Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter – Early Access Preview (PC).
Contents
There are many different simulations in which you control a wide variety of vehicles. Be it harvest vehicles, buses, trains, cars, ships or planes. Now Daedalic Entertainment has released a new simulation game in Early Access, in which you are put at the controls of a submarine destroyer. Since I myself have been playing simulations of this kind since the C64 days and also like to watch war films, my interest was aroused early on. You can read about whether the game is worth buying in this Steam Early Access Preview.
Change of reality to virtual
You quickly notice that they have tried to integrate as much realism into the game as possible. For this reason about 170 destroyers were made, which of course were primarily intended to destroy enemy submarines. The development team Iron Wolf Studios has done a great job here and tried to represent it as faithfully as possible. After the First World War, the Americans had to sort out and renew the old ships, because the Cold War was already on the horizon, which was to keep the world in suspense for a few decades.
Originally, these ships were about 114.7 meters long, could cover almost 9000 kilometers with 2 steam turbines and reach a total of 38 knots or 75 km/h. There was space for anti-aircraft guns, as well as for heavy artillery and depth charges. At that time almost 270 people could be accommodated on the ship. Due to the realistic representation and implementation, the game knows how to convince even at this early stage.
Extensive controls
There Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter has quite a lot of control options, it makes sense to play through the tutorial carefully. Here the game explains in detail which instruments are responsible for which tasks, how the ship itself is controlled and also how you can track down enemy submarines. Once you’ve played through this tutorial, you can start playing the real game right away.
After setting options, how many submarines are waiting for the player, how big the ship convoys are and how long the battle will last. At the beginning it is of course recommended to adjust the game a little easier to get a feeling for the game.
To the battle
At the beginning it is all about finding the enemy. The radar helps here, which would only be possible over water. Of course, this is only possible within a certain radius. If the player manages to find an enemy submarine, the hunt can begin. It makes sense, for example, to hit the submarine with the onboard cannons so that the submarine cannot submerge. If this does not succeed, the submarine dives and you can only find out where the submarine is with the sonar. The display shows your own ship with a circle mark and the X symbol represents the enemy. The direction and distance to the submarine are also regularly communicated by radio.
Much of the control and displays also run automatically. However, players who want a slightly higher level of difficulty can set it to manual mode. It is also important that the ship is of course not as manoeuvrable as a small mini-ship or car would be, but that this takes quite some time. In principle, however, the ship can be navigated up to 360° degrees. Of course, it becomes difficult when the submarine makes it behind you for some unknown reason, as it takes quite a bit of time to contribute.
In shooting range
When you are finally within range, you can “sink” the previously mentioned depth charges on the enemy. Several spread ranges are available here. If you dropped the bombs correctly, you will immediately see a display of the bombs exploding by the submarine. The main goal, of course, is to eliminate all enemies while not losing the ship. There is also the option to call in air support or have one of the other ships in the convoy carry out the attack.
However, it is also important to be careful not to collide with other ships, otherwise you will damage yourself. It can also happen at the beginning that you can get confused at the beginning due to the many different instruments and displays. But over time you learn to deal with it.
Fun, action-packed and high difficulty
While it’s a bit trickier to get started with, as said, there’s a lot to consider, as time goes on it becomes more and more fun to spend your time in Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter to spend, especially since you can set your own level of difficulty. Of course, beforehand it seems like there isn’t much content in the game. This is because it is still an Early Access title. This is basically true, but the only mode that is available in the game so far is enormously fun and shows the potential the game already has.
When the title is then officially released, however, other game modes and a complete campaign will be added. Everyone who is interested in this submarine and destroyer topic should take a look at the game and keep an eye on further developments! One should also be aware of what Early Access means before committing to the game.
You already know the subject of World War II from many films. A particularly large number of German U-boats, which were always on the hunt, were destroyed during the war. The Germans in particular, with their devastating submarine weapons, were finally defeated by the Allies with the greatest effort. Therefore, many should feel addressed. Whether you will ultimately be successful also depends on whether you stick to the simulation. The game is not for in between to have a heartless breakfast, but is a bit demanding. And that’s just as well. We are very excited about further developments and will see Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter as a very interesting early access project with enormous potential.
