Barotrauma Gameplay Preview – I’m on an U-Boat

Barotrauma is a game where you try your absolute best to survive on a submarine plagued with failing systems, beset by hostile sea creatures, and sometimes the incompetency of your own crew. Once you embrace the chaotic life style that is Barotrauma, the game becomes quite enjoyable and the inevitable catastrophic failure becomes quite humorous.

You can play solo campaigns or multiplayer with other live players. The multiplayer version is definitely more fun and easier as your AI controlled crew mates are oftentimes lacking in every possible area. Instead of artificial intelligence, it should properly be called very real stupidity.

Dad jokes aside, once you are on a submarine, you will select a preferred role from the five available as of now; mechanic, engineer, medical doctor, security officer, and captain. The mechanic specializes in fixing broken machinery, the engineer specializes in managing the generator and wiring the junction boxes, the doctor can heal other players of their maladies, the security officer specializes in combat, and the captain can issue orders and navigate the submarine.

Everything on the submarine wears down and needs repairing, sea creatures are always assaulting your ship, and eventually you’ll need to repair both the submarine itself as well as the health of your crew mates. There’s nary a moment when there isn’t something that needs to be done, no matter which role you pick. Combine the hectic pace of the game with the magic of multiplayer and you have complete, enjoyable chaos. If you want to spice things up even further, you can enable the traitor role to further antagonize your adventure in the deep sea.

Overall, Barotrauma is a uniquely fun and chaotic experience. Getting a group of friends to play together to run a well oiled submarine is extremely satisfying, and seeing your submarine succumb to the depths when it isn’t so well oiled, is humorous and enjoyable as well. Barotrauma is the perfect game for people looking for an unique (and chaotic) multiplayer experience.