This game has an outstanding visual representation which punches way above its weight. Highfleet has a lot to offer to a dedicated gamer as it has a lot of depth in its mechanical gameplay.
Game does a very poor job introducing player in its own gameplay. If you are someone who wants to just have fun with its game, this is not it. You are looking to at least 20 hours learning curve. Afterwards in-game mechanics become just tiresome
For full review go here: Calicifer’s reviews
What to look for in this game
Game’s strong points are in its unique conversation/worldview system and ship builder. It has an interesting landing mini game which can get tiresome to some and a nice ship vs ship combat if you do not mind always fighting 1 vs 3 despite how many ships you have ready to go.
Dialogue
- This system is very interesting and feels a lot less gamey than in many other games, including RPG games focused on story lines like Mass Effect. Conversation system is about trying to convince other princes to join you. You have to try and figure out what they like and what they do not. You can get yourself an edge with gifts acquired throughout your campaign which is a nice touch.
This is where game starts to show its limitations. You do not know what each person likes and the only way to find out is a hard one. In reality you would have advisors telling you that an individual is known for. An ability to get clues about person’s world views. However in this game all of this remain guess work.
There is a good example in this game. One of a random in-game conversation is downright ridiculous and very arbitrary. One of the princes had asked to translate holy text to him. I had translated it was written. He get upset at me and left. Just why? This is not how humans behave. At most I should get opinion penalty with him and bonus to my worldview stats.
Worldview - Your world view is formed by actions which you take throughout the campaign. There is no arbitrary good/bad karma here. You can be cruel and be rewarded for it realistically. You will only be known as cruel and in return, you won’t be able to take kind decisions in conversations.
Skill checks are based on your worldview, if you are always picking some options like being cruel, when a conversation skill check comes for a cruel action, you will automatically pass that, because you are naturally cruel. If you try to balance your character, it will be a chance based roll. The more heavily you lean into that trait, the better are chances to convince others of your worldview. This system is leagues ahead of most conversation systems in other games.
Sadly, worldview forces you to a certain view rather than allowing you to be neutral and excel at having a neutral worldview. In other words, it is always best to min/max your attitude on the world. Be as bias as possible!
Brick Wall of a Learning Curve
This game is notoriously difficult to learn. One person told me that he had spent 20 hours just learning. Underlying mechanics under the HUD are simple, but you will have to learn it in the worse way possible.
Tutorial
In any game will be made a lot better where you can actually design your own units. Highfleet is not an exception to that. Though, I do have a nagging suspicion that developer’s favourite food is spaghetti as you could judge from his code in this mode. Engine is bugged, often not creating right elevations for your guns. Other times it fails to connect wiring to your parts. Doing the exact same thing somehow manages to fix all the issues.
- You will be thrown right into tutorial as you start the game. It is good one. It is an actual part of the story which helps you to learn the ropes. However, it only tells you the basics before throwing you into the world to die. Prologue needs to be expanded and be its own part of a game. A mini campaign which would introduce everything to you. As it stands now, game practically leaves you clueless.
Tutorial has pop up events where admiral shows you what most buttons do when you might need them, but he does not tell us why we should use them, only how. This leaves a game where you know how to get around, but have no clue of underlying mechanics below the surface level.
It is a shame also since developer had proven that he can make a good tutorial. Prologue could be expanded to its own full blown mini-campaign in which player is introduced to each mechanic one by one while at the same time being engaged in a main story line and dialogue. Game could be so much better and remove its main obstacle of entry. However, I doubt that developer is open to an actual feedback on his game.
Barren Tooltips - Game leans heavily on a military sim aspects. It shuns its arcade roots and tries to be taken as something else. Unfortunately, it severely lacks any meaningful information. Tooltips often do not crucial information like:
- What is a range of warhead?
- What is its payload?
- What is reload rate of a weapon?
- What is armor piercing qualities?
- What is heat signature of your fleet?
- What is a radar cross section of your fleet?
Basic information like this is left out of reach for a player. It tries to be something it is not and ends up only confusing most of its player base. If it wants to be a nice dumb arcade rogue light, it is fine. However, when you start mixing in military simulation and ship design into the mix, this information becomes crucial to see in game rather than to theory-craft and datamine your way to something as simple as tooltip information
Shipworks
In any game will be made a lot better where you can actually design your own units. Highfleet is not an exception to that. Though, I do have a nagging suspicion that developer’s favourite food is spaghetti as you could judge from his code in this mode. Engine is bugged, often not creating right elevations for your guns. Other times it fails to connect wiring to your parts. Doing the exact same thing somehow manages to fix all the issues.
Arcade builder
This game has an outstanding visual representation which punches way above its weight. Amorphism of various HUD elements into its real life analogues adds to an atmosphere. Weather effects, landing under difficult conditions, high caliber impacts. These things are amazingly presented in this game. Game has a lot to offer to a dedicated gamer as it has a lot of depth in its mechanical gameplay. It will take many hours just to learn how to play just by following tutorials online. Then you have dozen hours long campaign and shipworks adds a lot of replayability to the main game mode. To select few, it will be a matter on making the best ship designs online.
To everyone else, I can’t recommend this game. I did not had fun in this game. Game does a very poor job introducing player in its own gameplay. Vanilla ships often are extremely bad. Sevastapool (Your vanilla flagship) is actually so bad that many consider it to be a main factor why campaign is so difficult in a first place. If you are someone who wants to just have fun with its game, this is not it. You are looking at, at least 20 hours learning curve. Afterwards in-game mechanics become just tiresome.
- The whole ship building aspect is primitive. It does not consider construction strength and thus you can put thousands of tons on 1×1 aluminium block and it will do just fine. Or how planes requires just a flat surface to be placed. This means that any ship can be a carrier as long as it has some unused flat space on its surface. From smallest frigates to biggest battleships. There is no consideration for your ammo storage. It is all free and infinite. There is no need for reloading systems. There is no need for storage space for your aircraft. There is no need for runway length for your aircraft. There is no structural strength requirements. Since in-game system is so primitive as not to require underbelly hangars or runaways, you can take smallest interceptor, add a jet fighter on its head and this will work just fine. Ship building in this game is just ridiculous.
Conclusion
This game has an outstanding visual representation which punches way above its weight. Amorphism of various HUD elements into its real life analogues adds to an atmosphere. Weather effects, landing under difficult conditions, high caliber impacts. These things are amazingly presented in this game. Game has a lot to offer to a dedicated gamer as it has a lot of depth in its mechanical gameplay. It will take many hours just to learn how to play just by following tutorials online. Then you have dozen hours long campaign and shipworks adds a lot of replayability to the main game mode. To select few, it will be a matter on making the best ship designs online.
To everyone else, I can’t recommend this game. I did not had fun in this game. Game does a very poor job introducing player in its own gameplay. Vanilla ships often are extremely bad. Sevastapool (Your vanilla flagship) is actually so bad that many consider it to be a main factor why campaign is so difficult in a first place. If you are someone who wants to just have fun with its game, this is not it. You are looking at, at least 20 hours learning curve. Afterwards in-game mechanics become just tiresome.