Barotrauma

About Barotrauma

Barotrauma was made by Undertow Games and FakeFish and published by Daedalic Entertainment. After years in early access it had its full release on Steam in March 2023, for Windows, macOS and Linux. Its makers name FTL, RimWorld, Dwarf Fortress and Space Station 13 as inspirations.

In the not too distant future, humanity has fled to Europa. The surface is irradiated ice, so the last people live in the ocean below, and travel between outposts happens by submarine. You take missions from the remaining factions, explore wrecks and the ruins of an alien civilization, and push deeper into water that gets more dangerous the further you go.

Each crew member has a job. The captain steers by sonar, engineers keep the reactor and wiring running, mechanics patch hull breaches and work the pumps, medics treat wounds and security mans the turrets. Everything is physical: water floods rooms when the hull cracks, bodies ragdoll, and a single mistake at the reactor can end a run. Communication is the game, and so is the panic when a creature you only saw as a blip on sonar tears through a compartment wall.

It suits groups who like to work together under pressure, and players who enjoy the possibility that one of their friends is quietly sabotaging the ship. It can be played alone with bot crew, but it is at its most frightening in a full, noisy multiplayer crew.

How to play Barotrauma

1. Join or host a multiplayer game, or start the single-player campaign with a bot crew.
2. Pick a job such as captain, engineer, mechanic, medic or security officer, and learn your stations.
3. Take a mission at an outpost and steer the submarine out by sonar.
4. Repair leaks, keep the reactor and pumps running, and treat the wounded as damage comes in.
5. Fight or flee the monsters you meet, finish the mission and dock at the next outpost.

Tips

• Talk constantly; most deaths come from a crew that did not hear about a leak or a fire in time.
• Learn one job well before trying to fix everything yourself.
• Watch the sonar; most monsters show up there before they reach the hull.
• Keep diving suits near the places you work, in case a compartment floods.
• In games with traitors enabled, keep an eye on who goes near the reactor alone.

Questions