Why I Can't Stop Playing 'Down with the Ship'

Steam's Next Fest is a fantastic opportunity for players to try the next generation of games for free. One that caught my eye was Down with the Ship, a PVP auto-battler in the style of FTL with fantastic build-craft elements. I downloaded the demo hesitantly; PVP is not my strong suit and I didn't want to think how frustrating it would be if it was real-time like FTL. Fortunately, the auto-battler is part of the genius of this game.

A Great Addiction

The goal of the game is to build a ship and defeat 10 other players' ships before losing 5 times. Each round you get 20 gold to spend on more space, weapons, upgrades, and crew members. After spending your gold you click battle to meet an opponent in the arena of space and the better ship wins. During battle, you don't have to worry about managing resources, targeting ship systems, or healing crew members as it is all done for you.

The real juicy meat of the game comes from the upgrades you buy in between rounds. The most basic upgrades you find are weapons and ship expansions. Weapons increase your ship's DPS, while expansions can increase both your ship's health and resources. Weapons can have any number of effects like giving your ship armor based on the damage dealt, burning the other ship, and applying radiation. Once these systems are in place, the fantastic roguelike elements of the rest of the items fit perfectly.

There are far too many items in the game to detail here, but here were some of my favorites:

• An electric generator that gives weapons a chance to burn the other ship
• Plating that gives your ship armor each time it's hit
• A series of pipes that can heal you, throw acid on the other ship, and shoot bullets
• A nuclear warhead

When the items and ship-buildling mechanics combine with the quick combat encounters, an addicting game loop is born. When I initially started the demo, 3 hours passed by before I looked away. My sleep was ruined staying up late playing it, but I don't regret playing it for a single second.

Check out this addicting game. The demo is currently FREE on Steam so you can try it minutes after reading this!