Barotrauma Simulator Review
By
Nicholas Chin
Developer: FakeFish, Undertow Games
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, Linux
Genre: Role Playing, Survival
Price: $29.99 USD
A common way of travel across a body of water is by boat. However, have you ever wondered how one could travel underwater? Well, Barotrauma Simulator is an engaging side-scrolling combat, survival, and shooter game that takes place in a thrilling and mysterious submarine.
This particular submarine is one that is manned by a captain, mechanic, engineer, security officer, and doctor. In this simulator, I had the opportunity to fill the shoes of each and every one of these jobs.
Submarines provide transportation underwater, and in this particular simulator, you could travel to various locations. Most of the game seems realistic, but there are fictional aspects such as monster-like creatures that invade the vessel. In addition, there are also hideous fish that lurk around the submarine too that pose a threat to you.
Opening the Barotrauma Simulator application on Steam, the first aspect of the game that struck me was the gloomy intro music. The ominous sounds suggest a dangerous aspect to the game. Another indicator of this was the color and scenery, which appeared to be a submarine in deep, dark, and murky water.
There are different game modes including online multiplayer, training, and a single player mode. A great way to master a basic skill set is to go through the five tutorials, which the game highly recommends. Once you master these basic jobs, such as being the mechanic, you unlock more challenging roles. The five tutorials in level of difficulty from the least to most are mechanic, engineer, security officer, doctor and captain.
As the mechanic, my role was to cover breaches throughout the ship and repair broken paraphernalia. The instructions were very direct and listed the functions of every key control. At first, I was unable to repair a water breach, and my first thought was the game had glitched somehow, so I restarted it, but no luck. Later, my dad pointed out that I needed to use a mouse which made tasks feasible and simpler. Hint: Mouse required to play (Trackpad not good enough).
My roles as the engineer, security officer, and doctor were very manageable. As an engineer, I learned how to work the submarine’s electrical system, and as security I was tasked with using a stun baton to keep the rest of the crew out of harm’s way. Moreover, as the doctor, I became proficient in using the right treatments to help other injured personnel. Last but not least, the most challenging job was being the captain.
As the captain, I had to assign other crewmen orders, and make sure they were staying in line. The more achievements and tasks I completed, the more XP I gained to level up my character. After completing almost all of the captain’s tasks, the last step in the entire tutorial was navigating the ship to a particular location. The instructions for that part made absolute zero sense, and I could not get a strong grasp of them. This was the only frustrating and incomprehensible part of the tutorial, so I decided to load my own game and play with the computer.
Spawning on a submarine, I had no clue what the incentive of this game mode was, but since I was equipped with a gun, I assumed my mission was to take over the submarine. I tried multiple times, but each time, my plans were foiled by the other crew members. Foolishly, I did not read the instructions too carefully, and later realized that I was killing my fellow peers. The main incentive was to survive and complete my campaign across the map while simultaneously fending off monsters and other threats.
Similarly, in the multiplayer game, you can interact with other people online, but sometimes working together can be difficult. There are different multiplayer online game modes, such as “clown memories”, where you protect the crew from this clown that can cause PTSD in other crewmen, which is kind of crazy. Also, other game modes such as “prison break” require combat and keeping the submarine secure.
With a general understanding of the game, you can dive deeper and explore the many game modes in Barotrauma Simulator. To gain a good grasp, I recommend running through the tutorials because they can give a well detailed perception about the game. To conclude, the Barotrauma Simulator is a thrilling, somewhat scary, but also exciting game, which requires skills of survival. It takes practice, but with a good sense, you can take the game to a whole new level.
Story: 5/5 – The story of the game is very simple, and with each game mode, there is a new story, bringing much needed variety.
Visuals: 4/5 – The visuals are decent, as the background matches the mood and can play into your emotions. Some parts that could be worked on include the dark areas where the visibility is not so appealing.
Playability: 4/5 – The game is not extremely complicated, however, it does require reading detailed instructions and taking note to the many doors and gadgets that are present throughout the submarine.
User Interface: 4/5 – The instructions of the game, for the most part, are straightforward, and the only challenge I ran into was the last step of learning how to act as the captain tutorial.
Replay Value: 5/5 – The game could be played over and over again due to the fact that there are multiple games to play and you can interact with others online. The fighting aspect of this game is especially enjoyable.
Overall Score: 4.5/5 – I highly recommend this game to users interested in combat and survival as every aspect is exhilarating and is very entertaining. It is truly exciting and the various game modes can bring you to work with other fellow players which indeed adds a new dimension to the gameplay.
