Abandon Ship (video game)

Abandon Ship is a narrative-based strategy game in which the player creates a character who escapes from prison and captains a crew of a vessel escaping from a cult that worships a monster named the Kraken. The player navigates the vessel on a procedurally-generated map, containing random ports, event locations and enemies. The player will be required to encounter and survive a set of events before they can pass a gate to the next area, which may include naval combat or encountering a monster.^[1] Combat is undertaken with a crew management system in which the player allocates crew members to parts of the ship for them to function, including to fire different cannons, repair the hull, or heal other crew members.^[2]

Abandon Ship was created by British independent studio Fireblade Software, founded by Gary Burchall, a former executive producer for Climax Studios who had previously worked on projects including Assassin's Creed Chronicles. Development commenced in January 2016, with Burchall citing a desire to create a game using the roguelike mechanics of the 2012 game FTL: Faster Than Light themed around the era of the Age of Sail.^[3] The graphic design and presentation of the game aimed to strike a balance between realistic and fictional depictions of piracy. Burchall stated that the game's visual style was inspired by historical oil paintings, whilst also influenced by fictional depictions including Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean, and supernatural works including the Cthulhu Mythos.^[4] Development of Abandon Ship was supported by a grant under the UK Games Fund.^[5]