Is there a tutorial?

I have no idea how to play this game. Is there a manual or something like a "quick start" guide? I've figured out the movement and such but outside of that...I'm just guessing. Seems like it should be easy to play once I get an idea of what everything means and how to do it.

hi :)

did you get the "tutorial messages"?
other than those there isn't one, but there also isn't much to it -
follow the quests, earn money to upgrade crew and ship.
(and kill enemies for exp to unlock perks)

at it's core it's something like a "reverse tower devense"

hope that helps a bit :D

Hi, I didn't get the tutorial messages.

I understand what you are saying, but it is confusing. I'm not really a novice at this sort of thing, but some sort of instructions would help, especially with regards to the combat mechanics and the basics on how to play the game.

Every game is different. I didn't get the sense that this was a reverse tower defense, however.

I'd really like to get into this game, but I really have no idea what I am doing.

One issue that popped up is that my team just...froze. A few times in the very first mission. One time they were across the river and wouldn't follow me, while another time they just sorta stopped right there on the river bank and wouldn't follow me no matter how many times I called them to. Very odd.

There's also no instructions on how to navigate or control the raft, so I am just kinda not really doing anything. I guessed and figured out how to "land" but after that....huh?

I would like to learn how to play this game before leaving a review. I was very excited to get to play the game when I saw it released a few days ago, and I ran into a ton of bugs trying to get it to start. Now that I got it to work, I have no idea what I am doing.

Is it possible to get me those tutorial messages?
I also used Joy to Key for controller support and it really enhances the gameplay a lot.

If you are planning to add controller support, feel free to see my suggestions in the post I made. I feel like this is a step in the right direction.

OH, and one last issue to report: The mouse cursor is seriously lagging on the start up screen as well as in the game itself, just not as bad. I tried changing my DPI but it didn't help. This was why I went to joy to key for controller use because the mouse cursor was just lagging to the point of not being playable. Any idea what could be causing this or if there is a direct fix?

sorry for the super late answer o_o


the messages are really just the controls ("use [button] to target enemies" / "use [button] to land") and the like.
(not sure, if Joy to Key is the reason the messages didn't pop up? it shouldn't be :/ )

but you can check the controls in the menu. the team doesn't follow across water, only the King can swim.
so that might be normal. that however doesn't sound good? you probably tried to just reinstall?
it should just run (on a windows system at least).
if you had already issues on install, maybe the quests don't even run correctly.

Hey thanks for your reply, my friend.

I took a break from the game since I posted. I absolutely love the concept and as soon as I saw it I immediately bought it and launched it.

I was having a lot of problems trying to get the game to start, and the mouse cursor was lagging very badly. In-game it was a little better but I couldn't ever get it right, even adjusting my mouse settings (Razer Naga Hex, and also regular USB mouse; no improvement). So I launched Joy-to-Key and it felt a little more comfortable but still very hard to navigate the game. True controller support would be a huge plus.

I don't understand why the team won't follow over water...but they would also get stuck quite a bit and even when I rejoin them and cross back over to them, they'd just...sit there and get killed or get stuck.

I'm not sure what to do here. I didn't refund the game because I really love the idea but I just can't get comfortable playing it.

I think the game, at least the GOG version, needs a lot of work and refinement. Let me know how I can help.

the game really should run just like that - it's the same as on Steam.
(i reinstalled to make sure there weren't any issues, and yeah, it seems to work just fine)

- what OS are you using?
- what exact issues where you having trying to install (/getting it to run)
- have you tried reinstalling the game?

you may still experience issues that you don't even recognise,
of course that makes the game more confusing :/

Hey, there was a major update to the game. Do you have a changelog? GOG doesn't seem to have one for this recent update.

This is my system:

Device Name HAL-9000
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3.30 GHz
Installed RAM 64.0 GB (63.4 GB usable)
Storage 1.82 TB HDD ST2000LM015-2E8174, 1.82 TB SSD Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB, 1.82 TB SSD ADATA SU720
Graphics Card AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics (496 MB)
Device ID BA50E623-2ECF-40CB-9F61-FFA22660CE63
Product ID 00330-50000-00000-AAOEM
System Type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎7/‎4/‎2021
OS Build 19045.6466

There is a strange issue with my PC that is randomly duplicating this crash issue with other games. I am only experiencing this with GOG games. It just happened with Colonizing Mars, a game I played many times before with no crashes. If you have any insights, that would be great.

I'll run Dreadful River again and see if the cursor situation improved with the recent update.

-See above
-The game is running now, and the crashing is likely a windows issue like a setting or driver or maybe some stupid issue with a recent update because I was not having this issue before. I hate Windows 10.
-Yes, and the main issue is cursor drag, which is specific to the game itself. On the opening menu screen, the lag is at its worse and still present in-game, especially the menus, but not game-breaking; just very annoying. As I said above, I tried making adjustments to my mouse settings but it had little effect in-game.

I think once you add controller support, the game will be much more comfortable to play. Joy-to-key has been helpful so far and i figured out an optimal way to set up the joy-to-key software.

If you'd like some real-time feedback for the controller support, if you are looking to implement it, I am happy to help. I have over 45 years of gaming experience so maybe I can help you with some feedback. This game has a lot of potential.

Also: Just some added feedback, FYI as needed, I just started playing a game called "Bastion" and the developers did a fantastic job with including game-play instructions in-game in the settings menu. It was easy to understand and I got right into playing the game immediately. You should look into creating instructions like that for this game because it would make the gaming experience much better and less frustrating. Just my observation.

PS: Thanks so much for responding. It seems like you and your team put a lot of love into this game.

I may also suggest "Grimstar"; the developer has put a lot of effort into that game as well, and the music is amazing.

I really like how some developers are putting a lot of effort into making original and innovative games. Thank you for everything that you do. You have my full support.

PSS: And...closing out the game crashed galaxy, which required a relaunch. So, I think I am having issues w/ Galaxy and Windows 10. I'm gonna have a fit trying to find a technician locally to solve this one. I think Galaxy has been very unstable the past year or so.