Hey little Billy. You ever kickflipped a boat? WELL HOLD ON TO YOUR HAPPY MEAL.

Waves of Steel is a delightful labor of love, and a riotous good time. In an age where games seem deeply preoccupied by their "difficulty curves", "Resource management" and "Being played correctly", this breath of fresh air seems to be mostly concerned with "Are ya' havin' a good time, sport?".

In the shortest: This is a ship-building bullet-hell-feeling blastemup. You toot your big ol' battleship out onto the water against hundreds of other boats, and dip, duck, dodge, dive while exchanging fire. This is *not* a battleship simulator. This game feels like the best kind of arcade challenge. It's not trying to eat my quarters, and it's not asking me to make highly specific compromises on my play to see more of what it's offering. It's hit a very nice harmony between letting me get away with absolute murder, and pitching challenges at me befitting such antics.

For every time I manage to create a ship composed of spinning bow drills; flamethrowers; and an organized team of foghorn soloists that herald my arrival on the battlefield; Waves of Steel airdrops enemy battleships onto the water via a formation flyover. I've also seen the enemy forces in Waves of Steel Deploy submarines full of warships that crack open like Kinder surprise eggs full of angry sailing bees. The game brings to life the wonder of sitting in the bath with my toy boats, where perhaps one of them has taken its warfighting classes by watching a bit too much professional wrestling. All of the boats are in on that drama though.

The story of the game seems to be presented with a straight-ish face. The tension of the world is real, despite the Saturday-morning-cartoon-action-hour stakes. Characters aren't trying to quip the world's next best one-liner at all times, and instead have reasonable conversations about the goins-ons of the world. It's actually very nice being presented with a cast that isn't actively trying to be the next great tumblr funnyman. The most pressing topic is that a mysterious organization by the name of Jorgunmandr is spreading across the globe, sowing WAR in its wake. They want our floating drydock the Ratatosk and they will stop at nothing to take it from us. I'm especially excited to learn more about Disaffected war-enjoyer and Battleship-Ace Arbuthnot and his *FLYING BATTLESHIP*.

If you're looking to kick back; have a laugh; forget your troubles; have a fun time; and enjoy your gaming hours without feeling like you've suddenly picked up a second job; then Waves of Steel is for you. I'm hard pressed to suggest there's a better place to drop your cash at the moment.

Hey little Billy. You ever kickflipped a boat? WELL HOLD ON TO YOUR HAPPY MEAL. Waves of Steel is a delightful labor of love, and a riotous good time. In an age where games seem deeply preoccupied by their "difficulty curves", "Resource management" and "Being played correctly", this breath of fresh air seems to be mostly concerned with "Are ya' havin' a good time, sport?". In the shortest: This is a ship-building bullet-hell-feeling blastemup. You toot your big ol' battleship out onto the water against hundreds of other boats, and dip, duck, dodge, dive while exchanging fire. This is *not* a battleship simulator. This game feels like the best kind of arcade challenge. It's not trying to eat my quarters, and it's not asking me to make highly specific compromises on my play to see more of what it's offering. It's hit a very nice harmony between letting me get away with absolute murder, and pitching challenges at me befitting such antics. For every time I manage to create a ship composed of spinning bow drills; flamethrowers; and an organized team of foghorn soloists that herald my arrival on the battlefield; Waves of Steel airdrops enemy battleships onto the water via a formation flyover. I've also seen the enemy forces in Waves of Steel Deploy submarines full of warships that crack open like Kinder surprise eggs full of angry sailing bees. The game brings to life the wonder of sitting in the bath with my toy boats, where perhaps one of them has taken its warfighting classes by watching a bit too much professional wrestling. All of the boats are in on that drama though. The story of the game seems to be presented with a straight-ish face. The tension of the world is real, despite the Saturday-morning-cartoon-action-hour stakes. Characters aren't trying to quip the world's next best one-liner at all times, and instead have reasonable conversations about the goins-ons of the world. It's actually very nice being presented with a cast that isn't actively trying to be the next great tumblr funnyman. The most pressing topic is that a mysterious organization by the name of Jorgunmandr is spreading across the globe, sowing WAR in its wake. They want our floating drydock the Ratatosk and they will stop at nothing to take it from us. I'm especially excited to learn more about Disaffected war-enjoyer and Battleship-Ace Arbuthnot and his *FLYING BATTLESHIP*. If you're looking to kick back; have a laugh; forget your troubles; have a fun time; and enjoy your gaming hours without feeling like you've suddenly picked up a second job; then Waves of Steel is for you. I'm hard pressed to suggest there's a better place to drop your cash at the moment.