The Ship: Remasted Sailing To Early Access In February

For those who've not heard of The Ship and have romantic visions of sailing the seven seas, I'll quickly state that it's a game about murder. To expand a little, it's a multiplayer FPS about passengers aboard a cruise ship trying to have a pleasant holiday and stealthily off their target - perhaps catching them unaware while they have a waz. I asked you for murdertales a few months back, and enjoyed all the deathtales you told me.

Now we're up to speed: hey, the 'HD' revamp The Ship: Remasted [official site] will launch on Steam Early Access in February.

"One of the challenges of remastering an old game is striking a balance between replicating old features that players have fond memories of, and improving them," developers Blazing Griffin explained in an announcement today.

"This is why we're taking an iterative approach to releasing the game, starting with a few maps at launch in February and releasing the remaining content and features over the next few months."

They're hoping to pick up plenty of feedback to shape the direction of development, including responses to things they've changed, "like the UI, the layout of security and the values of the needs system." They say, "These are relatively small tweaks, but we'd like to know from fans... does it still feel like The Ship?"

Blazing Griffin, who you might remember from the FTL-ish Distant Star: Revenant Fleet, didn't work on The Ship's earlier incarnations but they have scooped up a few folks who did. The Scottish studio had hoped to crowdfund a full-on sequel, but the Kickstarter didn't go through so they scaled plans back down to a revamp-o-remake.

The Ship: Remasted is due on February 15th, priced at $20 (£14-ish?). Folks who already own The Ship on Steam will receive a 25% discount. Here's an old teaser trailer: