8 Things We Wish We Knew Before Playing Barotrauma (2024)

Barotrauma is a challenging survival simulator where you take on the role of a submarine crew braving the mysterious horrors and wonders of Europa. As you traverse a vast underwater network that now houses humanity in small havens, everything can go wrong at any point.

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This is not the type of game that holds your hand as you learn the ropes. It’s easy to lose track of time as you explore and try to expand your submarine with all crew members intact, but there are quite a few things we definitely wish we knew before strapping in.

You can take on different roles in Barotrauma. As such, every member keeps things in ship shape by focusing on their designated tasks and using tools most suited to their skill sets. Every role even comes with its own skill tree, so it may seem like you just need to leave the welding and all of that to the mechanics. That is, of course, a huge mistake.

You can have a seemingly peaceful journey easily interrupted by all manner of beasts, enemy ships, and just plain terrain that you might accidentally crash into. When your hull is breached, the speed with which all things go to hell is astounding. Make sure everyone is ready with their own welding tool to patch those holes up when water starts crashing in from every direction.

7 Upgrade Your Diving Gear ASAP

Any basic submarine should have its fair share of diving suits available for crew members to use as needed. This is necessary if you have missions that require you to leave the submarine. Even if your job mainly keeps you aboard the sub, you’ll still want one handy in case the hull is breached.

Without a good diving suit, you will die to water pressure and be unable to breathe underwater. With the upgraded combat diving suit, you will have a bit more defense and speed at your disposal. This may not seem like much, but sometimes life and death are separated only by how quickly you can swim away and repair an engine.

6 Multiplayer Servers Can Be… A Mess

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So, you want to take on Europa with random players! That’s cool and gives you the opportunity to make new friends and feel more immersed in the whole storyline of misfits just being thrown together because this is the kind of work available. The way the game is designed makes it feel like it was truly built for co-op, so it is worth trying the multiplayer servers if your buddies don’t have a copy of the game.

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That said, a lot of servers can be a real mixed bag of chaos. Perhaps this appeals to you, in which case there’s nothing to worry about. Otherwise, be ready for a whole other journey filled with violence from your own crewmates that think you’re a traitor, random griefers, and tons of players that simply do not use any comms whatsoever.

5 Active Sonar Calls Attention

When navigating the pitch-black waters of Jupiter’s moon, you must largely rely on your submarine’s sonar to check for possible hostiles, objectives, and obstructions. Captains usually take on this responsibility, but anyone can control the deck.

You can choose between passive or active sonar, with the latter casting a wider net that can detect more points of interest. As helpful as this is, the active sonar also attracts the unwanted attention of threshers, crawlers, and all manner of horrors that lurk in the deep. Be mindful of using active sonar, because it always comes with an inherent risk.

4 Having Your Own Crew Is A World Of Difference

Although the game has recruitable bots, you really want to start with a small group that includes some friends for the best experience. Solo play for beginners can prove ultimately frustrating, while multiplayer servers are very hit or miss.

When you have a crew that you can actually communicate with, missions can go by much smoother and your chances of survival will definitely jump tenfold. After all, who needs to play Among Us when you’ve already got reactors imploding, leviathan underwater beasts tracking you down, and a charming selection of afflictions hitting crew members every two seconds?

3 The Tutorial Will Not Prepare You For Everything

Barotrauma offers a basic tutorial to get you ready for your first voyage. There are also various specialized tutorials that are job-specific since there are different mechanics that apply depending on whether you are a medical doctor, captain, engineer, mechanic, security officer, or assistant. From this section alone, it’s already quite a lot to take in.

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Even after you’ve seemingly learned the ropes for the job that appeals to you, though, you will quickly learn that the tutorial absolutely did not cover all the aspects you’ll need as you go on more trips. A lot of the fun (and difficulty) to be found in this game is about learning how to do certain tasks yourself and figuring out how best to use the tools at your disposal. Just be ready for a lot of dying and oopsie-daisies.

2 Every Role Is Essential

You can technically just have a whole crew with the same jobs but that is simply tempting fate and asking for an icy death. Barotrauma can be very satisfying when everyone does their jobs right, so make sure you have a good understanding of your exact role. It may not be something you want to hear in a game, but every crewmember should study up on their tasks and talents.

This isn’t the type of game where your build can be a jack of all trades. It’s especially worth figuring out what is best for the whole crew when each member builds their skill tree. Of course, you can always hop around jobs if you like an extra challenge.

1 Everything Needs Juice

Wires! Repairs! Power!

It makes sense that everything in your submarine needs to be juiced up, but the complexity of this system will make itself known to you the moment you’re midway through a voyage and find that you need to configure wires to add upgrades and consider how much fuel this is going to consume. That doesn’t even take into account how often things break down. On top of that, helpful tools like the portable sonar, underwater scooter, and stun baton all require battery power.

Be ready to manage your nuclear reactor and engine with a level of stress you may not have unlocked before. Just do yourself a favor and make sure you have an Engineer on board.

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