Ubisoft recently announced the next title in their ongoing series of submarine simulation games: Silent Hunter 5 promises a new take on the World War 2 U-boat action title.

The big new feature in Silent Hunter 5 is the renewed perspective - you'll play much more directly as the captain of your vessel, including a brand new first person mode that allows you to walk around the entire sub as the game progresses, communicating directly with your crew members as you take on the Allies. The entire sub, inside and out, has been modeled in intricate detail to provide the most realistic experience possible - the demonstration we saw showed things like Enigma machines lying around in your radio room. You can see some of the detail in the below shot of the engine room.




A new graphical engine powers Silent Hunter 5, boasting a three times increase in view distance - leading to some spectacular panoramic views of ocean scenes with warships everywhere. We were treated to a level of the game set in Narvik Harbour in Norway, showing off the new terrain engine which creates a very realistic and impressive environment - perfect for a spot of naval warfare.

The mission we saw involved sneaking up on a massive battleship to get within torpedo range. I'm not a submarine commander by trade, but the approach that was demonstrated to us seemed pretty viable - the new, improved user interface shows the perception range of enemy ships based on three main factors: visual (ie, dudes with binoculars on the decks looking for telltale signs of periscopes), hydrophone, and active sonar.

Depending on what you're doing at the time, you'll register differently on these devices, so you need to tailor your approach to take these into account - going slower means there's less chance they'll hear you, but it'll take you longer. Submerging means they can't see you, but you also can't see them, meaning there's a lot of skill in the infiltration as you close to torpedo range.

In the first run of the demo, we were spotted and shelled while some of the other aspects of the game were demonstrated, which lead to a slowly sinking U-boat scenario, making the rest of the mission somewhat hard to complete (a damage control system and game mechanic is coming, we were told, but wasn't in this build). So the level was restarted and this time we got to see the time compression feature - which does basically exactly what you'd expect, allowing you to minimise long, painful periods of waiting into a few short seconds.




Once we'd successfully gotten in range of the target, it was torpedoes away, and then we were treated to the satisfying site of a massive battleship exploding in flames as many kilograms of high explosive detonated in close proximity to its hull. Of course, you've then got to get away safely, which is another problem.

As captain in FPS mode, you're able to communicate directly with your fellow sailors and issue particular orders, taking advantage of various skills. In the example we saw, you could talk to the engineer in the engine room and ask him to try to eke some more power out of the engines by overcharging them. Doing this has a penalty though - it drops their morale, which has various effects on the rest of the crew and thus the game in general, so you must use it wisely and sparingly.

As you progress through the game, you'll earn promotion points, which can be spread amongst your crew to 'upgrade' them with various other abilities that can be called on in the thick of battle. This aims to provide a bit more variety in the gameplay by allowing you to focus on particular skills that suit your commanding style.

We only saw a brief section of the game, but it was enough to see that there's clearly a lot of depth (...) in the next Silent Hunter. The FPS game mode looks like a really interesting and immersive way to play the game, and the new interface changes look like they'll help to ensure the game is flexible and accessible to anyone that wants to roam the seas. Visually the game is a significant step up over previous titles, offering incentive to veterans of the Silent Hunter brand to think about an upgrade.