Chill Boats: Open Waters

A physics-based boat game, from sailboats to powerboats, but easy to pick up.

There's a bit of everything. Offshore racing yachts with or without foils, sport catamarans, an old classic cruiser. RIBs, a rescue boat, a motor yacht, a jet ski. Pick whatever you feel like and head out.

None of them handle the same way, and that's the whole point. On a foiler you lift off and everything changes at once. On the catamaran, one gust and a hull leaves the water. On the classic cruiser you plough through the wave and feel the weight. The RIB slams from crest to crest and shakes you around. Speed, waves, drag, buoyancy, spray: it's all simulated so that every boat feels different.

And you feel it within the first minute, with nothing to learn. No endless menus, no tutorial, nothing to unlock. You're on the water in ten seconds.

But simple doesn't mean empty. The sea is what really decides your speed: trim it right and you accelerate, and you feel it straight away; get it wrong and the boat heels over, drags, and rounds up into the wind. Top speed is something you have to earn. And every burst of spray comes off the exact point where the hull, the foil or the rudder meets the surface. That's what I spent the most time on.

Race it: a course, opponents, a medal at the end. They sail with exactly the same physics as you do, no bonuses, no cheating.

Or just sail: set the swell and the sky, head straight out, and you can even let go of the helm and walk the deck to watch the sea.