The Ship (video game)

The Ship, later known as *The Ship: Murder Party*, is a first-person shooter built with Valve's Source engine by the developer Outerlight. It launched on Steam on July 11, 2006, with physical copies arriving in Europe and Australia that September, and in North America on April 10, 2007. A playable prototype existed as a *Half-Life* mod in 2004. The action takes place aboard a 1920s cruise ship. In multiplayer, every player gets a specific target to kill, but must do so without witnesses, while simultaneously watching out for the player assigned to kill them.

**Plot** A wealthy figure known only as Mr. X lures passengers onto his luxury liner with free tickets, only to trap them. He forces each passenger to hunt down and murder another; anyone who refuses is executed by Mr. X himself.

**Single-player story** The single-player campaign opens with Mr. X addressing the passengers, warning that those too weak for his "game" will be shark bait. The player controls Charlie Panther, a second-class passenger. After quickly killing his assigned target, Charlie is approached by a young man named Jimmy the Bellboy, who compliments his work. Jimmy reveals that Mr. X plans to destroy the ship after the hunt—along with any survivors—and offers Charlie an escape for $100,000. To start raising the money, Charlie must first evade his own hunter. Jimmy suggests finding a lookalike. Charlie spots a suitable double in the museum, steals a tranquilizer from the sickbay, and knocks the man out. Jimmy then misdirects Charlie's hunter to the unconscious body, removing the threat.

Next, Jimmy sends Charlie to the Vesuvius bar on Deck B, where bartender Bruno has him pickpocket wealthy patrons and split the take. This works until guards grow suspicious, forcing Charlie to move on. Jimmy then directs him to the Fence, a portly British man in Deck B's restaurant. Charlie steals several treasures—including the Holy Grail—for payment, then escorts an ambassador around the ship. After the ship is stripped of valuables, Charlie returns to find Jimmy injured by an assailant who has been jailed. Jimmy wants the man dead, and offers to reduce Charlie's escape fee by $25,000 if he does the job. Charlie gets himself arrested by brandishing a weapon in front of a guard.