The Ship - Possibly the best multiplayer game ever

Cafe Society
1

If you haven’t heard of it, here’s the one-minute-synopsis:

You’re assigned a quarry. Your job is to hunt down and kill your quarry aboard a ship (there’s a handful of ships to choose from). Sounds easy? Well, there’s a few catches:

  • Somebody else is hunting you down. That means you have to walk cautiously and keep an eye out for everyone.
  • You can’t just mow them down in front of everyone. You have to make sure there’s no guards, crew, or cameras around (though people can be bribed…)
  • If you try to kill your quarry and miss, you’ve blown your cover, and now they’re going to try to kill you, too.
  • You have to rummage around for weapons. This gets a bit tedious, as most of the weapons are scattered randomly through the map, though there’s a few that are always in the same position (fire axes, golf clubs, and pool cues).
  • Most importantly, you have to manage your needs, much like in the Sims. You have to sleep, you have to eat, you have to bathe, and you have to poo. If you stay alive long enough, that is.

I played it in arcade mode at first, trying to get a feel for the game. I thought it was pretty fun. Then I played it against real people. HOLY CRAP was that exhilerating.

2

There was a thread about it a few months ago that intrigued me, but I never tried it out. I may reconsider that. Probably not, though. I’m lazy.

3

I like the game but I haven’t played in a while.

I didn’t like having to check to see the value of the weapon I was useing. You don’t get points for a fire axe kill.

4

Link?

5

I’ve been thinking of buying this off Steam, but I wasn’t sure about it. How long does a typical “round” last?

6

How exactly does it work? How many people are typically in a match?

Are there computer-controlled characters walking around? Can you easily differentiate between them and players?

Is it like… stealth based? Trying to sneak around and acquire your target while avoiding other people?

It sounds odd - like a game of quake hide and seek, but I’m guessing it’s better than that based on how happy some people are with it.

7

About a minute or two.

There’s usually a good handful of people in every match. I think 16 is the upper limit, but as little as 5 makes a pretty good game.

I’m not sure if there’s an option to put bots on the server, but I’ve never played with bots (that I’m aware of)

Not exactly stealth. You don’t have to avoid other people until you’ve found your quarry and are going in for the kill. Then you make sure nobody’s around, draw your weapon and hope you kill them before they can draw their weapon and fight back.

Here’s a link. It’s only $20 and you can download it through Steam. I’m not sure if there even is a hard copy version you can buy in the stores. So if you’ve got $20 to spare, get to downloadin’!

8

I just downloaded this last night, and then played for several hours. It’s amazing.

From what I understand, there’s going to be a retail version in the stores in December or so, and that will include a “story mode”, so you don’t have to play online or against bots to enjoy it.

My favorite bit so far was when I was hunting down my target and realized who my hunter was… so I ducked behind a bulkhead and shot him in the back with a flare gun when he passed me.

9

I have been debating since the pre-order option was available to get this game. Did any of you play the original version? How does the new one compare to that one? How is the server population? Most importantly, what is the hardware requirement like?

I may just order it tonight, I feel my willpower slipping already.