The Career Update: Open Beta Begins!

Ahoy, Seafarers!

We’re back with our fourth major Early Access Update – and you can jump in right now to test it!

The Career Update is all about giving progression in Seafarer more structure and making your own ships feel more connected to your long-term journey. This update introduces the new My Career system, expands the campaign with new missions, replaces EXP with reputation, and adds a few new features to make your time at sea feel more varied.

For existing save games, this does not mean losing your progress. Existing levels will be transferred directly into the new reputation system, so if you’re at level 10, you will start at reputation level 10. Content that you’ve already unlocked or purchased will remain available. However, which contracts and opportunities are available may change as part of the new progression system.

The update is now available on the public_beta branch. If everything goes well, we’re planning to release it on the default branch on June 30.

Before we get into it, here’s a quick announcement teaser:

New Campaign Missions 4-6

The next three campaign missions continue Teddy’s story and bring this chapter to its conclusion.

Without going into spoilers, you can expect new story moments, high-stakes situations, firefighting operations, and intense action at sea. These missions add more depth to Teddy’s journey and bring new dramatic moments to the world of Seafarer.

After completing the campaign, you can of course continue your sandbox career.

My Career Rework

The Career Update introduces My Career, a major rework of the current gameplay structure.

Your own ships now play a bigger role in your personal progression. The new system creates a clearer difference between mission gameplay and your long-term career as an independent captain.

You can trade goods, make use of trading opportunities, and use your ships outside of classic missions. Instead of only waiting for a contract, you’ll have more freedom to observe ports, buy goods, store them, transport them, and sell them later for a profit.

For the start, this system focuses on container trading. It gives owned ships a stronger purpose and adds a new layer to the overall gameplay loop. Your ship becomes more of an investment, a useful tool, and a personal project that can grow over time. Also: no more random containers on your ships!

Some operations now also become longer-running workflows within the game world. Freighters can be loaded over several days, routes can be prepared, and transports can move through different stages. You can take part in these processes, but you do not always have to complete every step yourself.

The goal is to make it feel more like you are building your own career at sea. You get to choose!

Reputation System

The previous EXP system has been replaced with a new Reputation System.

You now earn reputation with individual harbors, unlocking new ships, missions, and opportunities as your standing grows. Local harbor reputation also contributes to your global reputation, which gradually opens up more of the world and replaces the previous player level system.

As your reputation grows, the world will begin to react to you differently, making progression feel more connected to what you do in the Seafarer world.

Drone Gameplay

A new unlockable drone gives you another way to explore the world from above.

The drone can be used on almost all ships and provides a helpful new perspective for exploration and rescue missions. It is especially useful in rough weather, heavy seas, or situations where spotting shipwrecked people or points of interest from your vessel can be difficult.

The drone has a limited range and cannot be used in certain harbor areas due to no-fly zones, but it adds a new way to look around and take in the scale of the world.

Deck Cleaning

Bulk ships now feature optional deck cleaning gameplay.

When loading bulk cargo, your ship’s deck can become visibly dirty from dust and cargo residue. You can clean it manually whenever you like, creating a calm maintenance activity between missions.

Deck cleaning is fully optional and mainly focused on immersion and atmosphere. It gives you another small way to take care of your ship and make it feel more like your own.

What this update adds

With the Career Update, career progression, reputation, owned ships, and trading are now more closely connected.

Together, these changes give your own ships and your reputation a bigger role in how you progress through Seafarer.

The update also moves the game another step toward a broader maritime sandbox career, while still building on the existing mission-based structure.

Several of the features in this update are based on community feedback, especially around career progression, owned ships, and a more active sandbox world.

Try the Update early

1. Open Steam and go to your Library
2. Right-click on Seafarer: The Ship Sim
3. Click Properties
4. Select the Betas tab
5. Choose 'public_beta' from the dropdown list

Changelog

Patch #4.0 - Version 0.4.0.2052

My Career

• Start your own career as a captain. Trade containers with different goods independently, earn money outside of missions, and turn your ships into long-term investments.

Reputation Instead of XP

• The new reputation system replaces levels and experience points. Earn the trust of ports and unlock new ships, regions, and opportunities.

A Living World

• Cargo ships are now loaded over multiple days, and port operations continue independently of the player. With the new shift system, you decide how actively you want to participate.

Inspection Rework

• Inspections have been expanded into a deeper gameplay experience featuring document checks, technical inspections, crew and safety controls.

Campaign 4-6

• Teddy's story reaches its conclusion.
• Look forward to:
• Dramatic rescue operations
• Intense story moments
• Unexpected twists
• The grand finale of the campaign

The final missions bring the story to an emotional and unforgettable climax.

Drone

• Use an unlockable drone on almost all vessels

Deck Cleaning

• Keep your bulk carrier decks clean for an even more immersive experience

Vessel Editor Enhancement

• Equip your ship with a flag of your choice

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Known Issues:

Chapter 04 - Steel Inferno

• In some scenes the lipsync does not align with the animation
• Some cutscenes are very much unpolished

Chapter 05 - Off the Record

• In some scenes the lipsync does not align with the animation
• Some cutscenes are very much unpolished

Chapter 06 - Hell or High Waters

• In some scenes the lipsync does not align with the animation
• Some cutscenes are very much unpolished
• After a cutscene the "Pilot" cannot be steered. This problem can be resolved by exiting and take on the steering wheel again
• Currently the bulk unloading is missing some extra bulk making it more difficult to grab the bulk to unload it
• Some cutscenes currently have only German VO
• The pursuit cutscenes are currently just stand-ins

Inspection

• The mission "Inspection" will reroll its current variant per ship after reloading the game
• Some subtasks are not tagged as "(optional)" even though they should have been

Search and Rescue

• Sometimes the castaways can also spawn outside of the marked area
• When rescuing a castaway with the Grace the camera will lock itself in the latest position until the player leaves the rescue net

Crescentport Logistics Tutorial

• When reaching the dock in Mettington a misleading message about leaving the mission area can occur

Tug

• The NPV Willy cannot be tugged when using the winch at the bow

Loading Bulk

• Due to some backlog problems the bulk loading is disabled temporarily

Container Transport - BigTrip

• After a work shift the crane will abruptly reset itself

My Career - Free Trade

• There are currently no goods for Bulk Willy and LNG Nordic Duchess
• Smaller sized harbours such as Sandham currently displays goods that are impossible to unload there

Reputation

• The reputation balancing is not final yet. Therefore in some cases the reputation gain or loss will be much higher or lower than anticipated

Menues

• The job menu is currently displaying a wrong number of rewards for credits and experience gain due to the change towards the reputation system

Vessel Editor

• The performance in the vessel editor can be low

Drone

• Currently the drone can clip through all player vessels
• The drone on BigTrip is currently not interactable

Ships

• Flag physics on some ships are janky
• The interaction support (aim assist) will sometimes over or undershoot on engine repair interactables
• When swapping to another vessel the player can sometimes spawn under deck instead of the bridge
• Some screens on the bridge of the Willy are currently misplaced and not functional including the Bulk Hatch Screen

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We’re excited to hear your feedback as we continue shaping Seafarer together.

Thank you for being part of the journey.

See you on the horizon, Your Seafarer Team