Valheim
Valheim
Game
Game2023
Barotrauma
Developer FakeFish, Undertow Games
Barotrauma is a survival-horror role-playing submarine simulator developed by Finnish studio Undertow Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment. Following an early access beta phase that began in 2019, the game was released for Windows, macOS, and Linux in March 2023. Barotrauma is a side scrolling game that takes place in the distant future, on a submarine traversing the inhospitable oceans of Europa, one of… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
524 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
93
LovedLoved
367 positive · 28 negative
95% range 90–95%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 367 | 28 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 34 | 2 | 67 |
| Lemmy * | 3 | 0 | 17 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 5 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
40,374 of 42,556 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
93% recommend · 242 yes, 19 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 261 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (84,894 of 90,290 positive).
Players love the chaotic, emergent stories that arise from multiplayer sessions. [1][2][3] Many say the game is best enjoyed with friends, but single-player is frustrating. [4][5][6] Some reviewers note the game's steep learning curve and need for teamwork. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
Sadly its not really meant for single player and none of my friends are even remotely interested in playing. The bot AI needs some improvement so solo players can rely on them more.
- [1]
Played this game with two buddies of mine. We get a mission to clear out a nest of crawlers. Before we can even ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ leave the station, a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ CLOWN attacks us and nearly kills one of my friends. So, to save his life, my other friend injects him with alien blood. This causes him to start hallucinating fires all over the ship. He just walks through them since, y'know, they're not real. But the thing is, he was …
- [2]
Got hired as medic on my first ever game captain says were doing a simple delivery mission cool. 5 minutes in hulls breached on 3 sides theres water everywhere reactors melting down and some dude is injecting everyone with random chemicals "to help" while a sea monster is ripping the sub apart from outside lol. We all died. Queued another one immediately This game is basically what happens when you give like 16 …
- [3]
700 hours of in game expierence and i still can’t beat the game with friends we had no traitor chance yet somehow everyone ended up being a traitor, two people died within the first five minutes, the reactor went up in flames, the medic was using our entire med cabinet in a corner, and the captain decided he was the supreme husk leader and started infecting people with the husk parasite and our security guard …
- [8]
One does not simply summarise or declare things about Barotrauma. This game is, at its surface, simple. You get in a sub, and go from point A to point B - transporting, salvaging, or killing your way between them. But after some time you begin to realise that this isn't just a survival game - it's a game about true, slow-building terror. The darkness is oppressive, and horrors very much do reside within it. You will …
Summarised from 34 of the 362 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 9, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Barotrauma talk about great for creating memorable, hilarious moments with friends; those who didn't talk about single-player is boring and bots are unreliable. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Barotrauma was voted "Best Hardcore Game" at Game Connection Europe 2018, where it was also nominated in three other categories.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 524 · most liked firstOne of the games that make me wait for the action, but when the action comes I beg that it stops
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this is the best game ever and me and my dad have never ben closer I played from 8 pm to 2 am for the past 3 or 4 weeks
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game has been and continues to be a major contributor to my various academic failings
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Truly a game for the autistic. Wether it be roleplay or tryhard sweating this game delivers. Around 200h in and half of it is just me designing submarines like a true chud. 11/10 would reccomend
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played this game with two buddies of mine. We get a mission to clear out a nest of crawlers. Before we can even ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ leave the station, a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ CLOWN attacks us and nearly kills one of my friends. So, to save his life, my other friend injects him with alien blood. This causes him to start hallucinating fires all over the ship. He just walks through them since, y'know, they're not real. But the thing is, he was carrying nitroglycerin on him for some reason. And one of the fires turns out to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun with friends. I don't have friends. ---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☑ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of my all time favourites. Especially early days, before you know a lot about the game it is one of the most panicky games I have played. And once you are an experienced captain you get to take your newbie friends out into the darkness, and relive that panic through them. I will say this, use the ingame voice! It works very well, and takes into account distance, position relative to the player, and perhaps most importantly consciousness. There is nothing more chilling than hearing the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is like hard drugs. It has ruined my relationships with my family and i just cannot stop playing it. Help
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is game trumatic cus my friend Grady always hit me with crowbar and it make me very sad
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of Qud's writers, @ectafoole.bsky.social, has recently been hooked on Ostranauts. A game like no other, really, although it kinda feels like there's bits of DNA in there from Space Station 13/Barotrauma, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead and The Sims. An ultra-detailed dystopian shipbreaking life sim.
