European Ship Simulator

About

European Ship Simulator is a single player simulation game. It was developed by Excalibur and was released on November 4, 2016. It received neutral reviews from players.

"European Ship Simulator" is a game where players can captain eight detailed vessels and explore famous European ports. Each ship has unique handling and features highly detailed bridges. The game also includes a mission editor, weather conditions, and realistic water physics. Updates and DLC are planned for post-launch support.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+17

Skip User Reviews

43%

Audience ScoreBased on 614 reviews

story14 positive mentions

gameplay8 negative mentions

The graphics are good, especially the water animations and ship details.
The game offers a variety of missions and allows for some customization through a mission editor.
For those who enjoy a slow-paced, realistic ship simulation, this game can provide a fun experience.

The game is outdated, full of bugs, and crashes frequently on newer systems.
It lacks essential simulator features such as tides, water depth, and realistic navigation controls.
Many players find the gameplay boring and repetitive, with limited content and no free roam option.

story
176 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
86%
6%
The game's story aspect is primarily mission-driven, with players engaging in a limited selection of scripted tasks that lack depth and variety. While there is a mission editor allowing for custom scenarios, the overall experience is marred by bugs, a lack of freeplay options, and insufficient mission content, leading to a repetitive and often frustrating gameplay experience. Many players express a desire for more missions and improved mechanics to enhance the narrative engagement within the game.
- “The cruise ship mission is more like a puzzle than a simulator, as you try to maneuver a behemoth ship around the port while avoiding other traffic.”
- “The introductory mission of tug and tow is quite accurate, and the final 'nesting' of the cargo freighter into its assigned berth is testing but fun, using both towing skills and knowing when to drop the tow.”
- “While there are only a few missions available in the game at this point, these missions are fun and appear to have all features.”
- “It's extremely buggy, the missions no longer work, and half the menu buttons don't work.”
- “It's not really a simulator and the missions are lacking details, and it's boring with little replay value - even completing a mission gives no rewards (it's just mission over) or even a points or scoring system.”
- “This game is still abandoned in 2019, there are no new missions and I expect the owners/devs to have fled as fast as they went in 2015 when it received no more updates, don't buy this game.”
graphics
142 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
51%
10%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the water effects and ship details as visually stunning, while others criticize the overall quality as poor and unpolished. Many users note that the graphics options are limited, and despite some impressive visuals, the game often feels incomplete or lacking in content. Overall, while there are highlights in the graphical presentation, significant issues with performance and realism detract from the experience.
- “There's not much to do, but at least you can sit back and relax, especially when commanding big cruise ships, ferries, etc. The game has excellent graphics and the water looks visually stunning, especially when you are out in the middle of the ocean and high up on the bridge.”
- “The graphics are excellent, and it is a challenge to operate your ship right.”
- “Graphics are great, can you change views from inside and outside the vessel, gameplay is smooth, and no crashing or problems with the simulator.”
- “The graphics are bad and I'm kinda sad now.”
- “Like the ship simulators before this, the graphics are poor and this is just a disappointing sim.”
- “Absolute dreadful... the worst kind of graphics you can imagine with a feel of Minecraft in there.”
gameplay
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
53%
27%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing it for being outdated, buggy, and lacking realism, particularly in comparison to modern standards for simulators. While some appreciate the smooth mechanics and true-to-life sailing experience, others find it slow, boring, and plagued by performance issues like low frame rates and crashes. Overall, the gameplay seems to fall short of expectations, leaving players disappointed despite some positive elements.
- “The gameplay and graphics are solid.”
- “The gameplay is very true to real life sailing.”
- “Graphics are great, can you change views from inside and outside the vessel, gameplay is smooth, and no crashing or problems with the simulator.”
- “Really outdated, full of bugs, crashes on newer systems, and the mechanics of the game are just not up to today's standards and what you would want from a simulator in terms of realism.”
- “Even if I could forgive some of this game's faults, the constant crashes and restrictive gameplay are just too much.”
- “The game is running at a very low fps (10 fps) and this makes it very bad gameplay; it's a shame as I had hoped it would be a good simulator, but it was not!”
stability
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
90%
The game's stability is severely criticized, with numerous reports of freezing, crashing, and bugs that render missions unplayable. Users express frustration over the lack of updates and ongoing issues, leading to a consensus that the game is poorly developed and not worth purchasing. Despite some positive remarks about performance on specific systems, the overwhelming sentiment is one of disappointment and abandonment.
- “It runs great on my laptop, and I hope the further development on this game continues to improve stability.”
- “The game performs smoothly without any crashes, making for a seamless experience.”
- “I've had no issues with stability; it runs perfectly even during intense gameplay.”
- “This game now freezes and crashes. Do yourself a favor and don't buy this game; there have been no updates since, and there are better games out there.”
- “I play a mission which takes a while, and when I'm either in the middle of the mission or right about to complete it, it freezes.”
- “It's extremely buggy; the missions no longer work, and half the menu buttons don't work.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
38%
The music in the game has been widely criticized as annoying, with users expressing frustration over the lack of options to customize or mute it, particularly in the options menu, which is described as bare bones. Additionally, the audio settings control both sound and music simultaneously, limiting user control and contributing to an overall unpolished experience.
- “Music is incredibly annoying.”
- “I can only hear the music to it and then it crashes completely.”
- “The options menu is bare bones, with three non-descript settings for graphics and an audio slider that controls both sound and music at the same time.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is widely criticized for its poor optimization, with users reporting excessive CPU usage and high resource demands, leading to significant performance issues even on capable hardware. Many feel that the game's optimization is so lacking that it detracts from the overall experience, prompting comparisons to better-performing alternatives.
- “Game optimization is awful with task manager showing it using 1.8GB RAM and 93% CPU (on a Core i5), taking my CPU to 100%.”
- “Badly optimized, I wasted my money and Floating Sandbox is better.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find humor in the exaggerated mechanics of driving heavy ships, likening it to maneuvering a go-cart, and the absurdity of a cruise ship stopping abruptly like a car when power is cut. This comedic element adds a lighthearted touch to the gameplay experience.
- “It's funny that you can drive the heavy ships like a car, and the steering of a heavy-weight ship feels like driving a go-kart.”
- “It's also funny that with 0% power on the engines, the cruise ship brakes immediately like a car within just a few meters.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is negatively impacted by unrealistic mechanics, such as the boat's response to choppy water, which feels more like a forced gameplay element than an immersive experience. This lack of authenticity detracts from the overall emotional engagement, leaving players frustrated rather than invested.
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been criticized for its low replayability, as missions lack detail and excitement, offering no rewards or scoring system upon completion. Players find the experience boring and unengaging, leading to little incentive to replay.
- “It's not really a simulator, and the missions are lacking details. It's boring with little replay value - even completing a mission gives no rewards (it's just mission over) or even a points or scoring system.”