Barotrauma (video game)

Last updated
Barotrauma
Barotrauma logo.png
Developer(s)
  • Undertow Games
  • FakeFish Games
Publisher(s) Daedalic Entertainment
Director(s) Joonas "Regalis" Rikkonen
Producer(s)
  • Aku Jauhiainen
  • Kimmo Kari
Composer(s) Jussi Elsilä
Engine
Platform(s)
ReleaseMarch 13, 2023
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s)

Barotrauma is a survival-horror role-playing submarine simulator developed by Finnish studio Undertow Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment. Following an early access beta phase that began in 2019, the game was released for Windows, macOS, and Linux in March 2023.

Contents

Barotrauma is a side scrolling game that takes place in the distant future, on a submarine traversing the inhospitable oceans of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. The player is assigned a job on the submarine, and must coexist with other crew members aboard the vessel. Certain game modes may include the role of a traitor, which can increase the level of suspense in the game.

Gameplay

To navigate the ocean in Barotrauma, the crew must make use of sonar imaging. Barotrauma SC 02Navigation.jpg
To navigate the ocean in Barotrauma, the crew must make use of sonar imaging.

Barotrauma largely takes place inside submarines submerged beneath Europa's ocean. At the start of each game, players are assigned a job, which may provide them access to specialized traits and equipment. The submarine's crew are given a mission, which may involve hauling cargo from one outpost to another, hunting hostile undersea wildlife, or recovering alien artifacts. The players are then free to act at their own discretion for the duration of the round, with few, if any, additional objectives provided by the game itself. Stations serve as areas of downtime that offer different services, depending on their type. These stations are common in early biomes, but get rarer the further players get in the game, although new stations can appear in empty areas if a beacon station adjacent is activated.

Barotrauma also contains a faction system, with missions increasing reputation, although sometimes missions will reduce reputation with another faction. The game contains 4 factions in total, with 2, the Europa Coalition and the Jovian Separatists, being major factions, and the 2 others, the Children of the Honkmother, and the Church of the Husk, being minor.

The game has a 2D side-view perspective and features a complex simulation of multiple systems within the submarine, including oxygen levels, power, weapons and the crew's health. [1]

Various hazards will frequently jeopardize the submarine's voyage, such as hostile fauna, parasite outbreaks, and player-controlled traitors. Player incompetence can also be a source of disaster, as improperly-maintained ship equipment (such as nuclear reactors or oxygen generators) can quickly render the submarine inoperable. Crisis management is a recurrent theme in moment-to-moment gameplay, as players are implicitly encouraged to use their job skills to both avoid and mitigate disaster.

In the event that the submarine's hull is damaged, water will begin to flood the vessel, which damages submarine structures and significantly impedes player movement; without appropriate equipment, a player trapped in a flooded segment of the sub is liable to suffocate, or in areas with high water pressure, be crushed via barotrauma. As the submarine effectively functions as a lifeline for its crew, an irreparably-damaged vessel often signals the end of a round.

The game provides both single-player and multiplayer modes, which enable players to venture into the vast, unexplored depths of the ocean, taking on various tasks while managing resources, dealing with environmental hazards, and hostile creatures.

The game's core gameplay loop revolves around cooperation among the players to maintain life support systems, repair the submarine, and ward off enemy attacks. To enhance their chances of survival, players can craft equipment and customize their submarines using a complex crafting system.

Roles

In Barotrauma, players can take on various roles aboard the submarine, each with its own set of responsibilities and duties. These roles are necessary to keep the submarine functioning, and to ensure the crew's survival.

The roles available in the game include:

Each role is essential, and players must work together to succeed in their mission. In multiplayer, each player can choose to take on a specific role, allowing for coordinated teamwork and specialization to achieve success. [3]

Development

Lead developer Joonas Rikkonen, who had previously developed SCP – Containment Breach , cited the online role-playing game Space Station 13 as the biggest single source of inspiration for Barotrauma, praising its emergent gameplay and emphasis on human interaction. However, he also critiqued Space Station 13's unintuitive user interface and various technical issues; with Barotrauma, Rikkonen sought to create a game that "built on the foundation of SS13" while "smoothing some of the rougher edges". Rikkonen also drew heavy inspiration from "Pressure", a game concept anonymously posted to 4chan's video games board. [4]

Development on Barotrauma began in 2014, under the working title Subsurface. [4] From 2015 to 2018, pre-alpha builds of Barotrauma were freely released to the public for testing and feedback. Following the 2019 commercial release, future versions of Barotrauma were made exclusive to Steam, and the unsupported free version was retitled Barotrauma Legacy. [5]

In 2017, the source code for Barotrauma was publicly released under a limited license to facilitate the creation of community mods. [6] The source repository continues to be updated in tandem with the commercial release. [7] Barotrauma was Greenlit on Steam in February 2017. [8]

