Age of Water | A PS5 Review

Age of Water is Gaijin Entertainment's latest entry to sail onto the MMORPG scene. At it's helm is a quirky casting of diverse characters not unlike those seen in Borderlands. Their world, a flooded Earth wherein the polar ice caps melted covering every facet of land, almost completely. Only leaving the tops of skyscrapers and mountains to be safe havens for the remaining human population. 

Since resources are scarce in this post-flood world there's constant warring via factions over said goods that occur in what is best described as Waterworld-esque sea skirmishes. Looters, bounty hunters, men of law, and pirates themselves are all out to nab the treasures they need to barter, and upgrade their ships with. Each at odds with everyone else out for the same base needs. It is quite literally survival of the fittest. You either sink or swim in this Dystopian future.

Starting off on a linear storytelling path with mechanics tutorials gradually explained away in a hands on manner we find we are taking on the role of a lone survivor who is out and about scavenging for survival. He first happens upon the shipwrecked Kitty Sark, a victim of a Sharkee gang attack, and rescues her to aid in the ship management as well as the various quest driven directives that follow. 

Through Kitty we meet other lively characters both out at sea, and at designated outposts or vessels where they offer services in exchange for items gained on short fetch quest runs. This sets the stage for the core PvE experience, and ultimately leads to your main base of operations where things like PvE, PvP, crew recruitment, and ship customization can be done. Allowing the player to choose which objectives to take on alongside anything to do with combat or looting/exploration.

Visually the game is a smooth new-gen spectacle on the PS5 with surprisingly no stutter or lag. At least not to the extent that you'd assume would be present in such an MMORPG. At the near $30 entry fee it does play like a proper game, and is of that kind of paid for quality. Water and weather effects are top of the line, the character design bordering on cheaply made F2P assets and actual hand crafted articulate entities, and the voice over talent good enough for what it is. 

It's the core gameplay mechanics though that will either attract or dissuade a player from jumping onboard. As 'Age of Water' is part ship and crew management with customization options, and part vehicular pirate focused combat. The latter of which can become a high stakes battle for rarer materials and gear supposing you are brave enough to risk it all out on the PvP servers. There's that, and also questing with it's own lucrative exploration related rewards.

Currently I'm about an hour into the game after having agreed to a very lengthy and highly detailed terms of service agreement. Something I strongly suggest you reading through before signing up. At an hour's length the game begins to shed it's tutorial phase leading to the core experience that most vested players will be interested in. As I mentioned before there seems to be a mixture of PvE, and PvP related content centered around factions. These factions are variables of do gooders and pirates out to plunder. Even some there to explore the deep or micro-manage the business aspect of the game when it comes to the trade market. Meaning there's something for everyone. Each clan-like occupation with it's own risks and rewards. 

From a first impressions point of view I'm having a decently fun time treading the waves, and doing the usual tasks associated with an MMORPG. It' the standard quest driven thoroughfare, especially on the PvE side of things. The UI and menu navigation, on the other hand, does take some getting used to, but it's not overly complicated. Ship steering and ship combat also seem to be both well made and realistically portrayed. Added to the mix a soulslike mechanic wherein if you sink you will respawn with a chance to recover the items you've lost. Making the stakes either higher or lower depending upon which server you decide to commit to. 

Past this article I will be uploading no commentary gameplay videos on my Youtube channel to let you experience what I have experienced in my playthrough. To let you see for yourself if it is something worth buying into. Do note that there are hints of the climate change and DEI agendas here. That being said it's not seemingly heavy handed, and so far does not seem to play a big role in gameplay focus. 

The flooding information is told through the intro, and the DEI not really pushed through dialogue that I've seen yet. Should that change you'll see it for yourself in the offered gameplay videos. As always thanks for stopping by! I hope the read was informative enough. Your readership means the world to me, and if you are looking for a good friend to chat with over on social media I am over on X always looking for new friends. Stop by and say "Hi!' sometime. I promise I won't bite.