Swordship
Review

Swordship (2022) is an action game where you control a ship hauling stolen cargo, often under attack from security forces. As you have no weapons yourself, you must use enemy attacks against them - making them shoot their own ships and destroy themselves. It's a fast-paced game that offers a deep level of strategy and requires expert timing, precision, and calculated risk-taking.

In a future where humanity has made the land near unliveable, people survive in three huge cities under the oceans. Those who can't afford this are banished to the surface to scrape out a meagre existence. You steal an ultra-fast boat and use it to intercept the cargo shipped between these cities, using the spoils to upgrade your own ship and help the exiled outsiders.

Play revolves around completing the levels, which each consists of a large stretch of ocean populated by randomly-generated enemy ships. Each enemy ship type has its own unique attack you must dodge as you lure enemy ships to attack and miss; hitting their own forces. Quickly chaining together different dodges and manoeuvres gives a feel of pinball as you defeat the hordes of ships. Levels get harder by adding more and more ships until your ability to trick them is stretched to the limit. Thankfully you can also use the parts you steal to upgrade your boat's speed and manoeuvrability so you can pull off ever more unlikely feats of evasion.

The result is a game that continually challenges you to push the limits of what's possible; experimenting with different ways to defeat ships is both fun and can often lead to unique discoveries and ways to play.

Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Swordship 15 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 9 months ago.