HighFleet: Review

Very weird and very Russian — this is how one foreign fan of our game dev described some Russian games. This is exactly what he does Konstantin Koshutin, independent developer who single-handedly created the amazing Hammerfight . The development of the sequel took more than five years: given the modest size of the team (only two people), it is not at all surprising that HighFleet, which was originally planned to be released back in 2016, only reached release in July 2021. Long-term construction projects rarely turn out to be something good, but here, fortunately, the case is completely different.

Behind enemy lines

Those who are familiar with Hammerfight, surely remember that Koshutin knows how to create an interesting plot out of literally nothing, without overwhelming the player with tons of dialogue and descriptions, but using more subtle techniques and gradually drawing an incomparable picture of the world. This is also true for HighFleet: no one chews on the intricacies of the plot and setting, our character simply lives in it, and does not observe from the outside – hence, probably, such an immersive effect.

A fleet of huge rocket-powered airships helped the Sayadian dynasty bring power to the Romani Empire, which for several centuries remains one of the strongest states in this world. She also has enemies – both external and internal. Herat – just yesterday a kingdom within the empire, and today it is already a rebellious republic, entered into a conspiracy with long-time opponents of the Romani. A new war began, in which fortune turned against the imperial forces.

The main Romani troops were defeated, hope remains only for a small expeditionary fleet sent on a raid on the capital of Herat – Khiva. The fleet is controlled by Crown Prince Mark Sayadi, the main character of the game. He is tasked with getting to the heart of the rebellion at any cost and destroying the rebels.

The author does not hide that the Romani Empire is an almost complete copy of the Russian Empire at the end of its power: a large role is given to religion, the characters have Russian names, and the focus is on the noble nobility serving in the army and navy. On the other hand, Herat is a similar copy of the Middle East of the same era, as evidenced by both the architecture of the cities and their population: warriors in turbans and wearing scimitars live in stone towers and adobe huts, and hot-tempered tarkhans (as flotilla commanders are called) are more often guided by their own convictions than by the army chain of command.

Let’s add here a fantastic component in the form of huge flying ships powered by methane fuel, armed not only with large-caliber guns, missiles and aircraft, but also with nuclear weapons – we get a very lively mixture of dieselpunk and the era of the Great Game (the confrontation between Russia and Britain for dominance in South Asia at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries).

We look at the map

Here you are probably asking: where did I even get this?? Here it is not Russian aristocrats who are fighting to preserve the power of the throne, but Silent Hunter mixed with CMANO! A map with a bunch of icons, a ruler with a compass for making marks, some kind of radars, walkie-talkies – how to play it in general?

I’ll answer right away: overcoming. There’s a prologue tutorial, but you’ll still need to look at the hundreds of pages of manual from time to time, just like in the good old days. The gameplay on the global map is a well-designed air fleet admiral simulator. The word "realistic" in the context of what is happening in HighFleet sounds strange, but most accurately characterizes the main gameplay. Information about what is happening outside the very narrow radius of visual vision of the squadron has to be obtained using the same methods that would be used in reality: radar readings, radio interceptions, reconnaissance reports and one’s own guesses about what is happening.

The equipment can be used in a similar way to their real prototypes. Determining the speed and course of a target using two consecutive marks on the radar? Yes. Radio triangulation? Sometimes it’s just necessary! We are very rarely given accurate information about the enemy – we have to independently draw conclusions from instrument readings and make our own guesses based on indirect data.

Here, perhaps, it’s worth making a small remark: if such fiddling with a map and radar is not interesting to you, then it’s unlikely HighFleet totally worth your attention. Still, similar gameplay remains the basis of the game, despite the presence of arcade battles and a ship designer (which I will talk about in more detail later). The main audience is just fans of such simulators. The developers tried to saturate the game with small, but very important features for immersion: for example, there are very atmospheric sounds (radio conversations, engine noise in flight), but most importantly, an interface on the global map that instantly attracts the attention of any “simulator”.

Your squadron can be divided into several groups – for reconnaissance, distracting the enemy or a surprise attack. There would be enough fuel, which is always in short supply here – this is one of the reasons why you still have to visit cities, because you can only refuel in them (collecting the remaining fuel from destroyed enemies can not be taken into account – there is too little of it left).

Not just a simulator

There are other ways to obtain information – for example, radio interception. This is generally a separate mini-game in which you not only have to manage to select the frequency and bearing of enemy communications before the transmission ends, but also decipher the message. Interception is sometimes incomplete: for example, the course and end point are known, but the route and position on it will have to be figured out independently.

