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The big companies may be the ones grabbing the headlines, but it’s the independents that are driving the gaming industry forward. It might not be the best time for the industry, but Microsoft’s ID@Xbox initiative seems to be hitting the nail on the head with the standalone project it plans to release. Last week, we had a closed-door meeting where the ID@Xbox program caught us off guard by showing off a new multiplayer action product from Sweden’s Keepsake Games called Jump Ship.
But let’s not go too far. The talk we attended and the subsequent Q&A with director Filip Coulianos was extensive, starting with an interesting trailer where we saw a squad of four players control a ship, Explore this space action shooter with first-person on-foot missions and resource management. The goal is to complete missions in space and on the surface of planets and structures such as space platforms, where we collect resources and collect weapons to improve our character and our ship, which can also be piloted as a team. The first impression of its first-person action is somewhat similar to No Man’s Sky’s co-op mode, but soon the gameplay and pace become more reminiscent of the recent Helldivers 2, only more open-ended.
Jump Ship , as I’ve already noted, also has elements of spacecraft travel and combat. This is the least of what we saw in the demo, but it seems like each of the four squad members will be controlling one of the ship’s systems as we battle the artificial intelligence. Upgrading ships will be central to progression, with the developers likening it to the character building system in the Diablo series, with each piece having a different grade/color for rarity and perks.
But what’s most surprising is the feel of the gaming experience. The video features a four-player game with an open mic, where players coach each other to solve simple cooperative puzzles and quizzes and coordinate when threats appear on-screen. It feels really fun, everything on the screen shows speed and certainty, and they’ve put a lot of focus into what these multiplayer games are going to look like. While I’ve mentioned other games before as the first reference that comes to mind, the game’s director said the gameplay was largely inspired by Left 4 Dead, so you can also get a rough idea of what Jump Ship’s gunplay will be like. Unfortunately, our questions to the team about the presence of friendly fire were not addressed, but hopefully we’ll know more about it now that the game is out in the public domain.
Although Keepsake Games only has ten people, the titles they showcased prove production values that are almost AA-worthy. While Microsoft is handling distribution, there’s still no confirmation on when the game will arrive or a confirmed platform. In addition to the obvious PC, Xbox (and Game Pass) are expected to be on the list, but we believe this PC will also stamp a passport for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 access.
