Jump Ship Preview: It's Sea of Thieves Meets Left 4 Dead, and it's Even More Polished and Fun Than Last Year

It was almost exactly one year ago that I walked into a meeting during the Game Developer’s Conference and first got introduced to Jump Ship, a four-player sci-fi PvE shooter that blends mechanics from Sea of Thieves, Left 4 Dead, and FTL into something I thought was extremely special. I recently had the chance to play the latest build with a few of the developers, and let me tell you, if any indie game can break out big in what’s already an absolutely stacked year of releases, I’d bet my money on Jump Ship. As it heads towards an Early Access launch this Summer, it’s more polished and more fun than ever.

If you aren’t familiar with Jump Ship already, it’s a non-grindy space romp for up to four players — and I specifically didn’t say multiplayer because the team at Keepsake Games told me they’re responding to feedback and building on what they hope will be a clever way for solo players to enjoy Jump Ship. In short, if you want to treat it like a single-player game, there will be narratively constructed AI assistants to help you man the ship. You get a taste of this in the Prologue, which serves as one part tutorial — introducing you to gameplay mechanics like shooting, flying in your space suit, manning and piloting the ship, and ship combat — and one part lore-builder.

Jump Ship - Closed Beta Screenshots

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Jump Ship now boasts a much-appreciated story behind its core PvE gameplay. A malicious virus has infected machines throughout the galaxy, and it’s up to you and your fellow Atirans to get to the root of it at the heart of the galaxy and stop it. You’ll navigate through procedurally generated chains of missions in each sector to reach your goal. Some missions might take just 10 minutes, while others could stretch to an hour. You’ll have a good idea of what to expect, as each branching choice on the Jump Map is color-coded to indicate the level of danger you’re choosing to face. But remember, the greater the danger, the greater the reward…

Aiding you is a non-infected AI you discover in the Prologue called Iris, who acts as a narrator on your missions. This adds a welcome bit of structure to the solid foundation of gameplay Jump Ship offers. The Hangar serves as your base of operations, where you can spend in-game currency to buy and customize your outfits, explore the greater Galaxy Map, and even enjoy a game of soccer during your downtime.

But let’s get back to that core four-player gameplay. It’s incredibly fun! As you embark on your mission, things won’t always go according to plan. Your ship might get attacked en route to your destination, requiring one of you to pilot the ship and fire the meager pilot’s chair weapons, while another sits at the ship’s proper weapon station to wield the 360-degree-pivoting cannon at any annoying targets. Meanwhile, the other two of you might be mag-booted to the ship’s hull outside, taking shots at passing ships. That is, until an enemy vessel damages your ship, requiring one or more of you to run inside, grab a fire extinguisher, crawl into a vent, and put out the flames. After all, you’ve got to keep that pineapple pizza-maker in full working order!

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When you finally reach your destination, all four of you disembark and make your way on foot inside the structure that houses the loot you’re after. These evil, infected robots won’t play nice, so teamwork is essential at every step of the mission. Your grappling hook helps you zip around areas both on the ground and in outer space much quicker, and once you’ve secured the big loot, one of you has to get it back aboard the ship while the others protect your defenseless, arms-full self.

Both my demo last year and my latest one just the other day were short. On one hand, it proves that Jump Ship is a blast in short bursts, meaning you don’t have to quit your job to keep up with it. On the other hand, I haven’t seen enough of the larger mission structure and the procedurally generated variety to know if it will deliver on its endlessly replayable promise. But everything I’ve seen so far absolutely screams potential hit. Jump Ship has all the right ingredients to become something special, and I can’t wait to play a lot more.