HomeReviewsSavage Vessels
Wot I Think: Savage VesselsVoid if removed
Void if removed
Release:Out nowOn:WindowsFrom:SteamFor:£10.29 / €10.80 / $13
I did level four on my first go. That’s my crown and none of you can take it. Level three was a bastard’s hump and I struggled to get through it for hours, before I realised that I already had the supplies I needed to repair my ship. Those same supplies are also a requirement for the best weapons. That’s justmean, man.
“Aaaiieeee he’s got meee leggo leggo no no” - me, apparently
The enemies are excellent. They share common stylistic elements but are immediately visually distinct, and each type has a specific alert bleep when it detects you. The first big ones I call ‘growlers’, because it amuses me and because of their deeper, slower noises as they light up and lumber towards you, picking up a lot more momentum than you’d assume. Should they get to medium range, they’ll fire a pair of harpoons and pull you in before thrusting out a nasty drill bit.
There are some later on that are sneakier, and float lazily around corners, looking all innocent and weak until they hit you with a devastating spray of gunfire, often from behind because they don’t announce themselves as dramatically, but gently buzz instead.
You can craft and organise your stuff at any time, but it’s wise to find a quiet corner first.
Mostly I play cautiously, drawing out and sniping/strafing enemies one at a time with the bolt guns and chisel railgun. Maybe I’m doing it wrong - perhaps I should take the Graham approach and be as reckless as possible. But it’s always tempting to try a trick like that, and playing this way makes it easy to get complacent, and panic when things spiral out of control.
That’s where I have to complain a bit. The controls are simple and easy to grasp, but their reliance on the mousewheel has killed me more often than my own poor decisions. Everything you carry is listed on the left, and can be moved around at will. But changing weapons, making repairs, and crafting alike depend on scrolling the mousewheel, an imprecise thing at the best of times. It doesn’t happen often enough to be a big problem, but the more stuff I acquired, the less I used most of it because I couldn’t manage swapping back and forth in a tight spot.
Ordinarily I’d save the game and go wild, but it is, of course, a roguelogue and thus experimenting rather than sticking to what’s safe and efficient will just mean you have to play the first few levels for thenth time. Thankfully, the hurdle of reaching the next shortcut point was a manageable challenge, and starting a game from there gives a generous selection of supplies. I can feel myself getting better at it with practice as I learn the quirks of each robot and hazard.
Ice bots swing sawblades on flailing chains. Single shots can hit the blades, so get spraying.
Some of it may be down to my preferred playstyle, but I found several weapons too much trouble. The powerful orb lightning gun is practically designed to get you killed, while cheaper weapons like the sawgun and flame shotgun sound cool as hell but do too little damage too slowly, at the exact range where you want to put something down fast.
There are some very unhelpful bits of text too. Crafting a gun you already have sometimes displays an exclamation mark and a warning, but it’s not explained what it actually means, and it doesn’t stop you from doing it anyway. Two weapons are described only as “similar to a grenade launcher”, and I had to find out for myself that - free tip - using oil drums repairs you for 5, and spare parts for 25 points. But that in itself shows a cruelly clever risk/reward design, as spare parts are also crucial for making most good weapons. Using the environment to hurt enemies is similarly risky but potentially useful and entertaining, and perhaps if you’re a less cautious player you’ll get a real kick out of the explosives and reckless lightning orbs before they blow you up too, you fool.
Bomber trucks mean the item that blocks most explosion damage is always tempting.
