Virtual Museums have a well established niche of their own on the Steam Store, yet few go the extra mile like Britannic: Patroness of the Mediterranean. Or to be more precise, 400 feet / 122 meters as the depth of the ship’s final resting place on the bottom of the sea I affectionately refer to as Mare Nostrum. To this day, it remains the largest wreck of a passenger ship (Costa Concordia’s partial sinking in 2012 doesn’t count since it was moved and eventually scrapped). You probably guessed by now that I am a bit of a “bathtub admiral” amongst many other interests. Indeed I find ships even more fascinating than trains or cars since I’m fully aware that the Earth’s seas and oceans lie virtually unexplored. The wreck of His Majesty's Hospital Ship (HMHS) Britannic itself was only discovered by Jacques Cousteau in 1975, around 59 years after the sinking.

Touring the Britannic in its digital format and witnessing its sinking simulation, were very enjoyable instances as they spared me of any unnecessary unpleasantries such as cheesy love stories in the vein of Cameron’s Titanic from 1997. Three hours and a half runtime out of which about a quarter was dedicated to the actual sinking, of course. Britannic cuts right to the chase if you wish, while preserving plenty of surprises for those patient enough to explore the ship at a more relaxed pace. Developed and published by Vintage Digital Revival, a name which I’ve known for quite a few years since they’ve been working on “Titanic: Honor and Glory” since 2012. Glad to see that the experience gained from that on-going project could still materialize in a simulation for the ship which might have eclipsed the Titanic, if only the Patroness would have survived World War One…

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2156778563

There’s an entire game section dedicated to both trivia and the actual history of the RMS / HMHS Britannic. You surely didn’t expect a self-respecting interactive museum experience to force a few trips on Wikipedia now, did you? In fact Patroness of the Mediterranean received support from Simon Mills, the maritime historian and current owner of the wreck. You will find in-game, all the information you might desire about the Britannic while I shall provide below a YouTube clip involving the exploration of the ship in its current state, slowly decaying on the bottom of the Mediterranean. It’s important to notice that this is a considerably slower decay rate than the one on Titanic, given that the latter’s resting at a depth of 12,600 feet (almost 4 kilometers), in the middle of the Atlantic where not even sunlight can reach it. In a fortunate twist of fate, Britannic’s redesigning which was forced by Titanic’s sinking, had managed to save almost all the passengers aboard the aptly named Patroness of the Mediterranean.

Britannic sank twice as fast as her smaller sister-ship, in less than an hour yet the considerably larger number of lifeboats (way above the required carrying capacity) ensured that only 30 out of 1065 people lost their lives on the 21st of November 1916 when the hospital ship was traversing the Kea Channel as it sailed into a naval mine layed by the Imperial German Navy. I want to make this very clear, we’re not talking of yet another disputed war crime as in the case of RMS Lusitania and its torpedoing by a German submarine in 1915. A tragedy nonetheless, yet one which the Britannic could not avoid.

Skip to 33:45.
https://youtu.be/E3PgQJ1b2pg?t=2026

The damage done by the mine caused malfunctions in the ship’s watertight doors which failed to close properly. An explosion can’t be compared to scratching an iceberg and yet the circumstances surrounding the Olympic-class of ocean liners were so dire that two of its three representatives had violent, sudden demises. They cemented the idea of maritime disasters for passenger vessels and have undoubtedly remained examples or cautionary tales even a century away from those events. Likewise, this loss could not be redeemed by the post-WW1 restitution of a German ocean liner (SS Bismarck, renamed RMS Majestic) as part of war reparations.

Intriguing as its story may be, I was given a less-stellar impression upon noticing the performance issues exhibited by Patroness of the Mediterranean during my initial playthrough. Unreal Engine 4, an almost arch-nemesis to Unity Engine, has once again caused a mild nuisance in the form of crashes to desktop. UE4 is indeed powering this project, yet it took me some time to fiddle with both the in-game settings and my own GPU driver until I could enjoy it without CTDs albeit even worse performance from a frame rate perspective.

I had to “wind down” the automatic overclock on my graphics card, rest assured that this isn’t an isolated case and that rendering Britannic in its full visual glory will take a considerable toll on any high end system regardless of its age. Mine is four years old, so it’s “ancient”, I know. The Patroness wanted to teach me a lesson in humility, one which I could not accept until she was bent to my will, so I had found a compromise that would allow me to extract as many gorgeous screenshots as I wanted from her. The inherent lack of a HUD is something many more similar titles should implement.

Surprisingly, there’s voice acting with quite a personality as well. Narrator Robin’s thick accent (can’t really pinpoint it though) is only matched by his innocuous jokes throughout the ship’s tour. By comparison, the soundtrack is far more subdued yet still period appropriate.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2161636478

It certainly isn’t a walking or swimming simulator since I’ve already mentioned the ship’s sinking, yet the Patroness remains a simulation at its heart as it shifts its focus from the real life tragedy towards speculative fiction once it renders the peacetime Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Britannic in 1919 during an envisioned transatlantic voyage for the White Star Line Company. A fate which would have naturally occurred, just as Britannic’s “sisters”, the Olympic and Titanic graced the Atlantic in their own right and circumstances. Yet the Great War proved as merciless for the Britannic as that iceberg which snuffed out Titanic’s flame in 1912 on her maiden voyage. The livery differences aren’t superficial either, as the hospital ship dispensed with any luxuries in favor of expanded space for beds and auxiliary materials with an obvious medical purpose. You can explore the ship’s exterior as you wish, while the interior is slightly more limited at the time of this writing, with tooltips hinting at future expansion for the virtual museum.

Whether we’ll get to see more of Britannic’s interior design in the future or not, you’re still looking at an experience that can last between a couple of hours and all the way towards an open-ended scenario (keep in mind that you can fully simulate the ship’s last 55 minutes before it hit the seafloor). On the exterior level, you have both dynamic weather and a Freecam mode. Not that I could check it, but the VR implementation is a nice bonus indeed if you happen to have one of those still overpriced headsets. The Patroness awaits you for less than the price of admission on a real life museum ship!

+ Replay value.
+ Complex simulation.
+ Gorgeous graphics and sounds.

- No Steam Trading Cards or Achievements yet.
- Slight performance issues.

Rating 85/100

This article was submitted for Imperial Reviews through the generous contribution of the game’s developer. Following my Curator Page, will help me keep publishing new reviews as soon as I can. I appreciate your support!