Jump Ship announced as the new game from Keepsake Games

Keepsake games, a studio including veterans from Hazelight, Mojang, and Coffee Stain, has announced Jump Ship, a new spacefaring co-op game.

Described as a “space co-op adventure” that will “see players maintain, operate and upgrade their collective spaceship as they journey through hand-crafted sectors of the galaxy, with seamless transitions from dogfighting through danger to capturing a bounty with boots on the ground”, a new explainer gameplay trailer has been released, which you can check out, below.

Jump Ship is a co-op multiplayer game in which players will need to work together in order to survive as they operate and repair their ship, scour space debris for resources and battle enemy ships. Despite being a co-op first experience, solo play will also be encouraged and balanced accordingly.

Key features of Jump Ship, taken from the press release, include:

• Modular Exploration – Each adventure is divided into multiple jumps, giving players a chance to dip in and out of handcrafted adventures with randomised events and modifiers. Whether it’s a solar flare, an asteroid shower or a pirate raid, no two runs will be the same.
• Seamless Adventuring – Operating a space vessel requires crewmembers to be scrappy and flexible, which is why Jump Ship makes the experience seamless. Players can exit their ship to repair the outer deck, explore the surface of an asteroid or jetpack towards an enemy vessel seamlessly, without loading screens or transitions.
• Build, Maintain and Pilot your Spaceship – Each adventure will yield materials and blueprints to upgrade the players’ jump ship for the next adventure. Crewmates work towards a common goal of making it out alive with as much loot as possible.

Daniel Kaplan, CEO of Keepsake Games explained: “We’re designing Jump Ship to carefully tread the balance between immersion and fun when it comes to space exploration”. Kaplan added: “We feel the core gameplay is solid, but we also want to involve the players and make a game they will want to keep playing, which is why we will be entering Early Access on PC and Xbox”.

“No one adventure is the same, and things often turn into chaos out of nowhere.” says Filip Coulianos, Game Director at Keepsake Games. “One moment you’re chilling and scavenging for parts, the next you’re desperately trying to fix the fuel leak e on the outside of your ship as projectiles from enemy ships fly around your head and your captain is shouting to get strapped in as you try to escape the sector. We’ve tried to build a game that brings the best of the sci-fi space fantasy together in one co-op experience, and we can’t wait to see people jump in”.

Jump Ship doesn’t have a firm release date, but is looking to enter Early Access on PC and Xbox at the end of 2024.