Radio interception is important for hunting enemy convoys – this is one of the main ways to replenish the budget. Transport seized? Great, but now it needs to be brought to the nearest city and sold. The money will come in handy – in cities you can repair and modernize your ships, buy fuel and ammunition, hire mercenaries, and sometimes take part in the events taking place in the city. These are text quests, the choice in which affects not only the outcome of the quest itself (you can earn money and get stabbed in the back), but also on the worldview of the main character: the true believer will be sympathized with the same characters and disliked by cynics, and the weak in spirit will offer an alliance to the fearsome one.

But to get to the city, you need to land on the landing pad, and for at least one ship this will have to be done manually. Again a mini-game reminiscent of the ancient one Lunar Lander, but it is precisely from it that you understand how huge the ships are and what power their engines carry. It’s useless to tell – it’s better to see the landing with your own eyes (not forgetting about the sound – the roar of the rocket engines is also impressive).

It is clear that a damaged ship will behave worse when landing (try doing this without a landing gear and with one engine – it’s even more fun), but repairs for a manually landed one will be faster, especially if you successfully get into the bonus landing zone.

And one more mini-game – a separate dialogue system was created for diplomatic negotiations with Tarkhans. They can be won over to your side during a conversation, but if you make the wrong choice (for example, threaten a daredevil), then a potential ally will fly away, and your squadron will not receive replenishment in the form of a new powerful ship.

Iron monsters

Each playthrough of the campaign is unique, and after several “restarts” you notice HighFleet features of a “bagel” – it’s not without reason that he himself Koshutin calls his game "FTL with arcade dogfights". And it’s true: saving only at key points, a new map with each playthrough, an increase in the budget depending on success in the previous attempt at a new start – there are elements of a “bagel” here.

At the start of the casino-pub.co.uk campaign, you need to choose the composition of your squadron, including ships of your own design if desired.

What about arcade battles?? Everything is fine with them – another from the author Hammerfight with its simple but very effective combat system there is no need to wait. When two flotillas meet on the global map, an air battle begins. Here, in contrast to the measured strategic mode, the ball is ruled by combat power and the ability to control your ship. Unlike the enemy, we can only have one ship in battle – the next one will enter the battle only after the destruction or retreat of the previous one (before the start of the battle, we line up in the required order). The controls here couldn’t be simpler – we aim and shoot with the mouse, while the keyboard is responsible for moving the ship and using special equipment, such as false thermal targets or a fire extinguishing system.

The contrast with the “submarine simulator” is striking: after leisurely mind games, a ruthless battle begins, which is as useless to describe in words as landing in manual mode – the battles look very impressive. The firing of automatic cannons, missile launches, flashes of explosions, the hiss of rocket engines – the arcade battles turned out to be not only beautiful, but also very exciting. I want to fight again and again; It’s a pity that the game doesn’t have a separate battle mode yet.

DIY

However, you can still fight without having to load campaigns – the test mode in the ship editor is suitable for this. The editor himself is a separate matter. Self-made ships will become available in the campaign, but only for collecting a squadron at the start of the passage. If you’re not satisfied with the standard options, try yourself as a shipbuilder.

Hull, armor, weapons, sensors, ammunition, crew cabins, fuel tanks – those who like to make something of their own, without trusting the developer’s imagination, will like the editor here. It is not as convenient as, for example, in Kerbal Space Program and Airships: Conquer the Skies. Don’t look at the fact that it took so long to make the game – let me remind you that only two programmers were involved in this.

In fact, similar roughnesses in HighFleet enough – both on the strategic map and in arcade battles, and the interface has something to criticize for. For example, your fleet can be studied in detail only when landing. I didn’t remember what shells you had for the strike group and how damaged the flagship was – it’s my own fault, I need to write it down. For some reason, you can’t zoom in on the image in battles (although I’d ​​really like to take a closer look at the explosions and shooting), the edges of the screen serve as “walls” against which ships rest, and the only supported resolution is 1920 × 1080.

Screenshots of battles do not convey even a hundredth of the beauty of air battles – this must be observed in dynamics.

Global mode is very opaque to understand. This is probably intended, but sometimes it’s difficult to understand: the strange behavior of enemy squadrons is a bug or we simply lack information about the enemy? A large number of errors, however, a standard problem for such complex simulators – remember the last parts Silent Hunter, which are impossible to play without patches and mods.

Nevertheless, HighFleet can drag on for a long time – I don’t remember such an atmospheric and original mix of RPG, strategy and simulator. Colorful arcade battles and landings allow you to take a break from the role of squadron commander and relax, taking control of huge iron monsters into your own hands. And battles with some opponents will make you seriously sweat – the battles here can be quite difficult.

This is a niche project, which, if you take a sober look, shaking off the charm of first impressions, has a lot of problems. But these problems can be solved – I want to believe that the game has a great future, and Konstantin Koshutin will also delight us with such strange and such Russian games.

