Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 (Xbox Series X)

Wednesday, November 13, 2024.
by Adam Dileva

It’s almost a running gag that there seems to be a simulator game for nearly any task or job out there. Having played my shared of quirky simulators, Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 is certainly one of the more niche ones. And yes, 2 in the title indicates that this is a sequel, of which I had never played the first. Ever wanted to be in the scrapyard business or curious about it? Ever dreamt of dismantling massive ships and selling the scraps for cash? Look no further than Ship Graveyard Simulator 2. Taking place in some overseas waterfront area, it’s time to dust off those tools and get ready for some long hours of tedious work.

While the only mode is the campaign, don’t expect any story or narrative of any kind. In fact, the game simply starts out in front of a computer and you’re off to figure out the rest yourself. No story, just simply dismantling ships one after another once you have your starter tools. As well as the base game, the Warships DLC is also included, adding three extra massive ships: Chevy, Fuso, and Wicher.

With tools in hand, you’re free to dismantle the ships however you like, chaotically by taking out support structures and letting physics do the rest, or systematically and with precision, taking out carefully planned pillars and floors to reach specific areas of the vessel. Bigger and better than the first game, this sequel makes a handful of quality of life improvements, as well as more massive ships and some new mechanics.

Having not played the first game I wasn’t sure what to expect, though you don’t need to have played the original game to enjoy this sequel. Regardless if you have a hundreds hours in the first game, or none like myself, Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 can be enjoyed by anyone and at your own pace. While you’re going to be using a variety of hand tools the majority of the time, sometimes you need something bigger, much bigger. This is where your crane will come in, able to haul out the more massive components like shipping containers, engines, massive pallets, and even sections of the ship itself.

The first ship you’ll dismantle is quite small, acting as a tutorial of sorts. As you earn more money you can purchase larger ships which will be more difficult and time consuming to break down, but will have a bigger payout since there’s more materials to harvest from these derelict ships. You’re after iron, steel, aluminum, plastic, wood, copper, gold and nearly any other material you’d expect in ship components. The first ship you’re given is only a small section of a ship, each becoming larger and larger, eventually half sections of a ship and even eventually a full sized vessel.

Using your computer at your home base is how you’ll purchase ‘new’ boats which turn out to be practically free, but you’re only able to have one active at a time, so you’re going to want to salvage everything you can before moving onto the next. Your computer will show each ship’s difficulty and list of resources available, as well as some side contracts to be filled for extra cash. This was the part I didn’t figure out until a half dozen ships completed, that the list of materials certain people are looking for, you can fulfil those for a good amount of extra cash. Cash is what you’re after, as this is how you’ll not only purchase new ships, but unlocking upgrades for your tools to make each dismantle more efficient and quicker.

There isn’t much you can do with your bare hands, so you’re going to need your tools to help you dismantle these ships. Ships are a collection of thousands of other parts, and your job is to break down the larger parts into more manageable sections, toss them into your truck to haul away to the scrapyard so you can salvage every component. When I say toss parts to your truck, I really mean it. You have the strength of Superman, as you can gather a bunch of materials into a box, then toss that box into the back of your truck. All you need a clear view of your truck and enough space and you can literally toss the box of scrap to your truck, regardless of distance. This looks comical when you’re throwing heavy boxes the length of a football field perfectly to the back of your truck, but as long as you see a green arrow when holding the button to toss your crate, it should land in your truck no problem. Thankfully you don’t need to run back to the truck each time to unload your box, and you have an unlimited amount of crates in your back pocket.

To break down all the materials you’ll use a variety of tools, each of which are meant for a specific uses. For example, your sledgehammer is used to smash rivets in the corners of walls and floors, and once all corners have been smashed, you can ‘Bonk’ the section to dislodge it and make it available to gather. Yes, you need to bonk each part to disconnect it from any connectors, but if you smash a bunch of parts that are all connected together, then bonk one, they’ll all disconnect simultaneously.

