Play Nauticrawl

Nauticrawl
by Armor Games Inc
Released: Sep 23
$4.99

You are a slave. Or… you were, anyway. Somehow you’ve found a way to escape your captors and are now on the run. The only problem is that your escape vehicle is a mech that you’ve never used before. There’s no instruction manual, or even a window to see where you are or what you’re doing. It’s just you, an arcane instrument panel, and your instincts that can lead you to freedom. This is the setup for the fascinating and mysterious game known as Nauticrawl.

Why you should play it

Nauticrawl scratches the itch of puzzle escape rooms and vehicle simulators with its unique blend of mystery, management, and survival. I’m very confident in saying there’s nothing quite like it. Discovering an entire world through the lens of a sonar map and sparse computer readouts while trying to teach yourself how to be a capable pilot is just as exhilarating as it is challenging, and it all feels so real and tactile thanks to the use of a touch screen.

Why you might not play it

This game literally dumps you in front of an instrument panel with no tutorial whatsoever. Nauticrawl is built around having players test out the capabilities and limitations of a truly unfamiliar machine, and having some of that experimentation lead to failure. When that happens, you just have to start the game again with nothing but the knowledge you gained. This could prove frustrating, but it is also a huge part of why the game is so thrilling at every turn.

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