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Seventeen games here, and no two of them want the same afternoon from you. One has you sitting dead still inside a steel tube while a destroyer pings overhead. Another wants you to design a battleship class and then argue its budget through parliament. A third needs four friends, a galleon and a bucket. "Naval" is the only word they share, and on its own it tells you almost nothing about what you are buying.
There is no ranking here. This is our PC naval catalogue with live seller prices, split into the five things people actually mean when they say naval, with the Steam verdict next to every game and all the prices gathered in one table at the end. Pick the family first and the rest sorts itself out.
Five different ways of being at sea
Before you look at a single title, work out which of these five you are after. Almost every disappointed naval review on Steam is somebody who picked from the wrong one.
- Under the surface. Submarines, and the ships hunting them. Slow, quiet, mostly instruments and patience.
- The whole fleet. Wargames where you never touch a wheel: you give orders, place squadrons and read a map.
- Sail, cannon and a flag of your own. Age of sail. The wind is a mechanic and the ship is a character.
- With other people aboard. Crewed ships, where the fun comes from the shouting more than from the simulation.
- The ship as a job. Working vessels: cargo, rescue, nets and a ledger.
Under the surface: submarines and the ships hunting them
This is the quietest corner of the genre and the one that punishes impatience hardest. Nothing here is a shooter with a periscope glued on.
UBOAT — the crew is the simulation
UBOAT, from Deep Water Studio and published by PlayWay, is the most popular submarine game in our catalogue by a distance: Very Positive on Steam with more than 25,000 reviews. It is not just a diving simulator: you manage crew members by name, along with their fatigue and their nerves, and a bad patrol is usually a people problem before it is a torpedo problem.
Cold Waters — the fast one
Cold Waters, by Killerfish Games. Very Positive with over 4,500 reviews, and the way in if the word "simulator" makes you nervous. Cold War boats, missiles and torpedoes, a mission that starts in minutes rather than hours, and enough depth underneath to keep you reading manuals if you want to.
Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter — the same fight from the other side
Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter, from Iron Wolf Studio with Daedalic Entertainment behind it. Mostly Positive with around 850 reviews, a much smaller crowd than the two above, and the only one here that puts you on the surface hunting the submarine instead of hiding in it. If you have already played the hunted side, this is the interesting purchase.
What if you want to command the whole fleet?
Nobody steers anything in this group. You are the admiral, or the admiralty, and the game is played on a map. It is also where the older titles go cheapest, because the shops have had years to pile up stock and undercut each other.
Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age — the modern one
Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age, by Triassic Games under the MicroProse name. Very Positive with more than 5,800 reviews, and the current reference for missile-era surface warfare: sensors, electronic warfare and engagements decided long before anything is visible on screen.
Rule the Waves 3 — you build the navy, not the battle
Rule the Waves 3, from Naval Warfare Simulations and Matrix Games. Very Positive, though with a much smaller sample of around 850 reviews. It is the odd one out of the whole page: you design ship classes, fight your own parliament for the budget and watch decades of naval doctrine play out. Spreadsheet people love it; nobody else should buy it by accident.
Atlantic Fleet — the cheap way in
Atlantic Fleet, also by Killerfish Games and the most affordable serious wargame we list. Very Positive with over 1,500 reviews. Turn based, the Atlantic campaign, and no manual to speak of: it is the one to try first if you have never played a naval wargame and do not want to spend much finding out.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 — naval, but not on water
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, from Tindalos Interactive and Focus Entertainment, is here because the tag is honest about the feeling and dishonest about the setting: these are broadsides, ramming and boarding actions, in space. Mostly Positive with more than 9,600 reviews and a 77 on Metacritic, the highest critic score on this page. If what you love about naval combat is the manoeuvring, the water is optional.
Every figure in the block below already has the shop's own coupon taken off it, which is why our order does not always match what a store shows on its own page.
Sail, cannon and a flag of your own
Age of sail is the most romantic corner of the genre and the one with the widest quality spread. Read the review verdicts here more carefully than anywhere else on the page.
Naval Action — the demanding one, and it shows in the score
Naval Action, by Bermuda Computer Club. Over 10,000 reviews and a Mixed verdict, the lowest on this page, and that is exactly the information you need: it is an unforgiving open-world sailing game with real crew and wind management and other players who will sink you. The people who stay love it. The people who wanted a pirate adventure wrote most of the negative reviews.
Caribbean Legend — the role-playing one
Caribbean Legend, from BlackMark Studio, carries the old Corsairs lineage: a character, a story, ports, trade and boarding actions rather than pure ship-versus-ship. Mostly Positive with around 2,900 reviews, and the closest thing here to a proper pirate campaign.
Windward — sailing without the homework
Windward, by Tasharen Entertainment. Mostly Positive with more than 2,600 reviews and a 61 on Metacritic. Procedurally generated seas, trading, escorting and light combat, playable co-operatively, and by some distance the least demanding way to own a ship on this page.
Which of these are played with other people aboard?
Four titles where the ship is shared. In this group the deciding question is not the simulation, it is whether you have anyone to sail with.
