Back when the Source engine was still hot off the press and games were just starting to come out that took advantage of it, a little project called The Ship came around that stood out because it provided something so wholly different from other games of the day. Players navigated a cruise ship, all the while attempting to covertly stalk and kill their assigned target while avoiding the individual tasked with assassinating them in turn. In order to facilitate this, player characters were indistinguishable from NPCs, except by behavior.
If you’ve played the multiplayer in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, this might sound familiar. Spy Party involves a somewhat more asymmetrical version of this as well. It’s interesting because it relies completely not only on one’s ability to react and memorize level layouts, but also on the ability to “act” convincingly, so that other players won’t be able to pick you out of the crowd.
The Ship set sail back in 2006, and now, six years later, word has finally surfaced of a sequel, The Ship: Full Steam Ahead. Outerlight, the original developers, aren’t on the project, but it is being published by Blazing Griffin, which was the publisher for the first title as well. They’re looking to get in on the current rash of Kickstarter funding too, and their Kickstarter will launch at the end of the month with a goal of $200,000. As a stretch goal, each subsequent $200,000 raised will result in a twenty percent price drop on the first game; if the Kickstarter hits $1 million, the first game will be free-to-play.