In 2018, Undertow Games partnered with FakeFish Games to jointly develop Barotrauma, turning the solo project into one developed by nearly a dozen individuals. [4] In early 2019, Undertow Games signed Daedalic Entertainment, a German games publisher, to handle Barotrauma's publishing and marketing. [9]

Barotrauma was released onto early access on June 5, 2019, with initial plans for the full release later in the year. The game would remain in early access indefinitely until January 2023, when the full release date was announced as March 13, 2023. [10] [11]

The developers host a public development roadmap on their Trello page. [12]

Reception

Barotrauma was voted "Best Hardcore Game" at Game Connection Europe 2018, where it was also nominated in three other categories. [13]

YearAwarding BodyAwardStatus
2019Games Without BordersBest Survival GameWon [14]
2018Game Connection EuropeBest Hardcore GameWon [14]
2018Game Connection EuropeMost Promising IPNominated [14]
2018Game Connection EuropeBest Console/PC HardcoreNominated [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>K-19: The Widowmaker</i> 2002 film by Kathryn Bigelow

K-19: The Widowmaker is a 2002 historical submarine film directed and produced by Kathryn Bigelow, and produced by Edward S. Feldman, Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Christine Whitaker and Matthias Deyle with screenplay by Christopher Kyle. An international production of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, the film takes place in 1961 and focuses its story on the Soviet Hotel-class submarine K-19.

<i>Warhammer 40,000</i> Miniature wargame

Warhammer 40,000 is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, and the tenth and current edition was released in June 2023.

<i>Star Trek: Bridge Commander</i> 2002 video game

Star Trek: Bridge Commander is a space combat simulation video game for Microsoft Windows, developed by Totally Games and published by Activision in 2002, based in the Star Trek universe.

Guild Wars is an online role-playing game franchise developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSOFT. The games were critically well received and won many editor's choice awards, as well as awards such as Best Value, Best Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), and Best Game. Guild Wars was noted for being the "first major MMO to adopt a business model not based on monthly subscription fees", its instanced approach to gameplay, and the quality of the graphics and play for computers with low specifications. In April 2009, NCSoft announced that 6 million units of games in the Guild Wars series had been sold. The sequel and fourth major entry into the series, Guild Wars 2, was announced in March 2007 and released on August 28, 2012. It features updated graphics and gameplay mechanics, and continues the original Guild Wars tradition of no subscription fees. The Guild Wars series had sold 11.5 million copies by August 2015

<i>Star Trek Online</i> Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Cryptic Studios based on the Star Trek franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. Star Trek Online is the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game within the Star Trek franchise and was released for Microsoft Windows in February 2010. At launch, the game required a game purchase and a recurring monthly fee. In January 2012, it relaunched with a tier of free-to-play access available. After a public beta testing period, a version of the game was released for OS X in March 2014. Due to technical issues with the port, support for OS X ended in February 2016. It was later released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in September 2016. The game has received several expansions since release and has gotten mixed reviews from critics.

<i>Silent Hunter III</i> 2005 submarine simulator

Silent Hunter III is a submarine simulation developed by Ubisoft Bucharest and published by Ubisoft. It was released for Windows on March 15, 2005. Like Silent Hunter II, it places the player in command of a German U-boat during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II.

<i>StarQuest Online</i> 2007 video game

StarQuest Online was a massively multiplayer online role playing game taking place in a large universe. It was created by Castle Thorn Software. In 2009 NeXeon Technologies partnered with Castle Thorn to support development of the game, but in mid-2014 the game had been shut down. The game created a tight-knit gaming community of around 50 people aged between 12 and 60 which continues today.

<i>World in Conflict</i> 2007 real-time strategy video game

World in Conflict is a 2007 real-time tactics video game developed by the Swedish video game company Massive Entertainment and published by Vivendi Games for Microsoft Windows. The game was released in September 2007, receiving generally favorable reviews and several awards. The game is considered by some to be the spiritual successor of Ground Control, another game by Massive Entertainment, and is generally conceived by its designers to be a real-time tactics game, despite being marketed as a RTS game.

Survival Crisis Z is a video game within both the role playing and survival horror genres for Microsoft Windows. The game was published in 2004 by developer Ska Studios. The game takes place in a city during the wake of a zombie apocalypse. Players assume the role of a survivor, and are given free rein in how they deal with the hostile world.

<i>Red Faction: Guerrilla</i> 2009 video game

Red Faction: Guerrilla is a third-person shooter video game developed by Volition and published by THQ. It was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in June 2009 and for Windows in September 2009. The game is the third installment in the Red Faction series. A remastered version titled Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered with improved graphics was released worldwide on July 3, 2018, for the PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One, and on July 2, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch.

