UBOAT

To think I had hesitation before buying, and even after buying in crazy. This is the best sub sim I own...the detail is insane. I WILL MAKE THIS SHORT You can have it ultra complex, or easy as it gets. Now that is a kind of difficulty setting I can get into. The training missions are insanely well done, and teach you everything. YET THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE IS. I can basically uninstall Silent Hunter 3&4, and I have the ULTRA DELUXE version of that, the Sea Wolves Mod, etc. Still compared to this THEY ARE trash for modern systems IMO. Best part of that is I can play without that STUPID UBIsoft client running :)YAY GOG is always superior, and DRM FREE is pure joy for ease of use!

Not reviewing based on potential. If you buy it now, you play it now. If you want to put the time and effort into figuring the game out, it is a ton of fun. I played it until I got bored with it, all the missions became rinse and repeat...and I got bored. Which is fine, it was incredibly engaging for the duration and I got plenty of gameplay out of it. Aaaannnddd then I came back about a year later after plenty of updates. I had largely forgotten all of the "character" of the game. And then commenced the restarts. Did you miss one objective of the terribly constructed totorial? The game is now slowmo until you figure it out, with no way of pulling up the totorial dialoge. You send your crew to shore to do a mission on a timer...the game doesnt tell you how to (or even that you can) check the progress of the crew. You dont know what to do or how to check. Unsure if the mission is complete, failed, or in progress. It's not that the game isn't good (It is), it's not that the UI is bad (it can be improved, but it is workable)...the problem is that you are left in the dark about how to use any of it. You will restart constantly thinking theres a glitch, you will restart due to actual glitches, you will restart just to get another look at the instructions for the mission, you will habitually save before anything significant incase it glitches (or doesn't, but you cant tell the difference). If you want to deal with bruteforcing your way through figuring out the game, go for it. If not, just wait for full release and pay a little more. UBoat is essentially a lite-sim that lets you figure it all out...and when youre paying AA money, the developer needs to at least explain their UI and systems.

This is one of the most immersive games I have played. Sometimes I enjoy traveling in real time while wandering around the boat watching the goings on, or scanning the horizon for ships. Sometimes I'd rather speed to the satisfaction of manually plotting torpedo solutions against multiple simultaneous targets. UBoat is a military sim, of course, but there's also a management element involving the crew and supplies. One can play in first person as any member of the crew, or sit above and control things more broadly. I mostly sit above unless I want immersion, or want to take fine control of a normally automated process. For instance, in first person you can take a crew member with a discount to the supply depot instead of only the captain. Or if you need ammo moved quickly, you can grab a couple of sailors and do it yourself. The learning curve seemed daunting at first, but things clicked pretty fast. Especially after watching a few videos of the gameplay and reading a few of the guides online. Since you can set the realism/manual control elements fairly granularly, you can eliminate a lot of the learning curve until you are ready. If you have a beefy system that can handle running a bit hot, then head out and sink some ships.

For early-access, UBOAT has a solid chance to bring WWII submarine sims to our generation of tech and usability. I say this as alumni of SHIII and SHIV, with hundreds of hours each in the Grey Wolves/Fall of the Rising Sun mods. There's a greater emphasis on crew and resource management than in the former SH series, which I personally appreciate. Similarly: I dig the limitations of food storage, as well as how repairs can only be conducted if you stock the parts to make said repairs. It raises the stakes and puts a stressful damper on your voyages. And in sum of the managerial aspect, it isn't *too* micromanage-y. It has a fairly satisfactory balance to my taste. Version B131 is the latest to this review's date, and is very much a nigh on complete game. I believe 132 and 133 are scheduled for later in the year. Check the devs for more roadmap details. One item of note is -- for now -- only one type of sub is playable. There are active intentions to add more in time, per devs. Crossing my fingers for a Typ. II. Already there are mods for this to enhance the facets of realism, as was true for the SH series; the SubSim forum has a board dedicated to UBOAT -- go check it out! Both from efforts of the devs and the community, I believe this will hit those SHIII and SHIV levels of experience. SH is still going strong after two decades -- in a little time, with a little help, UBOAT will join their ranks. For gameplay: check out Taff in Exile and Wolfpack345 on YouTube.

UBOAT is a phenomenal achievement and soon-to-be a remarkable video game. I purchased it in Early Access on Steam to financially support this project and to encourage the developers to continue their fabulous work of making it a reality. There are still bugs present in gameplay yet I simply consider it a privilege to be apart of their work and to assist in identifying issues while the game is developed. I would not recommend purchasing unless you are okay with a work-in-progress and are willing to participate and see its gradual development unfold. As always, its better to purchase here on GOG to avoid all that DRM nonsense. Glad the developers made the leap to the good side!