Ship of Fools Review (Virde)
Just a quick heads up, as of time of writing this, there's not too much content and the game balancing is abysmal. HOWEVER, this game is an absolute ton of fun. Going in as co-op, it feels like Overcooked on a pirate ship. If that sounds like a blast to you, then you'll get some good enjoyment out of this. I'll specify what I meant in my first statement, but if you're looking for a general rating, a very solid 6/10 in its current state.
Content Problems:
There are currently 3 stages (technically 4, but the last one is just a boss). Each stage's boss is entirely predetermined, nor do the stages cycle between a roster of bosses. After you beat the game, there's a quick cutscene, and that's about it. There's no additional scaling, harder difficulties, endless mode, nothing to really add some spice once you've done it once or twice.
Game Balancing:
Charge shot is objectively the best cannon in all of co-op. Since there's no restriction on how much ammo can be loaded into the cannon by your co-op friend while you charge it, you can literally one shot entire bosses if you stuff enough ammo into the cannon. This is especially true for the final boss, which has tons of dead time in between damage phases for you to prep another volley of death. My friend and I literally don't know what the boss's attack patterns are because we've killed it immediately after it spawned.
Also, many of the artifacts (the ones that are placed on the ship) are entirely useless in comparison to others. For example, why would I want an artifact that gives my ship +3 health, when I can save that same amount of health by getting +50% projectile damage and killing everything before I take that damage? Why would I build into eggs when it requires at least 2 artifacts to be good when I can, again, get +100% projectile damage, thereby getting the same output without the inconsistency of waiting for eggs.
Characters are also very off. While many of the characters have niche innate trinkets (which are occasionally useful), Krillstoph (1-2 melee combo) and Shelbie (loaded cannons bonus speed, damage, and fire rate) are so unbelievably universally good that there's no reason to take any of the other characters.
Conclusions:
While this game has some serious flaws as listed above, it's got so much potential, a vivid soundtrack, great artstyle, exciting gameplay, wonderful humor, and an excellent loop, I truly pray that the devs have more work planned for this game. To leave it in it's current state would be an absolute travesty, and I sincerely look forward to what the future might hold.