Don't Sink

Iz fun ''/

Don't Sink is a beautifully pixelled game that I want to love so much. Despite playing through it multiple times as well as going as far as to make a 100% completion achievement guide I have many qualms with its gameplay. I've tried very hard to look toward it with fondness but sometimes things aren't meant to be. This review is available in video format here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGTFpBCpGNU Don't Sink is a casual sandbox adventure inspired by the likes of Sid Meier's Pirates and Faster Than Light. It was released to early access during the November of 2017 while having a full release April 13th of 2018. It also received a Nintendo Switch port sometime the following year. The game begins with a character creation screen. After making your pirate your set on an island with a very brief tutorial before being left to your own swashbuckling devices. Since I'm largely unfamiliar with Faster Than Light I'll make the comparison that Don't Sink feels very much so like an ultra-lite version of Sid Meier's Pirates. The general gameplay loop, outside of specific quest objectives, consists of sailing between islands via a sort of loading screen that tracks crew management. During this sailing screen events can happen, illnesses, morale problems, attacks by other ships, etc. At the end of the sailing screen you'll be set at your destination island to chat up the locals and collect their quests. The quests were largely unmemorable and extremely brief - even those to be sought out by achievement last at most a couple minutes from start to finish. Largely they do however keep you hopping between islands to perpetuate the cycle of sailing, ship fighting and events in order to build you're gold hoard. You can buy a few things with the financial gain. Ships seem like they would be a great monetary sink until you've played with them and realize the combat can more or less easily be exploited thus to a great extent the ship upgrades don't end up feeling important or impactful. You can nearly 100% the games content with the starter ship. Alternatively, you can dump your gold into upgrading and building up your towns. This also feels trivial since the game content doesn't really open up more with town growth. While I'm on the path of negativity by far my largest gripe is the combat. While engaged in sea battles specific cannonball types feel underutilized as regardless each ship will take turns shooting eachother and inevitably the larger ship will win. To circumvent this performing a boarding action immediately whilst entering combat can negate any damage to your ship and regardless of anything else simply spamming a single attack during the swordfight is a guaranteed win. The incentive to perform any other combat action besides this is nil unless you specifically want to put yourself in a position to be paying repairs. Lastly as far as complaints I'll speak on the games bugs and its controls. I played the game on mouse and keyboard and most of the time kept feeling like its keybinds were set by someone who does not use anything more than a controller. While awkward controls aren't the end of the world for me they did noticeably feel 'off' and I could see this being a dealbreaker for a lot folks. My years old initial review for this game was spurred by the fact that I had a gamebreaking bug near endgame (3 hrs of play) that made me unable to complete the final sections of content. Since then my playthroughs have not replicated this error but I did also experienced save files losing their ships and reverting back to the starting ship as well as multiple music files playing simultaneously. Now lets switch gears and talk about something good. The graphics are overwhelmingly charming. Regardless of the busted gameplay loop this is a game I want to look at. I want to see the ships sailing, the townsfolk wandering around - I want to see all the bright pixel colors flowing around. It's wonderful. The sound and must was also great. The soundtrack was reminiscent of Banjo-Kazooie to me. Simple and comforting yet incredibly catchy. Final thoughts? Despite it's visual charms the overall short gameplay and unrealized mechanics make it fall too short for me, especially at its full price point. My initial review stated it had the depth of a flash game and after returning to complete the game again (and making a 100% guide) I struggle to recommend it unless you very specifically are aware of its super casual and short gameplay.