Barotrauma’s Home & Harbor Expansion Launches December 2

Barotrauma, the 2D co-op submarine simulator that left Early Access in March 2023, is getting a paid expansion on December 2 called Home & Harbor, and the headline addition is player-owned outposts. Developers FakeFish and Undertow Games are letting players own, develop, customize, manage, and defend their own homes on Europa, with new gameplay that runs through those outposts rather than the submarine alone. The expansion also introduces the Descendants, a technocratic faction with its own story, lore, weapons, and submarines. To go with the announcement, publisher Daedalic Entertainment has the base game and the Supporter Pack at 50 percent off right now, with the Supporter Pack down to $4.99.

Outposts start small, either acquired through story events or taken from NPCs by force, and grow from there with modules, customization, and workshops that unlock as you progress through research trees. Each outpost has Dwellers to manage, and the factions on Europa don’t sit still, since they’ll attack and conquer some outposts while trading with friendlier ones. The story side digs into the origins of Europa and the effort to recontact Earth. FakeFish and Undertow have released a developer diary covering the expansion’s design principles and how outpost management ties into the submarine gameplay. A free update for all players arrives alongside the expansion, adding more story and gameplay options to the base game.

For those unfamiliar with Barotrauma, it’s a sci-fi submarine simulator set in the depths of Jupiter’s frozen moon, with a single-player campaign and co-op support for up to 16 players who have to keep the sub running, fight off monsters, and complete missions. The game spent nearly four years in Early Access starting in summer 2019 before its 1.0 release, and the developers have overhauled the campaign and tutorials, added monsters, missions, and outposts, improved the graphics, and built a scripted event system since then.

Barotrauma: Home & Harbor Expansion – Dev Diaries Ep.2