It's not the prettiest game, but the style is quite unique and identifiable almost immediately. It lends itself well to setting a more grounded gritty feeling to the game. There aren't too many flashy things in the game, but what is there all seems to have been designed quite intentionally. Damage levels on objects are easy to visualize (particularly the hull), and indicators quickly let you know what needs to be taken care of. The lighting effects are surprisingly good for such "simple" looking graphics. Character designs leave something to be desired, but enemy designs are quite fantastic and some of them will send a chill through your blood. Animations are super basic, with your character sort of just hovering their hands over whatever object they're interacting with. It seems the developers decided to lean on the ragdoll effects to do their animations for them, which can lead to some hilarious moments. All in all, the graphics are nothing special, but they are unique and have a very distinct look about them..

For a game that looks so simple on the surface, there is a surprising amount of depth here. The campaign mode lets you progress through the seas of Europa and upgrade your sub (or buy a whole new one), help settlements spread, maintain faction reputations, buy equipment, sell, etc. With a fairly wide variety of quest types, almost every dive into the unforgiving seas will feel unique. Especially because your sub is always in danger. The beating heart of Barotrauma's gameplay is within the sub. There are several unique roles you can take on (Mechanic, Engineer, Medic, Security Officer, Captain, Assistant) each giving you unique skills you can unlock as you progress through the campaign. Each role specializes in some way or another, whether that be repairing the hull of the ship, or the engine, reactor, junction boxes, rewiring, navigating the sub, using the turret systems, healing other crewmembers of a variety of injuries, there's always something to be done on the ship and most the time you'll be occupied. One minute you might be peacefully cruising along, and the next you've been thrown across the room into the wall, have broken a bone, the room is flooding, pressure is building, and the sub is dropping into the depths of the ocean like a rock. You desperately grab a diving suit so the pressure doesn't crush you and you get to work welding shut the room, repairing the pumps so you don't crash into the sea floor and shatter your hull even more. Then the power goes out as the reactor fails. Suddenly alien creatures are worming their way into your sub, tearing apart your crewmates.

And that's just inside the sub. Out side the sub are the vast oceans of Europa. Form exploring alien ruins, to salvaging wrecks, to fighting infected "pirate" subs, to hunting gigantic creatures, to mining operations. There are countless things to occupy your time in this brutal place, and it will easily suck you in for hours if you let it.

For the creative among you, there is the option to completely design your own sub. The systems are play here are insanely intricate, and frankly I have not taken the time to become nearly familiar enough with them to be good at them. But there are some very dedicated people out there, and the workshop is full of options to explore.


I couldn't possibly cover all the gameplay aspects here, but no game plays like Barotrauma, and it stands unique in the gaming landscape. I do also want to note that the AI crewmates in this game are...lackluster. More often than not they just run around the ship, not doing a great job of anything except maybe patching some holes here and there. Solo gameplay with AI can be very difficult.

While there is a campaign mode, I haven't made it far enough into it to know for sure if there's a solid story that exists, or if there are just bits of lore to pick up here and there. But the gist of the campaign has you navigating from outpost to outpost, performing missions and effecting the world around you.

Barotrauma shines its brightest when you set to the seas with several of your friends. Each of you can take on unique roles, and communicate using both local and global voice chat through your radio headsets (which add a lot of atmosphere, when they work right. Audio can sometimes be glitchy). There's something very satisfying about tending to your role on the sub while your friends tend to theirs. And then of course watching any semblance of order completely break down as you rush to save the sub. With character progression now in the game, your role on the ship will become even more unique and important as you play. And if you do happen to die, a respawn shuttle can be set to spawn ever x number of minutes, so that players don't have to sit out the whole round bored.

There are several game modes available in multiplayer, from Campaign, to One-shot missions, to just pure sandbox gameplay.
There's even a traitor mode, which can randomly set some players to give them the mission of sabotaging the sub before they're stopped.

Even better, the price point for Barotrauma is fairly low, so it can be quite easy to convince your friends to give it a go. I highly recommend playing Barotrauma with friends, as there is nothing quite like it out there and it requires a wonderful level of coordination to survive. You'll make some very long lasting memories of intense or hilarious (or both) moments with this game.

With the progression system in place, and especially when playing the campaign, Barotrauma lends itself to countless hours of gameplay. I have returned to this game time and time again over the years and love it more each time I play. The developers are consistently dropping huge content updates that keep the game fresh and unique, and refine existing systems to be even better. You won't get bored with this one, as its very difficult to master even just one aspect of the game, and there are LOTS of aspects to master.

If you're a fan of cooperative, challenging games, Barotrauma will fit nicely into your game library, and it will remain a game you return to over and over. I need to stress this though: Barotrauma is HARD. You can set a difficulty slider, but go beyond 30% and you're in for a ROUGH time out there and will need to be on your toes. That being said, getting familiar with the mechanics of your role and joining up with friends to play and advance through the campaign will keep you all entertained for a long time. I have had some of my most fun gaming moments in Barotrauma, and recommend it to anyone looking for a good challenge with friends. I do NOT however, recommend Barotrauma to solo players (the AI crewmates are basically useless), or players looking for a casual game.

All that being said, if you're on the fence about Barotrauma, just take the dive and give it a go!