Ready to die horribly in an alien ocean? Barotrauma, which leaves Early Access this March, could be for you.
Barotrauma takes place in the ocean depths of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. According to NASA, its “vast and unfathomably deep ocean is widely considered the most promising place to look for life beyond Earth.”
The game takes that idea and runs with it. In Barotrauma you’re not alone in the ocean but what’s especially unsettling is that you can’t normally see what’s out there. There’s a couple of cameras but your sub doesn’t have Subnautica‘s glass windows. Plus, since the action takes place in 2D, your vision is also limited in that respect.
Still, at least you can rely on your sub, right? Trouble is, it’s prone to breaking down and has a lot of things that need fixing. You can play the game in single player, yes. But it’s geared towards co-op, with each person being responsible for postponing your water death.
And now, after four years in Steam Early Access, it’s finally getting a full release. This release will, amongst other things, include a proper campaign ending. You can catch a glimpse of it in the above behind-the-scenes video and, according to developers FakeFish and Undertow Games it’s inspired by a fever dream. So, expect plenty of strangeness.
You can check out our early, early access impressions here, though the game has received even more content since then. The full game will be available this March 13th, priced at £29.99 (or you can purchase it now and get the update on that date).
