Abandon Ship brings the pressure of FTL-style command to the high seas

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If "FTL-meets-Sunless Sea in the golden age of sail" strikes you as a good idea (and why wouldn't it?), then you might want to direct your attention to Abandon Ship, an upcoming high-seas fantasy game set in a procedurally-generated world rendered in the style of an oil painting. As the ship's captain, you must lead your crew through countless dangers, undertake quests, engage in tactical combat, deal with random shenanigans, and make the hard decisions that can impact your fate, and theirs, in all sorts of unseen ways.

Like its thematic predecessors, Abandon Ship promises to be brutal, and trips to Davy Jones' locker are strictly one-way affairs. But the loss of a ship doesn't necessarily mean the end for the Captain: If you can escape to a lifeboat when things go sideways, or even just get yourself stranded somewhere, you'll live to fight another day.

"We always wondered why a game didn't exist that combined the tactical combat of games like FTL with the exploration mechanics of titles such as Sunless Sea, all wrapped up in an 'Age of Sail' setting. That sounds awesome, right?" developer Fireblade Software said. (And yes, I think it does.) "As development progressed, we felt that Abandon Ship deserved an art style to match the dramatic tone of the game, and the Classic Naval Oil Painting style was a perfect thematic fit."

Neither the Steam page nor the trailer (or the Abandon Ship website, for that matter) reveals much about how the game will be played—whether you'll "jump" between checkpoints, for instance, or have direct control over your vessel as it sails the murky waters in the way of Sid Meier's Pirates!. But it definitely looks like something worth keeping an eye on. A release date hasn't been set, but it's currently scheduled for sometime in 2017.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.