Ghostship Chronicles

Review

Ghostship Chronicles is a survival-horror, FPS. The whole premise of the game revolves around a long-lost ship, which has been re-discovered. A black ops unit has been sent out to investigate the situation onboard the ship.

For the most part, the game plays out very well according to the survival horror plot. The game features many survival and horror scenarios such as life support systems, having to collect and manage oxygen tanks, etc.

Plot: The year is 2359. Somewhere in Icarus 4, Icarus system, a long lost ship has been re-discovered. It is said that the ship, Heckle and Tomes, started its journey with a fleet of ships carrying cargo to settle in a new galaxy far from home. There were 6,000 people on board Heckle and Tomes during that journey but the ship did not make it.

The ship was lost until today. A detachment of the CDF black ops unit was sent to investigate the ship. The CDF unit, upon visual contact, confirms that the auxiliary power system was running but that the ship remains dormant.

No one answered the radio calls from the CDF unit. Finally, they decided to investigate the ship by boarding it. Upon docking with the ship, the CDF unit noticed something was wrong; the lights were off, the guidance systems were off, and there were no signs of the crew or the passengers.

Upon further investigation, the CDF unit discovered untouched foods and supplies. The people on board are surely long gone. But where are the dead bodies?

Suddenly they hear noises coming from every direction, and from the dark corridors humanoid figures start to appear. Before they can figure out what is going on, they are attacked. These creatures look like people but they attack in waves without remorse, without fear.

The Black ops unit of CDF is about to confront a rude awakening about the crew of Heckler and Tomes.

Gameplay: Ghostship Chronicles uses a traditional FPS-style gameplay with strong survival-horror elements, and a great deal of exploration built-in as well. Actually, you will not survive unless you explore and gather much-needed items.

Ghostship Chronicles features a basic WASD movement machines that work just fine in narrow corridors. Most of the game plays out in narrow corridors and wide hallways.

As you progress through these narrow corridors and hallways, waves of infected crew and passengers of Heckler and Tomes will attack you. Right off the bat, you will only have a service rifle and some grenades to defend yourself.

That reminds me, grenades in this game are op af. At the beginning, I kept dying for some unknown reason; turns out, I accidentally hit G and the op Grenade blew up. Even though was quite a distance away, it was not enough.

As the waves of infected depleted my ammo, I was forced into the dark corridors and rooms in search of items and ammo. Thankfully, there were decent amounts of items available nearby. 

Gunplay: For the most part the gunplay in this game worked just fine. However, I was a bit disappointed with the animations and the gun models.

There are 4-5 different types of weapons available in-game and all of the weapons within a category have only minor differences. For example, the rifle and the sniper rifle look the same except for the fact that the sniper rifle has a scope on it.

Inventory management: As a survival game, inventory management plays an important role throughout the game. There were many items to look for and collect.

Collecting items in exploration and survival games is fun, and each item has its own unique use. Ghostship Chronicles is no different, although a poor lighting system in-game and awkward yellow-tinted highlighted items managed to suck some of the fun out of item collection.

An odd thing I noticed is that you cannot use a lot items after collection without going through your inventory. This needs to change, as we cannot be expected to browse the inventory during an attack. Imagine having to reach back to your inventory each time you need an item that does not have a key assigned to it.

World design: The world design for Ghostship Chronicles was pretty well on point for the most part. The dark, greasy and humid environment of the ship matched the theme of the game perfectly. 

Although for the most part the Ghostship Chronicles did a good job on the map layout (for a large ship that doesn’t have proper navigation or markers), being an early access game, I’d like to see more work put into this aspect, along with some more work on the world design and details.

Lighting was a big deal-breaker for me. The game started in the right direction with its dark environment, including some areas with Mainor lighting and some lit by emergency red lights. But the only source of proper lighting (until you fix things up) is your weapon-mounted flashlight, and even that has issues, such as going dark in places where you cannot even see a hand in front of your face, and some too bright for a flashlight.

In the year 2359, a unit of Black ops operators should have a decent night vision from the get-go.

Sound effects: Another deal-breaker for me was all of the audio issues, especially with the shotguns. The sound effects in-game need some serious retouching.

Considering all aspects, the game itself is enjoyable, with an interesting plot and backstory. The gameplay is decent as well. With a few more dedicated hours and updates, I believe this game has a lot of potential. 

Review written by BiteMexD for Zeepond.com!