Braces indicated by black and yellow hazard stripes will need to be cut with your saw, welds melted with the blowtorch, demolition charges for heavy doors, and of course your crate to hold all these materials once freed from one another. Your hammer is going to get the most use by far given how many floors and walls there are, though it’s time consuming when each small circle rivet takes two or more smashes to complete. When you start to work on the bigger ships, you’re going to need to upgrade your tools, as having to hammer each spot multiple times will simply take too long.

Ships are quite large, and if you dismantle a staircase, there would normally be no way to get to another level. You also have a rope that you can use like a grappling hook, and while there’s a short range at first, it can be upgraded to reach further. It’s a bit finicky to work, as you need a really clear line of sight to where you want to zip to, but you’re able to zip to nearly any portion of the ship you can see and get close enough to.

Your hammer and saw will get the most use by far, though I can count the amount of times I actually used the demolition charges. You think you’d be able to set charges anywhere you want to blow open holes into walls and floors, but it’s really just meant for certain heavy doors, so I just opted to smash down walls beside them instead.

Your truck seems to have no weight limit, as it appears the back fills up, but you can keep tossing crates into it and simply sell at the end of the salvage. Bringing your truck to the salvage lot, you’re able to either manually sort all your scrap in a minigame of sorts, or have it automatically sort for you for a 10% cut. It’s well worth the small cut to save the time, as the scrap will come down a conveyor and you need to make sure the proper colored scrap goes into the corresponding buckets.

Once you sell your scrap, you can choose to sell however much you like, but you need a balance of keeping materials on hand for tool upgrades, as well as enough money to purchase ships, upgrade blueprints, and the upgrades themselves. I found the best way was to sell all of the scrap for one ship’s deconstruction, then use the next for upgrades. It will take a hefty amount of money to get all the blueprints, but it’s well worth the investment as it will save you a huge amount of time in the long run.

A few ships in, I realized that there’s almost a puzzle-like element to each, as getting out the high value components with the crane requires a bit of planning and strategic thinking. The larger the ship the more complex it can be to extract these massive parts with the crane, as there is usually multiple floors that would need to be cleared to open up a skyline for the crane to come and haul them out. Navigating these hazards will also take some planning, as you’ll become injured if you’re not safe.

There are dangers though, even on these decommissioned ships. Somehow there’s still electricity flowing, gas lines, and even radioactive materials. When you see electrified rivets, you know that you’re going to take damage if you hammer those before finding the source of the electricity and shutting it off. Find the power switch and you can disconnect it, then dismantle the box and cables for more scrap. There are also gas pipes where you’ll need to find the valve to switch off before sawing into them, as you don’t want an explosion.

Like nearly every other UltimateGames title, it’s clear that Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 was quickly ported from its PC origin to console. The menus are clunky to navigate, it’s hard to see which option you’re actually choosing, and even choosing the correct tool in the radial menu sometimes takes a few tries. Movement is also clunky at best, though you get used to it and learn to jump over and on top of objects and walls.

Visually, the ships look quite decent, but there’s not much else to really look at other than a bunch of walls and floors on the vessels. There’s a day and night cycle, I assume to make use of the flashlight that you can toggle, but I never ended up using it and there seemed no reason to. The physics can be amusing to see a floor or two collapse all at once, but it’s quite jarring when you see dozens of scrap pieces clipping through one another and glitching visually. Tools sound realistic, especially the hammer and saw, though after a dozen hours you’re going to want to put your own music on to get the piercing sounds out of your head.

I have to be honest, I was quite skeptical at first and assumed that this would be an awkward and such a niche title that I wouldn’t enjoy all that much, then I realized hours have passed my first time playing. Those that obsess over cleaning will appreciate the methodical way to dismantle such a big craft, as I looked at it quite strategically, rather than randomly smashing down walls and floors.

Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 is oddly addictive and satisfying, even for how specific and niche the setting is. While there’s no narrative at all, there’s something quite relaxing by causing destruction to these vessels. Many will see Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 as tedious and repetitious, but I kept telling myself “just one more ship”.

**Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 5.7 / 10
Gameplay: 7.0 / 10
Visuals: 5.0 / 10
Sound: 5.0 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 (Xbox Series X)

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