Sea of Thieves — the one everybody has heard of
Sea of Thieves, from Rare and Xbox Game Studios, is the biggest game on this page by an enormous margin: Very Positive with more than 320,000 reviews. A crew, a galleon, no levels to grind and a lot of rope. It is also the naval game most likely to be already installed on somebody else's PC, which matters more than any feature list when you are buying something to play together.
Holdfast: Nations At War — line infantry and ships of the line
Holdfast: Nations At War, by Anvil Game Studios. Very Positive with more than 26,000 reviews. Large Napoleonic multiplayer battles where the naval half puts a whole crew on one ship: someone on the helm, someone on the sails, someone on the guns. Chaotic in the best way, and dependent on populated servers.
Salt 2: Shores of Gold — the calm sandbox
Salt 2: Shores of Gold, from Lavaboots Studios. Very Positive with more than 2,100 reviews. Exploration first, combat second: islands, a ship you upgrade slowly and no pressure. The quiet alternative if a crowded server sounds like work.
Stormworks: Search and Destroy — read this one carefully
Stormworks: Search and Destroy, by Geometa, is Very Positive with more than 1,200 reviews, and it is the entry on this page most often bought by mistake: it is the military expansion for Stormworks, not a standalone game, so it needs the base game to run. If you already build your own vessels bolt by bolt, it is an easy yes. If you do not own Stormworks, this is not your starting point.
This is the longest list of sellers on the page, again with the coupons already knocked off.
The ship as a workplace, not a battlefield
No enemy in this group. The tension comes from weather, fuel, quotas and mechanical failure, and the audience is the one that plays truck and farming simulators.
Ships At Sea — the ambitious one, with a split verdict
Ships At Sea, by Misc Games. Around 2,400 reviews and a Mixed verdict, which for a young working-vessel simulator usually means content arriving slowly rather than a broken game. Norwegian waters, fishing, cargo and rescue in the same career.
Seafarer: The Ship Sim — the big-vessel one
Seafarer: The Ship Sim, published by astragon, the house behind most of the machinery simulators you have seen. Mixed with around 1,800 reviews. Bigger ships, harbour manoeuvring and the kind of slow, deliberate handling that is the entire point for the people who want it.
Nantucket — the whaling ledger
Nantucket, from Picaresque Games, is a strategy and management game rather than a simulator: a crew, a whaler and a long voyage after the events of Moby Dick. Mostly Positive with around 780 reviews and a 74 on Metacritic. The one to pick if what you like about the sea is the logistics and the reading.
All seventeen side by side, at today's prices
Same list, no commentary. The price column is live: it moves as the shops move, and each store's coupon is already in the figure.
| Game | Family | Steam verdict | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| UBOAT | Under the surface | Very Positive · 25,000+ reviews | € |
| Cold Waters | Under the surface | Very Positive · 4,500+ reviews | € (with coupon GCDKGamivo) |
| Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter | Under the surface | Mostly Positive · 850+ reviews | € (with coupon Gocdkeys10) |
| Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age | The whole fleet | Very Positive · 5,800+ reviews | € (with coupon Gocdkeys) |
| Rule the Waves 3 | The whole fleet | Very Positive · 850+ reviews | € |
| Atlantic Fleet | The whole fleet | Very Positive · 1,500+ reviews | € |
| Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 | The whole fleet | Mostly Positive · 9,600+ reviews | € (with coupon GCDKGamivo) |
| Naval Action | Sail and cannon | Mixed · 10,000+ reviews | € (with coupon SEAL17CKD) |
| Caribbean Legend | Sail and cannon | Mostly Positive · 2,900+ reviews | € |
| Windward | Sail and cannon | Mostly Positive · 2,600+ reviews | € (with coupon GCDKGamivo) |
| Sea of Thieves | With people aboard | Very Positive · 320,000+ reviews | € (with coupon Gocdkeys) |
| Holdfast: Nations At War | With people aboard | Very Positive · 26,000+ reviews | € (with coupon SEPGOC10) |
| Salt 2: Shores of Gold | With people aboard | Very Positive · 2,100+ reviews | € (with coupon GCDK14DEAL) |
| Stormworks: Search and Destroy | With people aboard | Very Positive · 1,200+ reviews | € (with coupon GCDK14DEAL) |
| Ships At Sea | The ship as a job | Mixed · 2,400+ reviews | € (with coupon GCDKGamivo) |
| Seafarer: The Ship Sim | The ship as a job | Mixed · 1,800+ reviews | € (with coupon GCDK14DEAL) |
| Nantucket | The ship as a job | Mostly Positive · 780+ reviews | € (with coupon GCDKGamivo) |
So where should you start?
For the quiet, technical version of the sea, start with Cold Waters and move up to UBOAT once the slow pace has stopped feeling slow. Prefer to command rather than steer? Atlantic Fleet is the cheapest honest test of whether naval wargames suit you, and Sea Power is where you go if the answer turns out to be yes. And when the whole point is having other people aboard, Sea of Thieves is the safe call: the ship is only half of that game, the crew is the rest.
Once you have decided, you can buy Sea of Thieves key or buy UBOAT key at whatever the shops are charging today, coupons included.
I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember, and for the last 14 years I have been making life easier for other gamers. CEO and co-founder of Gocdkeys.
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