TECHMASH

Tag: #SteamOceanFest

  • Set Sail for Adventure: FloWHOA Unveils ‘Scallywags’, a Strategic Pirate Roguelike Coming in 2027!

    Set Sail for Adventure: FloWHOA Unveils ‘Scallywags’, a Strategic Pirate Roguelike Coming in 2027!

    Ahoy, gamers! If you were keeping a weather eye on the horizon during May’s Steam Ocean Fest, you might have noticed a particular demo making huge waves across the platform. Scallywags—the high-seas indie title that captured the hearts (and gaming hours) of players worldwide—officially took the crown as the #1 most downloaded demo of the entire event!

    Now, the talented team behind the hype has officially announced what’s next for this promising swashbuckler.

    Experienced Captains at the Helm

    Scallywags is being crafted by FloWHOA, an exciting independent studio led by game creator Allen Goode alongside industry veterans Mike Schmalz and Ryan Marr—names you might recognise from their previous work at Digital Extremes (the legendary studio behind Warframe).

    With that depth of experience backing the project, FloWHOA is blending high-stakes strategy with chaotic charm to create a fresh take on the maritime survival genre.

    FTL Meets Bomber Crew on the Open Seas

    So, what exactly is Scallywags?

    At its core, the game is a strategic pirate crew-management roguelike. FloWHOA cites beloved strategy classics like FTL: Faster Than Light and Bomber Crew as major inspirations, and it shows in every feature:

    • Micro-Management Chaos: You aren’t just steering a ship; you’re managing a living, breathing pirate crew. Assign roles, repair leaky hulls, reload cannon bays, put out fires, and repel boarding parties in real time.
    • Tactical Naval Combat: Position your vessel to line up devastating broadsides, target specific enemy ship modules, and adapt on the fly when sea monsters or unpredictable weather disrupt your plans.
    • Deep Roguelike Replayability: Every voyage is procedurally generated. Expect random encounters, dynamic events, tough moral choices, and permadeath—meaning no two runs across the uncharted seas will ever play out the same way.

    When Can You Play It?

    Following the wildly successful Steam Ocean Fest demo, FloWHOA has confirmed that Scallywags is currently in active development. Gamers will have to wait a little bit longer to hoist the Jolly Roger, as the full game is slated for a Q1 2027 release.

    If the demo’s popularity is anything to go by, this is definitely one indie title you’ll want to add to your Steam wishlist right away!

    Are you excited to take command of your own crew in Scallywags? Let us know in the comments below!

    Find out more here

    #Scallywags #FloWHOA #IndieGames #SteamOceanFest #PCGaming #FTL #GamingNews #TechMash

  • Hook, Line, and Sinker: Post-Apocalyptic Fishing Adventure DREADMOOR Drops First Public Playtest for Steam Ocean Fest!

    Hook, Line, and Sinker: Post-Apocalyptic Fishing Adventure DREADMOOR Drops First Public Playtest for Steam Ocean Fest!

    Move over, cosy fishing simulators—there is something deeply unsettling lurking in the water, and we are absolutely here for it.

    DREADMOOR, the highly anticipated dark, first-person fishing adventure from developer Dream Dock and publisher Digital Vortex Entertainment, has officially hit a massive milestone, sailing past 200,000 Steam wishlists. To celebrate, the team is throwing open the gates to the Submerged Lands by participating in Steam Ocean Fest.

    What does that mean for you? The game’s first-ever public playtest is live right now on PC via Steam! If you want to experience the terrifying side of the tide, you’ll want to jump in quickly.

    Reel for Your Life in a Drowned World

    If your immediate thought upon hearing “horror fishing” is Dredge, you’re on the right track—but DREADMOOR steers the genre into much darker, more visceral territory. Rather than managing a boat from a distant overhead camera, you are dropped directly into a gritty, tactile first-person perspective.

    Set in an early 20th-century bayou devastated by a catastrophic plague and nuclear ruin, you play as a lone survivor piloting a battered fishing trawler through a flooded, rotting world. Here, fishing isn’t a relaxing side-quest or a meditative pastime; it is a desperate, heart-pounding struggle for survival.

    Check out the core gameplay loop you’ll be navigating:

    • Fish What Lurks Below: Cast your line into murky, irradiated waters to catch rare, heavily mutated species. But keep an eye on your haul—these hyper-aggressive sea creatures won’t hesitate to devour each other right inside your boat’s hold.
    • Scavenge & Craft: The waters are littered with more than just monsters. You’ll need to salvage scrap metal and forgotten blueprints from sunken ruins to craft reinforced harpoons, specialised bait, and vital medicines.
    • Upgrade Your Vessel: Trade your terrifying catches to cryptic local merchants (including a duo running a bait shop perched on the back of a literal giant crab) to upgrade your hull, fuel up, and prepare for worse threats.
    • Real-Time Combat: The nightmare doesn’t stop at the shoreline. Twisted aberrations will actively attack you both on the water and on foot, turning routine resource runs into frantic fights for your life.

    What’s Included in the Steam Playtest?

    The exclusive limited preview gives players a hearty taste of the atmospheric tension Dream Dock has been brewing. The playtest introduces several brand-new features never shown to the public before, including:

    • Dynamic Day/Night Cycle: Exploring under the sun is tense enough, but when darkness falls, horrific tentacle attacks rise from the depths to hunt your boat.
    • Tactile Environmental Puzzles: Tune radios to the correct frequencies, use lockpicks to breach restricted areas, refuel generators, and solve water-flow puzzles to survive.
    • The Mastery System: Unlock new crafting recipes as you adapt to the harsh environment.
    DREADMOOR PC System Requirements (Recommended)
--------------------------------------------------
OS:         Windows 10 or higher
Processor:  Intel i7 8700 or higher
Memory:     16 GB RAM
Graphics:   Nvidia RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
Storage:    60 GB available space
DirectX:    Version 11

    Cast Off Before It’s Too Late

    DREADMOOR is currently slated for a full release in Q4 2026, which makes this surprise public playtest the perfect opportunity to see if you have the stomach for the mutated deep.

    The Steam Ocean Fest playtest is live starting today, but it won’t stay afloat forever. Head over to the DREADMOOR Steam Page, hit “Request Access” for the playtest, and see if you can survive what’s waiting beneath the waves.

    Are you brave enough to take the helm, or are you staying firmly on dry land? Let us know in the comments below!

    Find out more here – https://s.team/a/3629430

    #DREADMOOR #fishingadventure #postapocalypticworld #DreamDock #DigitalVortexEntertainment #SteamOceanFest #publicplaytest #Steam #PC #techmash #n5dave #gamingnews #videogames