So I Tried… Boat Together

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never played before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time, I tried the demo for Boat Together.

As has become tradition, whenever Steam Next Fest rolls around like a swarm of tiny demo-locusts, the GameGrin Stream Crew take it upon themselves to look through as many co-op titles as possible to get an idea of what the future may hold for your future shenanigans. The object of today’s scrutiny, Boat Together, was a viewer recommendation!

What I thought it was

Being a viewer recommendation, the Grin Crew and I dived into this title with little to no prior information. However, going by the name alone, I imagined the game to be something like Overcooked, but built around rowing or operating a naval vessel; we’d run around the ship in a panic trying to keep it afloat as random events made sure that our floating home would meet with Davy Jones sooner than later.

What it actually is

In Boat Together, you and a friend (the version we played had a player cap of two) pick between joining forces in a two-person kayak or going forward solo on a one-seater. Once the player has something to keep them buoyant, they are set on an arduous quest of rowing said boat along a thin strip of water laden with traps, hazards, and surprisingly responsive paddle-propelled action.

Yes, this is indeed another addition to the ever-growing rage bait genre of games that have become increasingly popular among content creators.

I’ll be honest, we didn’t get very far in our attempts, as the controls were difficult enough playing solo, and we had a fair bit of latency due to gaming on almost opposite sides of the world. The lack of checkpoints and an audience watching our every move also motivated us to quickly move onwards, though I was positively surprised by how well the little boats moved; I can only imagine the chaos of an eight-person kayak, which is the stated maximum player count.

Will I keep playing?

No, I don’t think I will. I can appreciate a good rage bait game, but it’s definitely not a genre I’m interested in playing myself. I have little time and less patience for repetition… though I’d happily boot it up if asked by a friend.

Boat Together is launching on Windows PC via Steam, though there's no official release date at the time of writing.