Pros: elaboration of each game mechanic; beautiful fights; atmospheric voice acting; original setting.

Cons: bugs; The interface is beautiful, but not always convenient.

HighFleet

Best comments

You clearly have problems with logic. The game costs a penny, it costs more to drink on Friday night… Also from fellow countrymen. If the game is good, and judging by the review, it is, then it’s worth supporting the guys so that their next project embodies all their ideas

That’s what domestic developers are really good at, it’s the atmosphere.

But, a complex infection, I failed the first expedition at the very beginning (

“Russian Gift” produced by Pepsi is so “Russian”. I hope it was added to this picture for added irony.

I bought the game on the day of release, I even thought, why did they give a 10% discount, because the price is very reasonable. Bottom line: I can’t play because the evening before the release Win7 was removed from the requirements and it won’t run on Win7 for me at all. It starts for someone, but with a bunch of bugs. The reason is known. I’m sitting here crowing. But I’m not going to return the game, because I know from the videos and previous experience of Hammerfight that the game is cool, I’ll just wait until I update to 10. Different logic.

Buy, play for up to two hours and return if you don’t like it. Steam has this option. I don’t see a problem

The game looks interesting, unusual, you can see a lot of work done and this certainly deserves all respect. But it just seemed very “not for everyone” to me. Perhaps best suited for fans of simulation games, where any actions that are automated in most games must be done manually. And this despite the fact that in battles the controls are the most basic.
That is, if someone really liked the same Hammerfight at one time – here only physics and visual style are partly different from it, the games are very different, that’s just fundamentally. Hammerfight is an example of how you can take literally one single simple but original mechanic, and build an entire game on it, to get the most out of it. That is, there you develop one single skill of competent control of an unusual device and use it for 100% of the game time in all sorts of different situations. As a result, to succeed you just need to have a good feel for this kind of control, without being distracted by practically anything else. You could just go in for 5 minutes to spin some huge electrified mace, enjoying the process itself and the enemies beautifully flying apart.

Highfleet is loaded with a lot of small mechanics. It’s no longer possible to drop by here for 5 minutes purely for the sake of pleasant unique combat mechanics. Requiring control skills, battles are only one of the gameplay elements, albeit the most important one. Moreover, there is nothing particularly original here in the management and the concept itself. And the rest of the mechanics are mostly about management, all sorts of calculations, sometimes literally using built-in measuring instruments. And all this takes up a very decent part of the gameplay.

In general, if a person is able to get a kick out of performing all these technical processes between battles, then the game should certainly work. To me, most of what I have to do outside of battles seemed like a tedious routine. But this is mainly at the level of genre preferences. There’s just another problem here: based on the officially indicated genres, it’s generally impossible to understand the essence of the game, even approximately, and if you focus on the author’s past project, you’ll also develop not entirely correct expectations.

The author does not hide that the Romani Empire is an almost complete copy of the Russian Empire at the end of its power

… mmm looks cool, we need to play, Russians go ahead!

Tell me which sensor module gives access to jamming on the global map? What was good in Hammer Fight was that in the pause menu you could hover over any element and read what it was. Highfleet is a great game, but the lack of information in some places is a problem. Another problem is to understand where what is installed on the finished ships + at the very beginning the logic in the colors of the ships and the symbols on them is not entirely clear, since once you open the classification of ships, it’s crazy what kind of logic there is.

I would return it, you will need to buy it again.

Yes, about the editor in the topic, but you can see for yourself that this module has no description, just as there is no clear description for direction finders (what is the difference between the two of them).

I haven’t looked forward to another game so much. On the day of release I couldn’t concentrate at all on work, I was already looking forward to. And yes, this is such a niche product that my old faithful friend FLATRON with a resolution of 1440×900 did not fall into this niche, which I found out after the purchase and first launch. The holiday was overshadowed. Now a solution has been found. And that’s just cool. I’ve only eaten a small portion of this delicious Highfleet dish, but I’m already craving more. Many thanks to Konstantin

Tell me which sensor module gives access to jamming on the global map?

You can view all modules in the editor or in the repair menu in cities.

But for some reason it doesn’t always work… They require a separate module?

Yes, I need it. Moreover, they can end right in battle.

There’s a Guide somewhere?
Tell me where?!)

5 hours ago I skipped the next tutorial and despite all the successes of my expedition, I still don’t know how to release Heat Traps

Yes, but in English

I also spiraled. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to make purchases on Steam right now, but for the sake of it’s worth, I’ll buy it)

Plows at seven. At first I also had the same issue: it won’t start and that’s it. The Steam client blinks, disappears and appears, but the game does not work. I was upset and almost refunded. Then I just rebooted the computer and everything went.