neutral · AI labelView post →Got hired as medic on my first ever game captain says were doing a simple delivery mission cool. 5 minutes in hulls breached on 3 sides theres water everywhere reactors melting down and some dude is injecting everyone with random chemicals "to help" while a sea monster is ripping the sub apart from outside lol. We all died. Queued another one immediately This game is basically what happens when you give like 16 people a nuclear submarine and just say figure it out. Engineer rewires something…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i join game, capitan shoot me for not following orders.... good game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →700 hours of in game expierence and i still can’t beat the game with friends we had no traitor chance yet somehow everyone ended up being a traitor, two people died within the first five minutes, the reactor went up in flames, the medic was using our entire med cabinet in a corner, and the captain decided he was the supreme husk leader and started infecting people with the husk parasite and our security guard thought he was king von and shot up the outposts 10/10 never felt so many emotions at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →CONS: >Some of the mod content should be in the base game >Tries too hard to appeal to casual players when the people who play these types of games love autistic intricacy. >There's not even minigames for the tasks it's all just click and wait for bar to fill up. >Roles don't change the way you play, medic is especially useless if you play with a crew that knows what every medicine does, the only fun role is electric engineer and it takes several levels of autism to pick up. >Only person…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One does not simply summarise or declare things about Barotrauma. This game is, at its surface, simple. You get in a sub, and go from point A to point B - transporting, salvaging, or killing your way between them. But after some time you begin to realise that this isn't just a survival game - it's a game about true, slow-building terror. The darkness is oppressive, and horrors very much do reside within it. You will perish if you are caught off guard. You will perish if your inventory restock…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Introducing FROSTRAIL, a brand new FPS game from the developers of Barotrauma pusblished by Shiro Unlimited Maintain and upgrade your steam-powered train as you scavenge and fight with up to 4 friends through a frozen, hostile world. Wishlist on Steam - shiro.li/NuVH3u
neutral · AI labelView post →There are only two ways to go about doing things, doing it right, or doing it again.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Barotrauma hits all the notes of a classic dreamcast game. but be warned, you will need friends to play this game with. If you know really pathetic people and/or have paper thin relationships, then this game may sit in your steam library accumulating dust. However if you have a dedicated group of downright legends then you will forge bonds of friendship by braving horrors and dangers of an alien world and have stories to share when you reach your next deep sea station.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've never laughed, cried, and screamed harder in my live playing this game. Got it gifted by a friend, loaded it up, skipped the tutorial because a real man tackles his problems head first. Decided i was gonna be the mechanic and engineer at the same time. Throw 4 fuel rods into the reactor, immediately overheats and blows up... Scream at the top of my lungs as i scramble for the fire extinguisher and managed to put it out. My friend comes down looks at me, looks at the smoking reactor,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sadly its not really meant for single player and none of my friends are even remotely interested in playing. The bot AI needs some improvement so solo players can rely on them more.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →when my medic decides to strip and start stabbing people you just know he was doin it for the love of the game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Please suggest good progression based multiplayer games. I have a small gaming group of 3-4 ppl where we love proper progression based multiplayer games. We've been playing Barotrauma for ages, a fair share of voidcrew, multiplayer modded RimWorld, and we rode the Lethal Company Wave of crew based mission collecting games, but we're looking for more games in the same vein with a good mix of progression, asymmetry and replayability. Please suggest any games that you feel may fit!
