Video games have come a long way from their start and one of the most impressive ways in which they’ve changed is through the diverse environments they’ve been able to tackle. Games have fearlessly ventured into the land, air, and sea, knocking down barriers along the way. Water-based games still may be in the minority, but there’s been an increasing trend in this direction.
Titles that prioritize intricate combat systems & submarine exploration have opened up the medium in major ways and made the sea seem less impenetrable. Accordingly, here are some of the best video games to play if you love submarines and naval combat.
Updated December 16, 2020, by Reyadh Rahaman: The ocean holds many wonders to investigate and possibly plunder. Both on the surface and below the surf, battles occur in an unforgiving environment. Naval combat holds many unique challenges that often involve multitasking, which can be a nightmare for some gamers. However, if one can immerse themselves enough within these digital worlds, they can grasp the very art of war as if it were a literal painting.
15 Adventure Time: Pirates Of The Enchiridion
Fans of the animated series Adventure Time will likely want to check this one out. Pirates Of The Enchiridion takes place in the land of Ooo, though it has been massively flooded. It is up to Finn, Jake, and a few of their friends to find out why.
In usual fashion, they bust out some awesome inventions and galavant forth onto the newly formed waves seeking adventures and answers. Armed with a massive cannon and excellent ship maneuverability, the squad sets out upon the seas with little fear of foes they cannot defeat.
14 Maneater
This brutal game takes a different approach to ‘naval combat.’ Maneater lets players slip into the skin of a shark and live out all of their secret underwater shark-related fantasies. As a great white shark, gamers start out as a small pup and must grow strong by killing and feeding upon marine, and eventually terrestrial, life.
The combat is tricky to get used to at first, but once players get in touch with their inner shark, they’ll have a blast fighting crocodiles, orcas, and even armored boats laden with gun-totting humans.
13 Sid Meier’s Pirates!
The famed game designer delivered another classic to the world with this swashbuckling and cannon-firing adventure. With a variety of gameplay, including deadly duels, intricate ship combat, and much more, Sid Meier’s Pirates! is one of the best seafaring games of all time.
Each aspect of this game is refined and varied enough to let hours slip by before one notices how long they’ve been playing for.
12 Sunless Sea
Sailing with a top-down perspective adds some unique traits to the combat in this genre. Sunless Sea gives the player much greater scope as a helmsman, though provides many unusual challenges. Taking place across a constantly changing underground sea, one must sail forth through dark and dangerous waters to explore a world full of strange and eldritch encounters.
One can come across many horrors of the abyss like mutated sharks and less describable abominations that can only spawn and survive in the dankest, deepest parts of the world. Though there are enemy ships to be found as well, and most of the time they are better equipped than the player’s vessel. At least, in the beginning, before one finds better ships, weapons, and other secrets of the depths.
11 Sea Of Thieves
As a multiplayer game, Sea of Thieves has infinite replay value depending on who you play with. This is a perfect game for those looking to explore wide-open oceans with their friends in search of treasure and glory. With many updates added since the game’s release in 2017, there is a wealth of content to enjoy.
Be warned, however, as there are dangers upon the high seas. Some have criticized the game’s community for rampant trolling that goes uncontested by the developers. Such is the downside of many online gaming communities, though this does not stop decking out a cool ship and slaying sea monsters from being fun.
10 Cold Waters
Cold Waters is the prototypical submarine combat video game that’s perfect for beginners of the genre as well as seasoned pros. The game cuts out the excess and delivers a tight game about naval stealth & combat.
Players are in control of a lone US submarine that has to find and take out a Soviet ship, but without being detected during the mission. Cold Waters is simple, but it’s a game that does everything that it sets out to do very well. It’s also available on Steam, making it quite accessible to audiences.
9 The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda titles are some of the company’s most iconic and satisfying action-adventure series, but the GameCube entry, Wind Waker, takes some major risks that set Link on the high seas.
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was a controversial title upon its release, but it’s since found great appreciation and seen a fantastic HD release. The game isn’t set entirely on water, but the massive travel, combat, and treasure hunting that’s done at sea will definitely scratch that itch in gamers and possibly induce seasickness.
8 SOMA
Games like Amnesia have helped Frictional Games become a premier name in the survival horror scene and SOMA is another exceptional entry from the team. SOMA may be a bit of a stretch for those that crave naval combat, but the game is set entirely within an underwater research facility and taps into that same isolating atmosphere that many submarine games explore.
SOMA deals with deep ideas like lost identity and the dangers of artificial intelligence but uses them to create a deeply unsettling & unique experience.
7 BioShock 2
The BioShock titles are some of the closest examples of video games achieving the status of art. They’re masterful in every department, whether that’s combat, storytelling, enemies, or atmosphere. There’s no poor entry in the series, but BioShock 2 still may be the most satisfying.
Out of everything the game does right, it’s the immersive underwater society of Rapture that really stands out the most. It’s a world like no other from video games and this alternate take on history is so rich & prescient in certain ways.
6 Cold Fear
There haven’t been a lot of survival horror games that are set at sea, but the entries that attempt to run with the idea usually come up with a special experience. Horror games that are confined to a submarine or similar underwater environment are especially claustrophobic and bleak.
Cold Fear is a title from the PlayStation 2 era and while it’s very much a survival horror title of its time, its unique setting and departure from the standard horror enemies still make the game memorable.
5 Steel Battalion
Steel Battalion has a tough reputation in the video game world because it’s an Xbox 360 game that’s known more for its absurdly complex and expensive controller than for its actual gameplay. Steel Battalion is a definite oddity, but it’s still a title that naval and sub fans can appreciate.
Admittedly, the game operates more like a mech simulation, but the immersion into the cockpit and use of controls still creates a feeling that’s not unlike being at the helm of a giant ship. One thing that any naval fight could use more of is giant robots.
4 Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
The Assassin’s Creed franchise has had its up & downs over the years, but it’s done a good job with its attempts to listen to the fanbase and pivot to new time periods or ideas to find a fresh angle on the series.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise eventually added naval combat to the formula and the fourth numbered entry, Black Flag, goes all-in on the idea with a larger theme of pirates. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag may take place far before submarines were invented, but it offers up a creative and robust take on naval combat.
3 Subnautica
Subnautica applies a unique slant to the typical underwater exploration and combat experience by how it sets itself within the foreign waters of an alien planet. This allows Subnautica to feel both familiar and surprising with the creatures that are encountered.
Subnautica is a fun journey that’s evolved a lot since its inception. It’s genuinely tense to collect and manage resources while this potentially dangerous environment is invaded. It offers a much more personal level of combat than many of the other games on this list.
2 Silent Hunter III
There are many games in Ubisoft’s Silent Hunter submarine simulator and it’s provided PC gamers with a reliable home for retro naval combat. Silent Hunter III focuses specifically on World War II and has players pilot German U-Boats that are under attack.
Something that the game does very well illustrating the increasing dangers of war. The threats force gamers to continually devise new strategies and lean into new tactics in order to stay afloat. There have been later entries in the Silent Hunter franchise, but 2005’s Silent Hunter III remains a high point.
1 Battlefield 4: Naval Strike
The Battlefield series continually provides tense and chaotic multiplayer combat experiences. There may be diminishing returns on a lot of the Battlefield games, despite how the technology continues to improve. That being said, Battlefield 4 takes an encouraging shift with their Naval Strike DLC content.
The new expansion allows players to focus their aggression on naval combat, whether that’s at sea or attacking the waters from above. It’s a deep expansion that actually changes the game’s scope and doesn’t just feel like a coat of paint.
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