Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Jul 24, 2023

  I bought this on the premise that it would be a great sailing sim. At the time, it was, and was being developed. Currently, it has been abandoned and I don't think the dev is going to do anything but keep the servers online. No further developements or even improvements have been said by the dev, and it appears they are no longer interested in this whatsoever. Recommendation: DO NOT BUY.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 26, 2017

  Ok first off I was a little sceptical of this release, especially with the premium asking price, however, after a few positive reviews decided to give it a chance, the fact this is a single developer who has worked tirelessly to release this, kudos to you, this is a very solid EA and so will give it my honest opinion. Things I love so far; - The weather is immersive. - Boat customisation is a fantastic touch. - The navigation of menu is easy to understand including little hint boxes for complete beginners to better get to grips with sailing mechanics. - The sheer size of the map with real world time - The multiplayer aspect, seeing other boats and knowing they are manned, including the option to race and sail together adds immensely to the gameplay. It would be harsh to say I dislike anything, however, areas I can see that would benefit (or would look forward to being introduced) improvement are; - Game resolution and more graphic tweak options (would love to see 2160p up there) - Improved water, sky, and land texture (its good but could be better) let’s hope the Mac compatibility doesn’t hold this title back graphics wise. - Random Marine life (Shark, Dolphin, Whale, Large fish, even Birds in the sky) this would seriously impact well on immersion, even some AI ships, or plane trails in the sky. - Enterable detailed and operational cabin. (sleep, eat, log, charter, radio) - An equipment store (the ability to purchase rations, supplies, spare ropes) for Transat crossings, to maintain a system of energy and morale. - Some Major ports, with the ability to dock. As I have seen by the road map some of these suggestions are already planned by the dev, this title has so much to offer, in both potential and scope. It’s a clear 7.5/10
• gamedeal user

  Jul 5, 2017

  AS an old irl sailor and long time virtual sailing games player (Virtual Skipper) I highly recommend this simulation. Community starts to get things organized and we're having a ball during the races. To relax afterwards you can cruise anywhere around the world with the appropriate drink on your desk ! Already interesting in early access and no game breaking bugs. We have organized a four days race with 15 skippers and no technical problem.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2017

  One week into owning this sim, and I'm nearing 30 hours. It has relegated every other game I own to the depths of Davy Jones' locker. I've never had any knowledge of sailing and therefore really a lack of interest I never knew could be there. Always been deep into aviation and flight simming. Now I'm consumed by sailing; reading sailing books and watching youtube-related videos both informative and entertaining in nature. Practically the whole ocean world is represented here which could provide a lifetime of cruising and exploring - and it's only in early access, giving this game so much room to grow. The boats will sail your set courses even while you're offline, simulating onboard crews - and you can operate the four so far offered independently of each other. This game is worth the money alone for the amount of educational content of sailing it teaches and allows you to interact with from the get-go, before even mentioning the opportunity to relax on trans-oceanic journeys through stunning sunsets and sunrises in calm and stormy sea alike. The engrossing beauty captured with the star-studded open-ocean night sky. Another added bonus to the game are the races, which are immersive and frequent. Each week a plethora of races are arranged by the devs and soon to be the community at large - they range from 24-30 hours in length, to 3 hour medium ones, to 30 minute short ones. The community here is second to none; the people you will meet, the joint adventures you'll have from day-to-day sailing, with the ability to multi-crew a boat anywhere in the world are all incredibly engaging and satisfying. I can't lavish enough praise on this game, I'm so glad I stumbled across it, and felt a strong enough desire to spend the money to experience it!
• gamedeal user

  Jul 25, 2017

  Day 1: Sailing is hard! Day 2: Doing some beginner challenges and discovering sailing is really fun! Day 3: Changing difficulty to Expert and crossing the English Channel. Day 4: Googling "How to start sailing" Fantastic game!
• jdmm72

