DAVY x JONES Early Access impressions for PC

Should you play DAVY x JONES? I suspect the answer to that question will depend on when you ask it.

If you ask it right now, when the game is freshly new as an Early Access title, then I’d say probably not. It mostly looks incredible – and I’ll get back to this point in a moment – but the gameplay isn’t quite there yet. It has some good ideas, but they haven’t yet coalesced into where the game needs to be to make it a must-play. If it were to stop development right now (and there’s no indication that this is the case), it would arguably be better than plenty of other games, but it would feel like a missed opportunity overall.

If, however, you were to ask the question in a year or so, I think the answer would be very different. Obviously, a lot would have to happen between now and then, but it’s not hard to imagine DAVY x JONES becoming a game that a lot of people love.

I mean, it’s easy to love right now, and I can’t even say that I enjoyed playing it all that much. This is because the visuals and the overall vibe are absolutely amazing. I can’t help but think when people pine for a pirate game, this is what they’re thinking of: a (somewhat) bloody swashbuckling game where you’re mowing down enemies by firing off cannons, slashing with swords, and blasting away with your pistol. It’s a stylish game filled with gold, ghosts, and a story of revenge by the titular mariner against legendary pirate Blackbeard.

The problem is that, at a certain point, the cutscenes end and you can no longer just marvel at the world around you and you have to…you know, actually play the game. And that’s a lot less wondrous. While the world is big and a feast for the eyes, enemies feel kind of nondescript and interchangeable. Likewise, combat is a lot less fun than it could or should be – not just because it feels repetitive, but because the attacks and parries feel like they lack a certain “oomph.” It’s hard to really engage in a swordfight and block attacks when it all feels kind of weightless.

But even with those issues, I want to love DAVY x JONES. It may be a shallow kind of love; I may be blinded by all the pretty images and ignoring that Early Access games don’t always turn out. But taking the game as it currently exists and reading the roadmap to its eventual release, I want to believe that it’s going to turn into something special…even if it’s not something special right now.

PARASIGHT provided us with a DAVY x JONES PC code for review purposes.