Wolfpack
As a sub sim enthusiast since 688 attack sub (1989) I can tell you that Wolfpack is the next sub sim you’re going to want to play and will probably continue to play for years to come. This game is truly a profound experience!
To those with some familiarity with this genre you can expect this title to fall on the opposite end of the spectrum that the recent release UBOAT is on. Uboat is a crew management simulation. For perspective, Silent Hunter III would fall somewhere in the middle, as there is time compression and crew management but the player orders their crew to perform the individual functions on the boat.
– Real player with 266.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Naval Combat Submarine Games.
First off, if you are looking for single player experience, go back and grab yourself SH5 and The wolves of steel modpack.
That is, in my opinion, the best submarine simulator there is.
That being said, Wolfpack has unique hands on approach with controlling the boat itself, and it really is the best aspect of the whole game, that and the ability to play with other people.
After all the good things (two things) to say about this “sim”, I would NOT recommend the game for anybody. Not on the regular price at the very least. The game is really buggy (graphic glitches, sound bugs of massive forest fire starting on your boat, being able to drive too deep with diesel engines running, AI only caring about the boat that has done the most damage. to mention a few)
– Real player with 180.2 hrs in game
Carrier Deck
Had I reviewed this game early on, I would have rated it positive, but having packed in well over 100 hours now, the design flaws and bugs are now standing out like sore thumbs. If Steam had a better review system with a “so so” option, I would choose that instead of pure thumbs down.
First let me say, that for many it will still be worth $10. You can still have a lot of fun with it. So, I’m not telling you to avoid it, but rather, know what you’re getting before buying. (Edit: This game is no longer in active development and there is no roadmap for the future at the time of this edit)
– Real player with 236.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Naval Combat Time Management Games.
Carrier Deck is a very nicely disguised “spinning plates” game where you need to quickly reprioritize your assets to meet changing needs, and “keep as many balls in the air as you can”. Unfortunately, some arbitrary design decisions (necessary for game design) also marred some of the enjoyment. Still, the game’s fun to play with.
You are the commander of the air wing, including any marine detachments and special forces detachments. You need to protect your carrier from threats in the air (bombers), on the surface (hostile warships), below the surface (submarines), and even land-based threats. To deal with them, are you armed with F/A-18 Hornets (and Super Hornets), SH-60 Seahawks (for anti-sub work), S-3 Subhunters, E-2 Hawkeye SWAC, and more. Launch appropriate search/patrol craft to watch for threats, scramble the right assets to attack each before they reach your carrier. In the meanwhile, receive cargo as they arrive.
– Real player with 145.1 hrs in game
Cold Waters
After playing Cold Waters for a little over 110 hours, I regret that despite giving the game its due diligence, I must award it with a strong down-vote. When I purchased Cold Waters, I was expecting a reasonable successor to Sub Command. Unfortunately, with exception to the Unity engine and visuals, it falls short across all categories.
First, problem set up is well, a problem. When beginning a battle, the player never finds himself in a favorable position in front of the target(s). In fact, the player will always be placed slightly forward or aft of abeam the mission objective, several thousand yards out. This forces the player to increase speed, to close distance, to increase the effectiveness of his already ineffective weapons. This will always result in detection, and ambushes are thus made impossible. Even during a campaign, if a commander sets himself in front of a strike group or landing force, when the engagement begins, he will be placed as previously stated, normally sailing at 10 knots, instead of all stop or rigged for ultra quiet.
– Real player with 151.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Naval Combat Submarine Games.
As a big fan of air and naval warfare simulation and strategy\tactical titles, I was naturally drawn to Cold Waters.
I came to this from a DW\SH background like many others it seems. However I was under no illusion that this is a successor\replacement\copy, this is new title doing things it’s own ways. Which is excellent, Coming to Cold Waters with any assumption that this replaces “Insert your favorite subsim here” will probably lead to disappointment. An open mind is needed blinkered to the past as much as possible and you can see CW for the little masterpiece that it is.
