Below you'll find a video and written impression of the game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTl8Gf5mP-s

European Ship Simulator is exactly as the name states, it is a simulation of what it's like to take control of a variety of European style ships. It's in early access so there is still a ways to go for this game but it does show some promise.

Graphically the game looks mostly top-notch. The interior of the ship's cabin are well detailed with high resolution textures and great quality models. You'll find all the small intricacies that you would in a real ship, switches, knobs, GPS, etc, which helps with immersion. The water and weather effects are also some great stuff as well. Though the ship's interior, and the ships them selves show some good quality, the game isn't 100% consistent at the moment. Some of the environmental models, such as buildings, the docks, and streets, are very low polygon and features low resolution textures. I'm hoping that these lacking elements in the visuals are just place holders until a later / final build. Audio wise I got no complaints as the sound effects are realistic with great background noises from the boat's motor and the sounds of the ocean itself keeping you company.

As far as gameplay goes, It's surprisingly easy to learn and to get adjusted to, as the main controls is "WASD". Some ships will feature the option of more intricate controls with the num pad, allowing you to manipulate each of the ship's engines individually. Even at it's early stage, the game does a good job at simulating what it's like to drive a ship...for better or worst. I say this because, though the game achieves good results as a simulation, due to what it's simulating it may make it an incompatible for some gamers. Unlike Euro Truck Simulator, where you have the micromanagement of traffic, following traffic laws, avoiding cars, etc, European Ship Simulator is mostly "set sails to full" then auto-pilot straight. There will be lulls where you are simply doing nothing but watching the waves as you wait for your ship to arrive in a straight line to your destination. For enthusiast of simulation games or sailing, this won't be an issue, as that demographic probably already understand this before jumping in, but for the average gamer who is just curious to this game, know that this is a simulation before it's a game.

Currently at the time of this impression (version 633), there isn't much in the way of options, graphics, or audio, and there is only 4 missions available with no linking campaign or side features. This is early access I do understand, but at the same time I think it's fair to let people know that in it's current state, it is the bare minimum.

Overall, European Ship Simulator shows a lot of promise, that I think will shape up to be some thing quite interesting. But currently, it does feel rather unfinished. If you are a simulation game or ship/boat enthusiast, it might be worth your cash to check it out, even in it's early stages, but for every one else, keep an eye on it, but wait for later versions or even it's final release.

Pros:
- Mostly realistic and high quality visuals
- Feels realistic
- Varied amount of ships are enjoyable to cruise around in
- Shows promise of a bright future

Cons:
- Visual quality not 100% consistent
- Feels very incomplete currently (ver: 633)
- Subject matter might not be as universally appearling as Euro Truck Simulator

As a current student at a Maritime Academy, I am really enjoying this game. It runs GREAT on my laptop and I hope the further development on this game strives. I hope this game will have a lot of new content in the future because I will be using it in my future to practice maneuvering. The game is very smooth and realistic other than the tug mission where you can slam a bulk carrier around with no consequences. Once again this is the best ship simulator that I have played since ship simulator extremes which is outdated and won’t run on my laptop. To the developers, keep up the good work and PLEASE add a container ship and maybe the ability to walk around the whole vessel not just the bridge. :)

Alhough this is a Early Acsess title, it is very good right out of the gate. There aren't many missions and the options menu is sparse (to be polite) but the actual gameplay is fun and feels right. The interior views of the vessels are very well done and the water effects are some of the best I've seen recently. The game has it's problems such as horrendus FPS and a fair bit of stuttering and lag but for an imcomplete game, you get the feeling that the developers are moving in the right direction. Weekly content upgrades are a nice touch as is the developers engagment with thier customers. I really enjoy this sim and look forward to the "finished" version.

Euro Ship Simulator is the game ive been waiting for all my life. So far as a beta version the game is great with so much portential. The gameplay is very true to real life sailing. The diffrent ships all handel in there unique way, Some have bow and aft thrusters some dont. Some engines respond quick and some dont. Very realistic. I would like to see wind and tides play a role in this simulation as it would add to the difficultly and realism. So far soo good. Recomended.

I really like this game. It's a good start for an Early Access ship simming title. The market needs one. There were a few issues at the outset of it going live but from what I've seen in the updates and from the forum, the devs are working hard to make this a great game as quickly as possible.

Early yet but I was blown away by how far it has come since i first heard about it. Worth giving it a go.

exelent career mode would be amazing

European Ship Simulator is a very promising nautical simulator. In its current state the game is fun and highly detailed, with a lot more content coming in the near future. All of the missions I have played so far feature very detailed ship models with realistic controls, fun and challenging ports to navigate and highly-varied and challenging missions to complete.

It's also great to see the developers be so active within the community forums, responding to feedback and updating the game weekly with new content.

Looking into the future the game will have a mission editor allowing players to create and share their own missions as well as downloading other people's to play, which will give the game a lot of variety and replayability.