<i>Submarine Titans</i> 2000 video game

Submarine Titans is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ellipse Studios and released for Microsoft Windows in 2000.

<i>Mercenaries</i> (series) Video game series

Mercenaries is a video game franchise published by LucasArts and developed by Pandemic Studios. As of 2024, there are two Mercenaries games available.

<i>Edna & Harvey: The Breakout</i> 2008 German adventure video game

Edna & Harvey: The Breakout is a 2008 German adventure video game developed by Daedalic Entertainment. The game was originally released for Microsoft Windows, macOS and iOS. An anniversary edition was released in 2019 and 2020 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, SteamOS + Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Amazon Luna. Starring a young woman and her toy rabbit, the objective of the game is to escape from a mental hospital in which they find themselves in at the beginning of the game.

<i>SCP – Containment Breach</i> 2012 survival horror video game

SCP – Containment Breach is a horror and indie game developed by Joonas "Regalis" Rikkonen based on fictional stories from the SCP Foundation collaborative writing wiki. The player takes the role of a human test subject, also known as a Class-D in the Community, and is imprisoned in an underground testing facility devoted to containing and studying anomalous entities and artifacts known as SCPs. The goal of the game is to escape from the facility as the role of said test subject during a breach of these anomalies while also avoiding the Foundation’s Military Force that are sent in to contain them. The game has a procedurally generated environment featuring multiple anomalies/SCPs from the SCP Wiki.

Daedalic Entertainment GmbH is a German video game publisher and former developer based in Hamburg. They developed various point-and-click adventure games.

<i>Space Station 13</i> 2003 multiplayer video game

Space Station 13, often shortened to SS13, is a top-down tile based action role-playing multiplayer video game running on the freeware BYOND game engine, originally released in 2003.

<i>PULSAR: Lost Colony</i> 2021 video game

PULSAR: Lost Colony is a science fiction space exploration video game being developed by independent developers Leafy Games, LLC. The video game was greenlit on Steam Greenlight on October 3, 2013, and was later funded successfully on Kickstarter on October 31, 2013. The game was released in an Alpha state on February 25, 2014, and was later available on Steam's Early Access program following an official release on June 23, 2021.

<i>Metro Exodus</i> 2019 video game

Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter video game that was developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver. It is the third installment in the Metro video game series, which is based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels. The game is a sequel to Metro: Last Light and the book Metro 2035, and follows protagonist Artyom and his crew as they flee the Moscow Metro and set off with their allies on an intercontinental journey to the Far East on a locomotive called Aurora. The story takes place over a year, during which Artyom visits locations such as the Volga River and the Caspian Sea. The game improves on the gameplay mechanics of Last Light; it includes several miniature open world locations and has linear levels like earlier games in the series.

<i>The Lord of the Rings: Gollum</i> 2023 video game

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an action-adventure game developed by Daedalic Entertainment, who also published the game with Nacon. The game, set in the fictional world of Middle-earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien, takes place in between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. The player controls Gollum through a series of locations, such as Cirith Ungol, Barad-dûr, and Mirkwood, as he attempts to find Bilbo Baggins and retake the One Ring whilst battling and avoiding Sauron. It was announced in March 2019 and delayed from its September 2021 launch window.

<i>Partisans 1941</i> 2020 video game

Partisans 1941 is a real-time tactics video game developed by Alter Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment in 2020. Players control Soviet partisans fighting against invading German troops during World War II.

References

  1. ↑ "Barotrauma". Barotrauma. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  2. ↑ "Captain". Official Barotrauma Wiki. 2023-01-03. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  3. ↑ "Jobs". Official Barotrauma Wiki. 2023-02-05. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  4. 1 2 3 Regalis (March 15, 2019). "WELCOME TO EUROPA: THE HISTORY OF BAROTRAUMA". barotraumagame.com. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Barotrauma Legacy". undertowgames.com. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  6. ↑ Regalis (June 4, 2017). "BAROTRAUMA SOURCE CODE". barotraumagame.com. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  7. ↑ Regalis11. "Regalis11/Barotrauma". github.com . Retrieved June 6, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ "Barotrauma | Undertow Games". 19 November 2018. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
  9. ↑ Regalis (February 28, 2019). "COLLABORATION WITH DAEDALIC ENTERTAINMENT". barotraumagame.com. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  10. ↑ Fraser Brown (June 5, 2019). "Barotrauma, the 16-player submarine sim, hits Early Access". pcgamer.com . PC Gamer. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  11. ↑ Regalis (2023-02-27). "Barotrauma 1.0 coming on March 13". Steam. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  12. ↑ "Trello". trello.com. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
  13. ↑ "GAME CONNECTION EUROPE 2018 DEVELOPMENT AWARDS". game-connection.com. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Press". Barotrauma. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.