– Real player with 143.5 hrs in game
Atlantic Fleet
This is the best WWII naval battle game so far: my path of great naval games has gone Dreadnoughts (on Amiga), Task Force 1942, Fighting Steel, and now Atlantic Fleet. The ship models are realistic, though lacking individual differences between class members and rebuilds, eg all county class cruisers are Berwick style with cut down aft deck and large deck house rear superstructure, London included; all QE class are as QE, Warspite has no faceted bows and Malaya and Barham have been modernised, similarly Repulse looks like Renown, etc. This would be nice to see, like the different placements of mainmast between Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. But that is beside the point - this game is a delight! It plays convincingly and really delivers some of the best battles I’ve played - looks splendid too.
– Real player with 2022.0 hrs in game
I certainly do not regret buying this game (yeah, I know 200 hours, I have lots of spare time)
Atlantic Fleet is a unique time-killing game. It’s a turn-based WWII naval battle sim (sort-of).
There are four gamemodes where you play either as the Royal Navy or the Kriegsmarine: Battle of the Atlantic, Campaign, Historical Missions, and Sandbox
Battle of the Atlantic is the biggest and best part of the game. You control your ships from a tactical map, positioning them where you can either protect your merchant vessels (Royal Navy), or where you can sink them (Kriegsmarine). You sink enemy ships to earn renown, which is used to build up your own fleet. On each turn, your ships may encounter enemies, which then brings you to the combat mode (See further down). Any ships lost, yours or the enemies, are not coming back (unless you change that in the settings, for the enemy, of course), so you have to be careful how you handle your ships.
– Real player with 378.1 hrs in game
Silent Hunter® III
Silent Hunter III …. a 2005 game but….. Remember what i already tell you before…..
Old but gold…
SH III is the best of the series….. !
Why ?? I will tell you why.
Because Silent Hunter III is very close to whats happen in 39 45 under the water…..
Yeah i am a big u-boat fan, i live close to the sea in a place where still WW II Bunker.
88 Canon, S Boot base and more………
I collect WW I and WW II insignia, u-boat insignia, badge, eitterkreuz, bayonet bullet….
This dont make me a nazist x)
– Real player with 238.3 hrs in game
SH3 is one of those games that you need to invest time in. It is a perfect example of a “Dad game,” as Yahtzee Crowshaw once put it. It’s meticulously detailed, and you must learn all of the different eccentricities of the sub to be a great captain.
It uses the real-life technological limitations from WWII to define the gameplay. Want to fire off a torpedo? A standard gas-powered torpedo leaves a trail of bubbles in the water, which ships can detect in advance and will swerve to avoid your torpedo. You can fire an electric torpedo, but you’ll need to be close, or else the battery in the torpedo will die and it won’t reach your target. SH3 is filled with these sorts of tactical nuances that really make it satisfying to play.
– Real player with 201.3 hrs in game
Silent Hunter®: Wolves of the Pacific U-Boat Missions
First, let me say this is NOT a first person shooter. This is a detailed, “all the widgets are under your control” submarine simulation.
The learning curve on this game can be prohibitively steep but there are some great tutorials and let’s play videos on you-tube that can get you up and running.
The game is actively supported by the folks over at subsim.com and there are more MODS than you’ll ever need.
The game can be manageable but enjoyable if you go for auto-targeting but the manual targeting option is a bit daunting. I wish that it were more granular. For instance, I could see separating the task of ship recognition from the trigonometry of torpedo aiming.
– Real player with 191.9 hrs in game
A Type XVIII U-Boat at 116knts speed with H2O2 boost activated. Not exactly realistic, but really hilarious.
The base game itself already has a plethora of content to explore and play around; the singleplayer campaigns for the Germans and Americans are sufficient for many hours of gameplay. It is also possible to mod the game to expand game content or enhance realism. Otherwise, you could tinker with the submarine files in S3D Editor, handy if you want to become the uber submarine as aforementioned.
– Real player with 117.3 hrs in game
Silent Hunter 5®: Battle of the Atlantic
So, Just to preface my positive review, you MUST get the Wolves of Steel mega-modset for this game off of the Subsim(dot)com for it to work right. A quick google search will direct you to the forum to find it.
With the modset, the game is amazing. Manually inputting info into the TDC, customizing the game-play to the level of realism you want (within reason), and sinking tonnage. There is nothing more satisfying than sneaking a volley of torpedoes through a destroyer screen to sink a Queen Elizabeth-class Battleship, and get away with it, or hit a 7km torpedo shot because you did the proper calculations and they never even knew you were there. (personal experiences, yours may vary) There are still a few bugs here and there in the modset, but once you recognize them, a quick save and reload will fix them up.
