I guess you’re not the only one who watched some game streamers out there when they got “early access” before the real “early access” came out on 7th October..right?
So this game is for sure an Early Access for real. There’s no question about that, when the game IS completely just a basic game for now. There is no simulation other than a few clickable buttons in the wheelhouse of a container ship with such an unbelievable name as Herbert…Yeah, that’s the ship’s name.
If you are looking for an IMO number, Herbert has nothing of that. There are little or no details around the vessel’s technical features other than some information for people that doesn’t know anything about ships, boats or the maritime industry in general. This game was made for idiots. That’s why quotation marks: “sim”.
Game streamers have called this game something like “Euro Truck Simulator at sea”…right? That’s as far away from Euro Truck Simulator as it gets! There are, for now, just a few ports and missions in the game that don’t hold random missions. The ports that you sail to only have a few missions where you can earn some bucks, and that’s it. Other than that, “Herbert” is the biggie container ship, which has a wheelhouse/operating bridge and an engine room. Now I’m just telling you that just to say: Don’t expect to operate a ship’s engine room for real.
Now, to be precise here, all you see is Unreal graphics. That’s for sure, eye candy for some…me included…but that’s not everything a game with “sim” should hold. I mean..honestly, Seafarer has a long way to sail to be near a simulator game. And as a disclaimer, this game isn’t for professional simulation, as the pop-up says when you launch the game.
The playtime I’ve had so far is 21.3 hours. The reason for this is that the career system is incomplete. You are just getting guided on how to “play the game” rather than actually having some real geeky fun. There’s no study time, as back in the days when Microsoft Flight Simulator had a whole paper book in real paper on everything. I remember that book, and that was the game’s manual.
If there’s anything to conclude on, I’ll just write it here: Seafarer – The Ship “Sim” is too slim. Even as a CEO for a game development company *if I were*, I wouldn’t launch a product at this level.
