Never has a period been more inclined to look out and discover some titles free to play available between Steam, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Today, in particular, we will go to see a title still in beta phase, but which has already managed to attract much of the attention of the community dedicated and passionate about battle royale different from the usual Fortnite clones, at least in terms of structure; indeed Maelstrom takes the dynamics and the now classic stylistic features of this genre to throw them to sharks and pirates, since in this case survival will be dictated by our ability to remain the only ship intact in a game map to be plowed wave after wave.
The captain's crew
The structure is soon said how simple: choose a faction (humans, orcs, dwarves) and the next boat. Here, as is easy to predict, there will be very precise statistics, never leaving us a balanced choice between the different values but instead forcing us to choose what to opt for and what to sacrifice. So, for example, you can have very fast boats, with ample room to turn at the most opportune moments but little defense and attack power (or vice versa) for each single ship proposed.
If you have already tasted the battles of Sea of Thieves, Assassin's Creed Black Flag or why not, go back to the mythical Overboard! on PSX, you will know that the dynamics of fire will be, in some ways, very faithful to the typical style of battles between galleons: we will be able to attack only depending on where our guns are positioned - normally on the sides of the boat, more bonuses in the bow and stern - and here we will find a great variety of choices, with the future possibility, by increasing our level of play, to make direct changes that will affect these statistics. Always going forward we could put captains or even the figure of the quartermaster, elements that will directly influence our statistics, without anything more.
The game maps will be portions of the ocean dotted with rocks or explorable fortresses. Entering the game - alone or in a team - we will have one and only purpose: to remain the last galleon still intact before the mist engulfs us and makes us sink into the abyss. Minute after minute a mysterious dark haze will in fact restrict the action area of all the participants in the game, justifying everything with fearsome creatures ready to emerge out of the water and annihilate us if we dwell too much in these murky waters.
But the title of this free to play is not accidental since it is usually in the center of the map we will find a maelstrom, a vortex that will suck us in without forgiveness if we get close to it without the wind in the tail or the right acceleration. This is partly a way of saying, of course, even if we will have to be careful with the motion of the waves as for the small rivers of current that could compromise or not our maximum speed (indicated by special screens together with resistance and other bonuses / malus).
Fighting around maelstroms is certainly as easy a way to win as to lose: venturing into the undertow without the necessary thrust will destroy our boat in a few moments, making us lose all types of loot collected up to that moment, but if we can properly calibrate the thrust of the undertow with our speed, a right maneuver to put the cannons in the attack position could seriously damage our opponents and make them lose the advantage gained. In short, don't expect spectacular fights like the maelstrom sequence of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, but almost.
Undead of the seven seas
We arrive with considerable delay to talk about this title and justify everything with the addition of recent updates from developers, who welcomed the excellent feedback from users, continuing to work on the project. A paid update was also recently released where to the three classes a fourth is added, namely that of the undead.
Also here, nothing new on the boat front, with two available, one very agile, but poor in attack power, while the other with poor maneuverability, but increased cannons and defense, all accompanied by the possibility of changing some skins to make our boat the most feared of the seven seas . In short, the production seems to be supported more than with dignity with constant updates by the team, which has also included juicy battle passes designed to entice users to constantly play the title and unlock better rewards.