– Real player with 267.6 hrs in game
This game had so much promise. You can get around the hell of Uplay, but the game is really really, really buggy. And the fact that most mods dont work with the steam version, your just sol. The game is visually beautiful, and there is something inertly great about being stealthy in the sea and then evaiding capture, but the bugs will have you ripping your hair out. Radar contacts sometimes dont work, and you’ll be searching for multiple hours real time waiting to run into someone. AA gunners wont attack planes that are VERY relentless, let alone actually kill them. 6/10 times they wont even shoot at the plane when you have the gun armed, manned and ready; and when they do attack, 8/10 times even an experienced gunner wont bring them down.
– Real player with 239.6 hrs in game
Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter
Check out also this games!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1605420/Nazi_Busters/
Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter is an interactive war thriller which seamlessly blends tactical WW2 anti-submarine warfare simulation with a gripping storyline, presented through Hollywoodesque, interactive cutscenes. Take command of a meticulously reconstructed Fletcher-class destroyer and lead your crew against nazi U-Boats in the Battle of the Atlantic!
The story unfolds through a choice and consequence mechanic, allowing the player to shape the fate of the crew plunged into a deadly struggle against a devious and stealth enemy. They will have to overcome both the underwater threat and their own shortcomings in order to make sure that the convoy they are protecting makes it safely across the pond.
Lead a whole destroyer squadron and make tactical decisions to protect your sheep from the steel wolves. Track contacts and plot anti-submarine attacks using authentic equipment. Experience war at sea from the perspective of a tin can sailor, and shape the story as it develops, making key decisions both in and outside the heat of battle.
It is all in your hands, captain! Will you lead your men to victory by making sure that your convoy reaches its destination, or will it fall prey to enemy torpedoes, depriving the allied war effort of the precious supplies you were trusted to protect? Only you can answer the question!
Silent Service 2
For those who say the keyboard controls don’t work: There are a few keys that are different from what’s listed in the manual. For the F1-12 keys, you have to hold the fn button while you press them. LIkewise, press alt + a to toggle animation (in an ambush on multiple warships or when evading multiple depth charges, the animation will quickly fuck with your program, so.) and alt +s to toggle slow speed/save game. As far as I can tell all other keys work as described in the manual. The full manual is available here but even if it weren’t, you can find the PDF online.
– Real player with 238.2 hrs in game
LOOOK! It’s an old Game, but a beeutiey! Bought DEARLY, in an era of i.b.m,, ( I.B.M. WITHOUT Steroids). Consoles were withering, after much Success, in the Ei8ghties, and a bugeoning Legacy of Mouse, Joystick, Graphic SURFACE experience, and Pixels, was there for those with the Money. So S.S.II. options are somewhat to be considered. At least Steam offers options, that may only allow “‘best fit " , particularilly for those that complain about the Price.
NO!!!! I’sa no lover of the BUY - as - you - RENT, in lieu of genuine ownership of a game, that hopefully has “BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY” for decent generational duration, that exists only in “THUNDERSTORM " clouds.
– Real player with 174.5 hrs in game
Task Force 1942: Surface Naval Action in the South Pacific
A great game given new life. A couple of hints to improve gameplay. The game only runs slow because the CPU cycles in dosboox are set too low by default. To change this hit alt-enter while in game. This makes the window smaller so you can see the CPU count on the top left, it should read 3000. Hit Ctrl-F12 many times till it reaches a smooth frame rate, this is around 52301 for me. Hit alt-enter to return to full screen.
Alt-S turns sound on and off in game.
F10 allows the detail levels to be set higher.
– Real player with 167.3 hrs in game
This one might be one of the more fun and action oriented simulations I ever played. I think that even today it aged greatly: The game is quite acurate, The AI is excelent and even changes depending the different personalities of every commander in charge, it is very competent giving orders and shooting, so if you decide to fully go the planning or the blasting everything that moves you can be reassured that the other bit of the game will be well handled. You can also go fully OCD and try handling everything if you are nuts enough. The action is very exciting and frentic, but also includes a totally strategic game mode where you can handle everything, from patrols to diseases and supply lines.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game