The Wager: Explore the Seas to Win a Bet (And it Was Made by Our Very Own Peter Silk!)

We have some rather talented people who work for Nukezilla, our very own Peter Silk being one of them. You may remember Pete last year live blogging his experience of the Ludum Dare contest; the aim being to build a game in 72 hours. Pete didn’t live blog it this time, but him and his friend Kieran Walsh still took part and have built a charming little game: The Wager.

The Wager sees you captain a ship with the objective of exploring the seas and collecting riches. Of course, there’s a twist: As the title suggests, you’ve been challenged by the sinister Sir Lester Marwood to collect the most gold in one year.

You fill you purse strings by exploring islands, assessing their worth and then selling your booty to the port’s shopkeeper. I feels like there are hundreds of islands that you dart around to on a massive map, some with hidden threats such as cannibals, exploding volcano or deadly caves. As you move the ship around you also use up your days, and depending on the size of each island exploring will also cost your time. You’ve also got your supply and disease levels to contend with; if you run out of supplies the crew will become unhappy and if disease becomes too high your crew will start catching horrible illnesses and die.

You sail around, collecting riches (and there’s things to buy in the shop) as well as generally enjoying the game’s music and humour. Occasionally, Sir Lester Marwood will send you messages via a “mean-looking carrier pigeon” where, based on the state of his handwriting, you summarise whether you’re winning or not. (Example message: “This message is intended to demoralise you, but from what I’ve heard, there’s no need.”)

There’s lots and lots to do in this game and it lasts long enough to become really enjoyable. Sometimes similar games can feel a little ‘flash-in-the-pan’ but you’ll probably put about 15 to 20 minutes into one go, with the ability to replay on a harder level.

I realise I’m terribly biased, but The Wager is a very fun, polished game. It’s got the right level of variety, and the humour and general feel is spot on. It’s also totally free, so you really have no excuse not to check out Kieran and Pete’s hard work. Good job, fellas!