Do you like fonts? If you like fonts, you have to play with swords. (After Confession.) Swordship gets the font. It likes fonts. Not just the fonts themselves, but what the game does with them. Completing a level, “LINE CLEAR” is laid out on the ocean. When you have finished sorting your earnings, the word “Shipped” will appear on the screen. This is a game where fonts make things beautiful. Dying is also a kind of enjoyment, because “GAME OVER” is so cleverly arranged.
Aside from the fonts, Swordship is pretty good. It’s a pure arcade game that’s actually a fast-paced avoidance game with a heist-at-sea plot. Your Swordship is a tiny yellow mischief maker, a needle-thin arrowhead craft that can open its tiny claws to grab containers lost in the ocean, and pinch them. It can’t shoot, at least not really, but it can lure nearby enemies into killing each other. Collecting containers and letting enemies kill each other all within the confines of a top-down screen where everything is literally running across an endless wavy surface makes the screen a bit tense. That’s what Swordship is all about. But as with fonts, it’s not so much the rules of the game as what the game does according to the rules.
OK, so collection containers. You’re racing, moving up and down left and right, and a shipping container is approaching. You know this because a bright yellow line appears on the screen – a fairway. Get in that and collect the containers! Vibrate! I don’t think any game I’ve played this year has actually felt better than this. Pure connection. So now, you have a container in your mouth. You can use it as a bomb to wipe the screen of enemies, or you can tilt it, which means waiting until a drop point appears on the screen and hovering there for a few seconds.
It sounds easy, but it’s actually very difficult. This is because the screen is full of enemies. A turret that tracks you and then shoots. Popped mines. Crackling laser walls. Hovering bad guys dropping bombs from above. Rotary grill. Variety.
What these enemies have in common is a red marker showing the area they’re about to attack, and a pause before attacking that lets you go into the red marker, make sure it’s where you want it, and then get out. So overhead bomb droppers – get close to the turret you want to dismantle, wait for the red flag, then fix it. Meanwhile, turrets can be lured into targeting other turrets or mines, which can be detonated and kill turrets, laser wall guys, or fireball throwers. Forward and forward.
Mix enemies with crates and you have a game of dodge that truly shines with elegance and intrigue. I never tire of letting bad guys blow themselves up. I never tire of last-minute container drops, which allow me to rack up points and dodge again before I get killed. I never tire of the perfect dive – you can hide under the waves for a limited amount of time – it puts out fires and keeps me away from bombs. In that respect, it reminded me of the classic arcade game Spy Hunter–you have to keep an eye on a few things at all times, and it’s all about positioning.
Then the swordsmanship is already very powerful. But for me it actually got a little bigger. More than simple brightly colored low-poly graphics, or animated breezy zippers. I love the way everything ties together. Containers you collect – At the end of each level, you can bank them for points or keep them for extra lives. Or you can keep them and turn them on for perks, maybe aligning container lanes from now on or getting you out of the car right away. Meanwhile, credits give you access to permanent upgrades, weather conditions, different ship abilities, and even different difficulty settings and concept art. It’s amazing.
This mess of things, this collection of tricky choices that hold you accountable as you trade points for health to get yourself cheated actually makes Swordship feel more compact in one area – progression and unlocking – that many arcade games succumb to bloat slightly . You’re always making these interesting decisions that can go either way. Every unlock counts, every point counts – every life counts. This game is really good.
