DAVY x JONES stars two protagonists: the titular DAVY (Head) and JONES (Body), separated yet always together. These two are almost always at odds with each other despite being inseparable—and that is sort of how I would summarize the two parts of this game. DAVY x JONES is made up of two pillars: first-person shooter and third-person ship combat with roguelite elements. I think these two ideas are interesting enough to have their own games, but they come together in this one as destructive interference. They ultimately combine as two halves that don’t quite match. The art direction is eye-catching, and there are a lot of fun moments despite the deep flaws.

DAVY x JONES is a 6.5 out of 10 experience.

The opening leaves a good first impression and wastes no time setting up the plot of the game; the plot is a strong foundation that quickly gives way to exciting action. I really appreciated the player's motivation being very clearly defined with a good opening cutscene.

Our journey begins with Davy Jones being defeated, executed, and banished to the Locker. The Locker is like a pirate's Hell or Purgatory, full of nautical regalia and ghostly pirate souls. In order to ascend and escape the Locker, the player must rebuild Davy and Jones’ powers and abilities. The whole progression of the story consists of finding a “ship” to navigate the Locker and crew to help sail the ship through roguelite combat, culminating in a battle with the Kraken. We are told that once the Kraken is defeated, the bridge between the Locker and the land of the living will appear.

With the story, setting, and lore well defined, we take control of DAVY x JONES for furious first-person combat.

These combat segments of the game are by far the best element and surprisingly easy to control. I found that I got a good grasp of the controls early on, linking together sword attacks and pistol shots to vanquish large groups of enemies. The combat is dominated by directional dashes, parrying, and the occasional “roar” attack. The super-fast pace of action was a lot of fun, and learning how to incorporate the Coin-Toss execution and new abilities was really rewarding.

The player's arsenal also grows over time as you progress through a DAVY x JONES skill tree. The actual progression is a good idea, but the system itself didn’t sit well with me. Items found along the journey are spent on upgrades and abilities on one of the menu screens, which is a good enough system, but I can’t help but wonder why they bothered with it at all. Giving the player some form of agency seems like a good thing, but it’s really just an illusion. Playing the game from point A to B and barely exploring will still net the player enough resources to buy all of the skill tree anyway. All of the skill tree upgrades could have been tied to specific plot points in a way that further elevated them. For example, further along in DAVY x JONES's adventure, it is revealed that some of the residents of the Locker are former acquaintances of his. These encounters are excellent fun, and something that I was left wanting more of.

The boss fights with the Sharkman and the Pit Boss were huge standouts in a long string of combat encounters, and I wish there were a lot more of those instead of legions of the same three ghost pirates. The enemy variety is really weak, but they usually spawn in such high numbers that the game doesn’t get dull. Dashing around the environments, rhythmically shooting and slashing through crowds of dumb ghosts, was a lot of fun. The first-person action feels great, and it was by far the best and most enjoyable element of the game. DAVY x JONES would have benefited from focusing solely on this pillar of the game; the other could have been cutscenes.

From the highs of Jones’ shooter segments to the anticlimax anchor of Davy's ship combat.

The final act of DAVY x JONES is a boss fight with the Kraken in order to cross back into the land of the living. The game has foretold this encounter since the very start, and the promotional teaser trailer poured hype on this moment like gas on a fire. The combat teased in the trailer looked somewhat cinematic with intense action, but that is not what I found at all.

First of all, I thought that flying the half-whale, half-ship around, destroying swarms of enemies in the Locker, was going to be a lot more of the game. Maybe it’s my fault that I misread the messaging, but in any case, the third-person pseudo-nautical combat isn’t all that it’s hyped up to be.

At one point in the game, you try to fight the Kraken, and it just demolishes you. For story reasons, it swats you down and forces you to enter the next phase of recuperating your full potential. That worked perfectly fine and delayed the narrative payoff. In hindsight, this was an amusing hint that the player is better off enjoying the ground segments.

After concluding all of the quests and exploration in each section of the map, the final act is to challenge the Kraken again.

To my dismay, it smacked me down again!

That Kraken fight is intentionally difficult, and I understand that on a gameplay level. The whole theme of the game is that of recovery and redemption—a lesson that is meant to be the thrust of every action—but this final challenge is way too drawn out. The roguelite elements that were advertised are primarily a parts system wherein you collect parts from defeated enemies to pay for upgrades. These upgrades are found in yet another menu screen, just like the DAVY x JONES skill tree. Forgive the pun, but this is where any roguelite sinks or swims. In this case, the skill tree is incredibly disappointing. The different stats you have to work with are determined by upgrading each specific crewmate. At this point in the game, I thought I would have had a few choices when it came to crewmates, but that was not the case. It felt like the most underbaked part of the game, in that I wasn’t able to play with builds or tactics via crew selection. Again, maybe I misinterpreted the trailers, but it seemed like I was meant to experience more to flesh out this whole pillar of the game. All of that only speaks to the breadth of selection, which is only part of the problem.

The main anchor that weighs this whole part down is the dull combat, lack of enemy variety, and unfair grind.

By my estimation, I might have to spend most of a weekend grinding away at this half-baked roguelite slog in order to upgrade enough to stand any chance of vanquishing the Kraken.

I understand that it is meant to be the big-bad boss fight and therefore the climax of the game.

But this is a poor execution of that idea and a disfiguring scar on the overall experience. In full disclosure, I did not beat the Kraken. I am unwilling to put myself through such an exercise of endurance just to see how the cutscene plays out before credits. The whale-ship combat could have been compelling enough, and the grind could have been rewarding enough, to justify that conclusion—but it just wasn’t.

I wasn’t sure when to mention it, but there are a few observations to be made and flaws to acknowledge when it comes to the presentation side of the experience.

I found the ambient sound to be spacious, rich, and satisfying from moment to moment, but there were times when that was not the case. Some characters are extremely annoying, if not well-acted. The bird-device-thing that is found later in the game loudly bawking “HWHAATT?!?” and the essence-mining guards’ dialog repeating constantly were each very frustrating. The audio was high quality, barring these exceptions.

The visual qualities of DAVY x JONES are similarly flawed.

The majority of the game's environments and character models are highly detailed and stylized in an intriguing way. The floating islands that make up the Locker, the enemies, and the architecture all indicate a heap of fantasy inspiration. The world they are building is just as out-there and fantastical as the idea of a beheaded Davy Jones reincarnating.

The flaw in this visual ensemble is that all, or nearly all, of the cutscenes throughout the game are in-engine. This may have been okay if it weren’t for the frequent pop-in textures. Nothing is more distracting than a clay model in the middle of an exposition dump. DAVY x JONES's graphics quality benefits from the elaborate environment detail and bold color palette to smooth over the rough patches.

After much consideration, I feel that DAVY x JONES is a 6.5 out of 10 game.

The art style and nautical legend game world are enticing, and the almost Doom-inspired shooter combat is an accomplishment. The ship gameplay could have been compelling if those ideas were much further expanded upon, but unfortunately that is not the case. It would have been better if that were left on the cutting room floor. Despite the depressing, crushing weight of the ending, overall DAVY x JONES is a fun and competent first-person shooter with excellent boss fights and an open world.