As per the title, the beta is out for this and is currently 20 quid on Steam. Good fun if you like all that Das Boot/Silent Hunter WW2 U-Boat stuff. Some pics:

Edited May 3, 20197 yr by Chock

Great shots!

I've been following development for over a year and just got it today!

It's currently in Early Access but looks very promising already.

I've been on a real sub, off of Oahu, went down to 100 feet below the surface, one takes a boat from Hilton Hawaiian Village then rendezvous with the sub in open water.  Took my daughter on the ride since we were in Hawaii to celebrate her 13th birthday and to fulfill a family bucket list thing.  While there I went to Pearl Harbor and went on the US Sub, I have also been inside the Uboat at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry way back in '75.... 

I am part of Hollywood history when it comes to subs, the Teddy Bear at the end of the movie, Hunt For Red October, was one that one of my guests, Larry Ferguson, who co wrote the movie lost, he always scripted his bears into his movies, like Beverly Hills Cop and the Presidio.  He lost his bear and as manager on duty at my hotel, I organized a hunt to find it, it was found in the laundry, our room attendants had scooped it up, our head security guard, a good natured chap named Stu, one you would not want to mess with but a gentle giant, found it. 

As a reward for finding the Teddy Bear, Larry invited me to a private guided tour of Paramount Studios, and I went on my 28th birthday, May 21st, 1989.  I was on the set of Hunt For Red October, on the set of Star Trek Next Generation sitting in the Captain's chair and science officer's chair, then walking the hallway to the holodeck, and finally I was behind the cameras for the filming of the Gilder Radner Entertainment tonight tribute. 

Then I went to see Larry, then skipped Arsenio Hall, too long a wait, and headed to Disneyland instead, flying home to the Napa Valley the next day.  Larry told some travel magazine about how I helped save his teddy bear, Blanche.  "Blanche" sent me a card with her picture, and paw prints, and a thank you note.  The whole event helped launch my career as a hotel business systems instructor, because of the travel magazine write up and attention my hospitality skills received from Larry.  I have not spoken to him since the release of the movie but I loved the ending, he said he wrote the last scene in tribute to what I did, but alas, I was nowhere to be found in the movie credits.  

I still smile at the reaction of the Paramount security guard when I drove up in a rented Toyota Tercel from LAX and he growled "Why Are You Here" and I said, "I have an appointment".  He looked me up, found me, and curtly motioned me to park in the small visitor and actor lot next to Mercedes, Rolls, Ferrari's, BMW's, Porsche's and so on, with my rented Toyota Tercel looking like a golf cart next to them.  When I drove up to Paramount and saw the gate I was reminded of Hollywood lore, those who wanted to crash the Paramount gate for their chance at stardom.  Me, I was not interested, I wanted my travel job as a biz systems instructor and that's what I was for the next eleven years.

John

I enjoyed the Silent Hunter series of the past -- except the last one, which was a mess -- so I've been keeping my eye on this. It looks to satisfy the dream of moving through a 3D model of the boat and interacting with the crew. Every version of SH had fans clamoring for that. The last version of SH sort-of did that, but it was a disaster that was only partially rescued by modders. I remember having to stack up a dozen or more user-made mods to get it to run at all, and finally gave up on it.

The previous Silent Hunter version with US fleet boats in the Pacific was more solid, but less interesting than the classic U-boat sims of the past.

For this new one, it's a small developer and initial reports on Steam are that it's very buggy. That's to be expected in Early Access, but how it turns out will depend on how competent the developer is. It's not very expensive, so I might pick it up this weekend just to take a tour around the inside of the boat.

Yeah, it's a bit buggy in terms of the GUI, but it is playable so long as you are aware that there may be the occasional frustration, which is inevitable with a beta release. If you are prepared to accept that at this stage of the proceedings, on the whole I think it's got the right balance between task management and action to make it an engaging experience, and for once in a sub sim, if you get caught on the surface with an allied aeroplane in attack range, it is just about as deadly to your virtual submarine as it was in real life, so that flak gun on the fantail is pretty much ornamental.

Visually, they've captured the look and feel of being on a Type VII U-Boat pretty well in this sim. I've actually been on board a Type IX U-Boat when she was intact (U-534, before she was cut up into sections). Being the type VII's slightly bigger sister, U-534 was a little bit roomier than a Type VII, but still small enough to give you an idea of how claustrophobic WW2 U-Boats were, i.e. the Type VII was really designed as a coastal patrol boat rather than one suited to the long Atlantic patrols they were actually used on in WW2.

Edited May 5, 20197 yr by Chock

This game is what I waited for a long time, always loved subsims.

But it has to be said clearly that this is NOT Beta - this is Early Access! There is a difference.

It is already awesome and I see a bright future for it so far.

I bought it because it looks like it may be a finished product at some point, and I can't help it... I love sub sims. 😊

Definitely a work in progress. It's hilarious how crewmen get stuck trying to move past the player FPS view near a bulkhead hatch, and there are some major issues with crew morale in the current build. But it looks like it's on the right track. No issues with performance so far, with my PC rig (specs below).

It will be interesting to see how this appeals to the subsim community. It's much more of a crew management sim than what we've seen in the past in sub sims on the PC.

If you're into absolute realism, that's the right approach (IMO). It's not like trying to keep the crew morale up on relatively short B17 mission over Germany in WW2 bomber sim, where you're back home the same day (if you survive). These guys lived in a steel tube for an extended period. This is a major part of this sim, along with the usual targeting and evasion stuff.

I respect the approach this one is taking, and I'm interested to see if they can pull off the right balance between crew management and what might appeal to a more casual audience, like blowing up enemy ships. Don't buy it unless you have patience for a final product though. It's an Alpha, not a Beta.