neutral · AI labelView post →Such a freakin' good game! Barotrauma is all about having fun with friends with jankyness, science and everything going from calm to sh1tstorm in just a few moments. - Can you steal fentanyl from the doctors, shove the stolen fentanyl into your friends' skull and watch them vomit everywhere on your ship? You can! - Can you drink unidentified liquids you find in a random trashcan hopefully it won't kill you? Sure! - Can you sneak a zombie virus onto the submarine, and watch as the plague you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My friend (the captain at the time) threatened to "use me as a condom" Whatever that means. Fun game, I recommend!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Teamwork games? Like Rematch or Foxhole. (This isn't about co-op with 4 friends games like PEAK or RV There Yet, Borderlands or Magicka) # Stage 1 - purely individualistic games In many games - COD comes to mind - you can just bust into a room and solo everyone. That's individualistic gameplay, where other players are merely pedestrians in a saga where you are the main character. # Stage 2 - shallow teamwork Then there's games that have **"** _teamwork_ **"** that boils down to…
neutral · AI labelView post →Sailing the waters of Europa is a harsh and unforgiving experience. Barotrauma is a cooperative horror game in which you and your crew must work together to ensure the submarine sees success on its missions. Everyone has their role on the sub, and each is just as important as the last. This game can be played solo with bots, or multiplayer up to 16 players. The settings in-game are customizable enough, setting more XP gain, world hostility, etc to better suit the way you want to play. Your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Became an opium addict. Made my friends opium addicts through needle gun. They crashed ship into ocean floor. Good game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like this game and it has a great modding community, but it is a little expensive for my friends, so I hope it goes on sale soon so I can start playing with them.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →my friends keep flaming me for medical malpractice and organ harvesting their unrecoverable bodies for profit. try neurotrauma today :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →truly one of a kind - have your sub's commander smoke and drink constantly; the electrician doing everything around the sub except helm and weapons; the engineer afking until he can go mining or exploring outside of the sub; the medic not healing you cuz "tis just a scratch"; the security officer letting everyone die and only then realizing he needs to do something and the assistant - average at everything and exceeding at absolutely nothing. truly, a masterpiece best enjoyed with a beer (at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →> Downloads mod that allows me to hit people with nuclear railgun shells > Hits pirates with nuclear railgun shell > Outpost disintegrates and everyone dies Best game ever.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hogwarts Legacy? Shit game. Buy Barotrauma instead. WAY more fun and its cheaper. If you love wizards n shit tho get something better than Harry Potter.
positive · AI labelView post →everybody chilling until bro whips out the heavy flamer and burns down half the station (we only lost 2 rep because the game only registered 2 hits)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game builds trust in your friends and makes you enjoy teamwork with absolutely no issues whatsoever. *YOU FEEL SOMETHING CRAWLING IN YOUR THROAT*
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →66+ hours in and I still don't really know what I am doing, but I am surviving. I'm going to be honest.. I hate roleplaying games or heavily immersive games (example gta rp, arma, etc) but there's just something about this game that just scratch a very specific itch that I didn't know I needed. I got the game so that me and a few friends could suffer together for a bit and scream at each other because someone in the crew isn't doing their job correctly, to now having me be fully invested…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very fun game, however the prisoners need to learn some discipline and obedience for their captors. They were running around like headless chickens and desperately scavenging for any sort of weapon, however our disciplinary methods proved sufficient, because we had disciplined them until they submitted and could be dragged to our makeshift prison where they were put on oxygenite to preserve their lives.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Janky as hell, but its honestly the best underwater/submarine survival game out there right now. and holy cow are there a ton of mods, and not just posters you can stick on submarine walls but full overhauls from warhammer to deadspace to fallout.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun to play with friends, horrifying if the captain is trash
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Barotrauma is a game that feels like complete chaos when you first load into it, and somehow becomes more chaotic the more you understand how it works. It is a game about holding things together, where everything is on the verge of catastrophic failure, and it makes the game absolutely riveting. The first thing that clicked for me was the atmosphere. The game nails the feeling of being trapped in a fragile metal tube at the bottom of an alien ocean. The darkness outside is oppressive, the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm not good at Barotrauma, I would never travel alone in Barotrauma, I pray that my bowels are stronger than I am when playing Barotrauma, because it terrifies me and stresses me and it enshrouds me in its oppressive, claustrophobic vibes and mechanics. And then there are the clowns. Barotrauma, as a supernatural sci fi submarine management simulator, is the perfect co-op experience for anyone wanting to share the nightmares of the sea. It predates, because its period of early access started…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Such a great game dont be fooled by the 2d side scrolling graphics its a very deep complex game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would very much recommend this game if you can convince 3-5 friends to play a long campaign with you (20-50 hours). I enjoyed the experience of the campaign with friends, but I wouldn't buy the game if I was playing alone. If you enjoy Space Station 13 or something like it then public lobbies are probably fine, but if you're here for the campaign experience you'll either need to play singleplayer or with friends. That aside, the game does cease to be challenging in the late game for any…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My crew forgot about me and now I'm stranded on a submarine wreck. 10/10 best game ever
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was quite skeptical at first, either because of the graphics or mechanics (can't quite remember), but turns out Barotrauma is among the best games to play with friends I have seen so far (if you turn off friendly fire and traitors) otherwise it is the best way to hate them. 10/10, can't wait to play the new update
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been thinking on how I would write this. Barotrauma is one of the most amazing video games I have ever played. It balances realism with gameplay in a way no one really has, before. I appreciate the atmosphere of this game, and the devs certainly did, too. They were very wise to recognize the absolute diamond that atmosphere was when developing this game. From hull creaks to distant monster chirps, you feel that you are stuck in a submarine, you feel that the submarine is stuck in a cold, dark,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New Frostrail video delivers more survival train horror shooting plus weird underground Tomb Raider temples. Here's an edited gameplay overview for Frostrail, the new wintry survival FPS from the creators of Barotrauma.