  Sep 4, 2017

  I love this simulator. I personally sail smaller inland boats, but have learned a lot by desk sailing. It's more than a game, it will help teach you sailing. The higher difficulty settings allow the controls of a real boat (minus the mechanical failures and the pucker factor from them.) I highly recommend it.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 5, 2017

  I live in Boston and sailing is a hobby of mine (in real life). This simulator is pretty much unplayable to me. While you are in the boat, your point of view is rigidly attached to the boat, meaning that when the boat heels, the horizon gets tilted. This is extremely unnatural, and after a while it actually made me kinda nauseous. In real life, you have the feeling of gravity to keep your head upright - it is instinctual in real life that the horizon will be level to your eyes no matter how much the boat heels. Someone in the forums said that the creators intend you to tilt your head in real life to keep the simulated horizon level as the boat heels, but I really hope they aren't serious. It is very uncomfortable to keep level a simulated horizon when it disagrees with the gravity that you feel in real life. Furthermore, by tilting the horizon on screen, you lose a lot of space that could otherwise hold more visual information. The view angles overall feel very wonky. I find it slightly frustrating that the tell tales are completely out of view when I am adjusting the sail trim. I am considering trying to get a refund for this game, but I am conflicted. The effect of sail trim seems really accurate and the waves are really well done. I desperately want them to succeed in making this a great sailing simulator, and I see great potential here. But right now the horizon problem undermines the whole experience.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 20, 2017

  Pros - Pretty much every line in a sailboat is modeled and can be manipulated. - You can sail anywhere in the world. - Real-life weather data. - Pretty graphics. - Nice racing experience. Cons - Sailing dynamics are not simulated (don't be fooled by the game's name). Center of buoyancy, center of effort, center of lateral resistance, center of gravity are not modeled. Try sailing with just the genoa up. Spoiler: you can't. - Upper telltales just replicate the lower ones. In other words, sail twist is not modeled. - Heeling behavior is unrealistic and apparently scripted (poorly). - When you adjust trim or pull on a line, it takes time for it to take effect, as in, you trim in the main sheet, wait for a second, and the boom moves. Same with any lines. - How waves affect the hull is not modeled. - Unlike other sims which can be a training tool (like MS FSX), this is not a simulator of sailing. It could qualify as a simulator of sailboat racing perhaps, or a simulator of pulling lines on a sailboat, that's about it. - It cannot be played offline, meaning if you have no internet, than you cannot play the game. I look forward to seeing this game develop into a sailing simulator, which it is not at this time.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 22, 2017

  I had originally purchased this game for the simulation aspect of the game and thought to myself wow looks great! I can learn to sail properly... YEAH NO! DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THIS! this game is nothing more then a line trimming simulator. The Pros Good water graphics nice boat models and weather as well as waves. yeah thats bout it.... THE CONS * It lacks any kind of visual appeal on the land... not even any trees just a big green and brown height map. * It completly lacks any ports of any kind to sail to ..not even a generic port randomly planted aorund the map until such time something good could be developed. (Would take to much work i guess) * There is no damage mechanics, meaning the mast will never snap, you can run aground with knowledge you will never sink. No damage even in terrible weather. * You can't capsize your boat... no sir... not even in a giant hurricane...you can rest easily knowing you will reach your destination no matter what the gods throw at you for you are LORD OF THE SEA and nothing shall stand in your path. * Can't enter the cabins... ur just basically standing there... trimming your lines every so often. * Only updates that ever come seem to be always for races and nothing actually towards the mechanics of the game/sim. We are then told that this requires the least amount of the devs time to put into the game which is fine and all but what else is he working on because it surely isnt the missing ports, propper terrain or any other propper mechanics. * Dev does not interact with the community aside from that one time he decided to write a letter about what the sim will not be which pretty much ruled out everything that could make it even a sim or remotely enjoyable. Instead he has some dude who interacts for him and makes nothing but excuses for why they can't do something. * Certain things take to much time and effort to put into the game so therefore the lone programmer will not be doing it... instead of making a propper learning simulation.. we have the standing still line simulator. I normally do not write reviews and this is the first i've done. I dont normally slam games as developing takes alot of time and commitment... which this dev is unable to provide. Week after week is nothing but racing updates, the game does not teach you the propper mechanics of sailing because according to this... you raise sails and |NOTHING can go wrong or stand in your way. I feel like i have wasted my money on this title and because i feel like i have been let down in some pretty big ways i felt i should write this for anyone who wants an accurate simulation..because this aint it and probably wont be it for along time if at all. I was hoping that this title would turn out to be more then a racing sim, offer true simulation... but instead i got half baked races, horrific terrain, complete inacuracy for learning how to sail properly... it's really NOT WORTH the asking price as the most content it offers is the boat itself. Sorry Dev and to anyone who enjoys this shamble... but this game is not worth the time or money wasted. I really wanted to recommend this to friends who would love to learn as well but i simply cannot under the current design. Maybe if some things change down the road in regards to terrain and damage etc as mentioned above then it would make a great sim but right now...no..not at all!
• gamedeal user

