You’re a crook, Captain Hook…
Do you like fonts?
If you like fonts, you must play Swordship.
(After Pentiment.)
And it’s not just the fonts themselves, but what the game does with them.
Finish a level and “LINE CLEAR” is laid out on the ocean.
Finish sorting your earnings and “SHIPPED” is splashed across the screen.
This is a game where the fonts make things beautiful.
It’s even a pleasure to die, because “GAME OVER” is arranged so artfully.
Swordship review
Beyond the fonts, Swordship is still rather excellent.
This is pure arcade brilliance, actually, a fast-paced avoid-‘em-up with a maritime larceny twist.
It can’t shoot, not really anyway, but it can trick nearby enemies into killing each other.
That’s Swordship’s whole deal.
Okay, so collecting containers.
You’re racing along, moving left and right and up and down and a container is approaching.
You know this because a bright yellow line appears on the screen - a shipping lane.
Get into that and collect the container!
I don’t think there is actually a greater feeling in any game I’ve played this year.
So now, you have a container in your mouth.
That sounds easy, but in fact it’s enormously hard.
This is because the screen is filled with enemies.
Turrets that track you and then shoot.
Mines that pop up.
Hovering baddies who drop bombs from above.
Mix the enemies up with the crates and you have a dodging game of truly glorious elegance and intrigue.
I never tire of getting baddies to blast their own side.
Swordship is already great, then.
But for me it actually gets a little bit greater.
Not just the simple low-poly graphics that burst with colour, or the brisk zip of the animations.
I love the way that everything is tied together.
It’s endlessly surprising.
You’re always making these interesting, could-go-either-way decisions.
Every unlock matters, every point matters - and every life matters.
This game is just phenomenal.