neutral · AI labelView post →Absolutely not recommended as a singleplayer experience and the price limits its multiplayer potential too, honestly... Pros: The atmosphere is top notch. The lore seems solid. Maintenance, wiring, and especially the medical system are very well made, the best part of the game for me. The AI crew is surprisingly smart, assuming you issue and prioritize orders correctly. Gritty, gory horror with no jumpscares (that I know of, at least), a favorite of mine. High quality mods, many of which are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →”When you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” Barotrauma is a rare kind of game that manages to be absolutely terrifying, exceedingly stressful, and side-splittingly hilarious all in equal measures, no matter the situation. Whether it is the submarine sinking rapidly to the bottom of hell, or you and your crew bleeding profusely in the middle of the ocean while the abyssal creatures nibble on what parts of you are left, it all culminates in such chaotically morbid fun.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game rocks, worth the money. Even when I fail I have had fun doing so. The main downside in this game is how fast you die, & how devastating any injury is. However this is not a flaw, it feels realistic, & adds tension in choosing to try to save someone knowing it will be dangerous & they are likely to die.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yeah, according to the [Contributing.md on the github](https://github.com/FakeFishGames/Barotrauma/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) it is missing some files that are included if you buy a copy of the game: >The BarotraumaShared/Content folder, which contains Barotrauma's art, item XMLs, sounds, and other assets, is not included in the GitHub repository. If you have a legal copy of the game, you can copy the Content folder from the game's files to BarotraumaShared/Content.
neutral · AI labelView post →My community is very aware of my fear of the deep, hence why they want me to play this scary submarine game.. ;u; Live in 15 mins with Barotrauma - www.twitch.tv/iggymaid Tips welcomed, I've never played before!
neutral · AI labelView post →Awesome game keep up the great work, but id do wish that there was a like contiuously generated mode that you can endlessy play, the performance is great enough so that it could be played on a really bad school chromebook
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Probably the only game that can cause a team of 10 people to scream incoherently in panic at each other as teamwork disintegrates. 10/10 would be eaten by a Hammerhead 4000m deep in a Europan ocean again. Where's the captain?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This could be a great game, but it is almost impossible to play. Singleplayer is incredibly boring and frustrating because you have to do everything yourself, and the bots will die the moment your hull gets breached because the bots are incapable of keeping themselves alive. Getting 3+ friends to play a 20+ hour campaign is almost impossible. The only option is to play on random multiplayer servers, but you won't be able to experience any of the actual game progression, let alone reach the end.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The sub's power gone offline? Blame it on your friends, Opioid addiction? Blame it on you friends, The whole sub is a hole? Blame it on your friends. Did you not buy enough welder fuel? Blame it on your friends. 10/10 would blame my friends again at the bottom of the ocean so baro my trauma :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Initially got into the game thanks to someone who was close to me at the time, though I am glad I got told about it when I did. Managed to get much closer to a few lovely people through it and I'm very glad for that! I still feel like a newbie even at 220 hours merely because the game itself has quite a lot to do and I tend to stick to my comfort bubble. Definitely best enjoyable in a small group of people, 3-5 in my experience would suffice for a good experience. Bots can be a bit silly but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a meme i saw which i dont think i even understand got me making another art #barotrauma #humanoid #robotgirl #oc #originalcharacter #gijinka #人外 the game looks interesting maybe i should play
neutral · AI labelView post →Very good game, quite enjoyable. The mechanics are simple enough but enjoyable to perform. It works well for a full crew but can also be played with just one or two friends. Very replayable and fun to explore.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →our submarine got rammed stuck between a rock by hammerheads, tried breaking the hull and it didn't work. Tried going full throttle and overloaded the reactor, it went boom with all of us dying. 10/10 game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of those games where the better you play the more boring it gets. Just finished the campaign with a group of friends and it got more and more stale the further it went. Was a mechanic/Electrical guy for more of the trip so that's my perspective. Repairing and maintenance is superficial simple left clicks and you're done. If your sub is in good condition you just sit on your hands. And no. This isn't just a difficulty thing. Fixing stuff is just that boring. There's a really well done…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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