  May 29, 2018

  As an experienced simulation player and a sailing lover I can say clearly, this game is AMAZING and has a GREAT POTENTIAL for the future. With just a little touch, it would be like the sailing version of the Microsoft Flight Simulator X; most of the work had been done already, just a little push we need... I just started to play it so forgive me if I demand something already in the game but, I think we need you guys to make like: - Simulate the light switches (each of them; masterhead light, side lights, stern light, all-round light etc.); add cabin (mostly as a visuality) to the boats and put a light panel somewhere in there so we can turn on and off the lights manually (there could be an auto-lights option for the newer virtual sailors of course). - Create marina sceneries and add engines to the boats for the purpose of docking and undocking, but make it unable to run during races. I know, it's a sailing simulaton; but every modern sailboat has an engine except the racing boats. So simulate the docking with engine power and the dock lines either; make us able to dock/undock and tie/untie our boat to the marinas. Those marinas could be designed by community workshops as a scenery; just like in the FSX... - Add some fuel pumps and electric charges on the docks to fill our gasoline and batteries. - Simulate the electricity and batteries. Add an optional solar panels and wind generators (or we could be like running the engine itself with the neutral gear and burn some fuel to charge our batteries if we don't have these) to charge the batteries. I know, there's not much electrical devices onboard to concern about battery charging but, at least for the lights and the auto-pilot... - Add damage simulaton during stormy weathers, collisions (collisions may be closed during races, I mean the normal sailing collisions) and crashing to the land. Make able the players repair minor damages onboard but for the major things we could take the boat to the nearest dock and fix it. - Add more boats and catamarans (espacially offshore and inshore racing boats/catamarans) and more offshore races such as Vendèe Globe (which would be really fantastic), Volvo Ocean Race, America's Cup etc. (again, couldn't experienced yet; sorry if there's already...) - And last but not least, sceneries... Make us able to create sceneries; download and add them into the game. Just like in the FSX (it's the second time that I'm using this sentence; "just like in the FSX". Excuse me for that but there's no offence on it let me explain; FSX is the only equivalent game to the Sailaway in the way of reality and real world width which you can do real-time voyages under the real-time weather conditions. For this reason, it would be the best example to you for the future improvements)... That was one of the greatest feature of the FSX. I know it's a huge game to make all these I counted. Maybe most of them is impossible to make I'm not sure; there must be thousands of docks and marinas around the world and could be impossible to design all of them, or maybe some trolls would appear after adding the collisions, electricity and battery simulation wouldn't be necessary... But at least add cabins and light switch panels. These are kind of necessity which should be in this sort of simulation game in my opinion. Thanks for this amazing game, it's a great job and I believe it'll be more cool and realistic in the future!