This game is in early access right now, but this is one of the few early access titles I can recommend without reservation. While there are only a few missions available in the game at this point, these missions are fun and appear to have all features. Also, the ships are very detailed and look great. Finally, the developer is releasing regular updates containing new missions and is thoughtfully interacting with the community. If you have any interest in ship simulators, I would recommend picking up this title to support a developer who is making a great effort to provide the community with a quality game.

good and fun ship simulator thay need a cruise ship

good game overall. good details on the ships and in the cabins , caint wait for more missions etc.
it would be good if there is a button that puts the throttles back into 0 because it doesnt work on the keyboard or mouse. and it would be good if you got rated for each misson to see where you are going wrong or doin well in.
keep up the good work guys. :)

Great game, can't wait for updates!!!

controls are realistic, ships look fantastic. but its in alpha so everything else needs working on.

Hey,

I have installed European Ship Sim on a laptop Asus ROG G750JM with a GTX 860M and a i7 4710HQ CPU at 2.5 GHz and 3.2 when on turbo. I have also updated to the latest Nvidia drivers. At first I had some troubles with starting a mission in ESS. But after an update was released I could complete a whole mission with no problem at all. All you need to do is update the game/sim in Steam to latest update released and it will/should work like a charm for every captain out there.


I really like that games like this one comes out as I am studying to watchkeeping officer for merchant ships in Finland at the moment.

Great game but needs more maps/DLC

At the current state, I can recommend this game only for die-hard ship simulator fans. For these people, it'll probably be like heaven. At first. Currently there are only a few missions to play but since this is an Early Access-game, it's totally understandable. Some missions have a time limit, if you exceed it by 1 second, it doesn't matter if you played for like.. 2 hours. Mission failed, that's all, plus an immediate return to the homescreen. The graphics are still quite buggy and unoptimized. But hey, it's Early Access.
What really annoys me though is that the developer seems to focus on new content, not on bug fixes. And of course, it takes a loooot of time to create new content. Meanwhile you have a buggy game with a couple of missions, and perhaps every month a new mission. That is what I see here right now. CTDs are quite common, happens to me 70% of tries to play a mission, it crashes within the first 10 seconds.
What I fear is that the game might become like the other ship simulators. Buggy, repetitive games with minimal content in terms of different things to do on the vessel.
Also, there are only the Steam Forums to communicate with the developer and well, I haven't seen him responding to any recommendations whatsoever on what to change in the game.
I think it is great that there's finally someone who wants to bring a new ship simulator to the market, but at the moment, I cannot recommend the average player to buy it, especially at this price. Wait a couple of months until major enhancements have (hopefully) been made so that you can see in which direction the game goes: the old Ship Simulator games or something new and really different.

This is a great sim to play! It is still in early-access but allready fun to play with. The developperteam is eager for feedback and they take all input seriously.
You can sit in your gamechair and enjoy the high quality graphs while your ferry is cutting the waves in a bad wether situation.; very nice indeed. Trying to dock for the first time with a big ship, without damaging it, isn't easy, but you get to learn the how-to very quick.

So far, the simulator seems to be scratching an itch that hasn't been scratched in ages.
I love the attention to detail, and how they really bothered in making the ships. I love ferries but I fell in love with the fishing ship. Life huh!

I also love the water, although I feel it needs a bit more love as in transparency(side of boats and docks and depth)refraction and reflection. But I would also love if we had proper ship wakes. A few games that managed to nail wakes, that I've seen are Silent Hunter 3/4/5, Deadliest Catch:Alaskan Storm(dynamic wakes) and Spintires(Dynamic wakes), and I would love to see that beautifully well-formed foam around the ship, giving a sense of movement, or that you are displacing tons of water.

And the developer's approach to the community and how they are handling criticism, suggestion and even the comments are very commendable. I think this simulator has shown a lot of promise, and I can't wait to see the developer’s dreams over this simulator come true.

I also like how the light reflects over the surface of the ship, tiny things like that immerses you more than you can imagine.


In other words, it is still Early Access, bare bones, probably pre-alpha, and still needs a lot of work, but what it already has is fun and worth the money! So, if you like simulation and ships, this is definitely something you should buy!

Hello There

This is my first review for European Ship Simulator and first of all I would like to congratulate the company and all the people responsible for creating this Simulator.Furthermore I must point out that the overall concept is very interesting and well captured,so lets get some things clear first of all I would like to mention that I am an Apprentice in the Merchant Navy and that I have been on board a Tanker ship and seen real Pilot Boats and Bulk carriers so I guess my giving this simulator a positive review might mean something to the designers,so to tell you the truth I am pleased that we (the people) finally see a Naval Simulator in the market where we can purchase at a reasonable price but at the same time very informative especially if you are interested in not just playing a game but experiencing a simulator.

Keep up the great work and I would love to see this Simulator becoming a realistic and wonderful perhaps even educational and why not training programme for future merchant marine Academies at least for starters.I Am aware that this is not easy at all however this Simulator has the potential to become a very powerful and still very simple programme to use,enjoy and more importantly learn from.I can not wait to see what the future holds for this remarkable Simulator so do create more ships,improve the way larger ships behave in the water and add ports like Rotterdam,New York,San Fransisco the whole world would be great (perhaps in the form of updates from time to time like you do for Take On Mars).I like the sea behaviour and changes while in and out of the harbours and the Navigation Lights are incredibly detailed.I Did not like the fact that I am unable change the Graphics in more detail or change the weather conditions there is also no day/night change I hope that you will add these later on as the Simulator evolves.

That's about it for the moment will write more Reviews soon.

A very nice game. Also the developers are doing a great thing here!