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In a flooded world, those who are stuck on the inhospitable surface are relying on you in Swordship. You're recruited as a pilot to fly the stylish and maneuverable Swordship in order to steal containers from the underwater elite. However, considering that the surface dwellers (the Banished) have limited resources, they've had to cut back on certain features for the Swordship.

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As a result, success is entirely dependent on your flying skills and quick reactions. It's very easy to get a game over in this title, but there are steps you can take to ensure survivor while also making overall progression.

Dedicate Early Runs To The Banished

Swordship Close Up Collecting

The goal of each level (called a Line) is to collect containers and then deliver them to drop-off points that will spawn randomly. At the end of each Line, you'll get an option to give the containers you delivered to the Banished or keep them for yourself.

Though the latter provides extra lives, your early runs should focus on giving them all to the Banished. This results in getting a much higher score which will unlock more gameplay features, including different types of ships and upgrades to equip.

Set Off Mines First

Swordship Horizontal Beam Cannon Enemy

The main drawback of the Swordship is that it lacks firepower. Because of this, you'll need to rely on avoiding enemy fire. Thankfully, enemies are just as dangerous to each other as they are to you and most projectiles are slow enough to manipulate them effectively.

However, one hazard is robotic mines, which are a consistent presence throughout the game. The mines are small but have a huge trigger and blast radius. To help keep the area clean, enter the mines' range and then quickly pull away or dive to avoid the blast.

Be Wary Of Flying Enemies

Swordship Uses Electric Ability

While it's possible to eliminate a majority of enemies by getting them to target each other, there's one category exempt from this: flying enemies. These can be particularly dangerous and stressful because there's absolutely no practical way to deal with them since you need to rely on the weather, a specific ship, or blowing up precious containers.

What makes things worse is that most flying enemies use tracking attacks, which makes them more difficult to avoid. Whenever flying enemies are on the screen, always keep their attack patterns in mind, dive frequently to throw off their targeting, and take advantage of their aimed attacks to damage specific enemies.

Practice Diving

Swordship Flies From A Beam Turret

While most Swordship models don't have a way to fight back, they possess an effective defensive ability in diving. The Swordship can dive under the water for a moment or several seconds while maintaining maneuverability.

While diving, you're completely immune to all forms of attacks (save for crashing into structures) and can safely move underneath enemies. However, be warned that diving has an unmarked cooldown timer of a few seconds, so it can't be performed back-to-back. Get a feel for the quirks or diving as it's both a defensive and strategic skill.

Use Fire Creatively

Swordship Passes By Exploding Enemies

Although the Swordship is a delicate vehicle, it does have a certain degree of fire resistance. When hit by a flame attack, you'll be set ablaze until you either dive to put out the fire or let it blow you up. Still, should the Swordship be engulfed in flames, there's no need to rush to put it out.

On top of the upgrades that make it beneficial to do certain things while on fire, you also get an offensive option. If the screen is full of enemies, you can get hit with fire and then spread it to other enemies that will have no way to put themselves out.

Stockpile For The Boss

Swordship Flying Into Battle

After you clear the nine lines for all three cities, the Swordship will need to confront the ultimate defense system. The final level consists of a boss ship that is able to trap you between its arms and attempt to eliminate you. Depending on the difficulty level, the boss will have increased health, move faster, and use additional moves.

In the final city, it's best to save all the containers for yourself. This will give you the extra you need to reach the boss and then additional lives to adjust yourself to its rhythm. The final boss is an obstacle course where all attacks are telegraphed by a highlighted red area. You need to endure them until a container appears that you can use to escape or detonate to cause damage. The ending is in your hands.

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