 40 extra lives, or do you dare to tackle the boss with perhaps only four tries in order to really rake in the online high score list?

This goes on for three levels, each divided into three sections, with each level containing specific enemy types that are reassigned with each run. And gentlemen, what I bit my teeth off at the latest on the first boss! Even if it drove me crazy at times, the fact that it’s relatively difficult to follow the dived swordship. Especially since you don’t start at the beginning of the current phase after each death, but from the beginning.

Well, when it was finally done after dozens of attempts, I knew why this boss was so hard to defeat. After all, it’s not the first boss. It’s the only one. After that, the game was suddenly over. Honestly: Rarely has enthusiasm for a splendid experience turned into such a huge disappointment.


By the way, Swordship also runs perfectly on Switch (pictured here) and Steam Deck. The timely recognition of dangers is even more challenging on the small screens than it already is, but handheld players know that.

Swordship just doesn’t feel complete – not only in terms of the length and amount of boss fights, but also because there’s too little variation in game design despite the variety of ships and procedural upgrades per run. At least I have the feeling that I have experienced the first of maybe five sections and I even remember right away what else I would have wanted to see.

How about particularly strong artillery pieces or drones that you shouldn’t (let) shoot, as they are only activated by hits? A change of perspective would have been good for the further course. What about walls that reflect shots, or a corresponding ability on the swordship itself? Last but not least, it’s interesting to imagine enemies that might gain experience the longer they’re in the game, making them powerful involuntary allies — gladly with special paint jobs to give them character.


With the EMP hit, you briefly paralyze guns and drones, for example to sack or deliver a container in peace. And apropos: You can also use the container as a bomb that eliminates all current opponents.

Incidentally, this is also my biggest criticism of the actual concept: On the higher levels of difficulty, rapid dodging is so much in the foreground that tactically eliminating and playing off the opponent is hardly possible. Not to mention cleverly engineered combos. I would have liked to have just gotten more into the action than just swimming back and forth for survival.

Test to Swordship – conclusion

Now it would be presumptuous to tell the developers what their game should look like. I’m only listing all of this because it seems so damn obvious to me that a lot is still missing here. If the hunt for points didn’t motivate me to continue attacking the high score list, there wouldn’t be a seven any more a few lines down. Swordship is conceptual and great for a few hours. This one-of-a-kind arcade action with (almost) no guns is a cool new challenge. If you’re looking for imaginative concepts, be sure to check them out! Only days after playing through what is available in the game still feels disappointingly little – as if Nex Machina was already over after the first world. And all in all, that’s just not enough to recommend it wholeheartedly.

Swordship – Rating: 7/10

Pros:

  • Cool principle for rapid dodge
  • Extra points for diving at the last moment
  • Variety through different ship types and procedural upgrades…
  • … but little variation in game design overall
  • Conscious creation of combo destruction hardly possible
  • After three levels and one boss already over

Developer: digital kingdom Publishers: Thunderful Publishing – Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Switch – release: 5.12.2022 – Genre: Arcade Action – Price (RRP): 20 Euros



Reference-www.eurogamer.de