Silent Hunter V: Battle of the Atlantic

Silent Hunter V (full title "Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic") was a much anticipated sequel of the Silent Hunter series released in the spring of 2010. Silent Hunter V offered greatly enhanced graphics as well as a first person environment in which a player could traverse throughout the entirety of a Type VIIC submarine, including previously unseen areas such as the engine and torpedo rooms.

A type VIIC submarine patrols on the surface in Silent Hunter 5

While the performance and realism of Silent Hunter V was dramatically improved, the game also altered some key elements which had been mainstays on previous game versions. One aspect was the story-line of Silent Hunter V which no longer focused on a generic player commanding various U-boats, but rather a role playing scenario where the player assumed the identity of a specific submarine captain who served on a single Type VII submarine between 1939 and 1943.

Inside the previously unseen forward torpedo room of the Type VII U-boat

The game also removed nearly all aspects of crew management, giving the player a fixed group of crew members who could not be promoted or presented awards, as had been the case with previous game versions. Instead, the game now incorporated a "morale" aspect where crew member efficiency was based upon how often they were spoken to by the player. Each crew member also had a back story and could be questioned about their life, history, and how they were feeling.

Despite its many improvements, Silent Hunter V drew strong criticism in a number of areas, chief among them the game's need for constant access to the internet as well as sometimes unworking software keys which could only be obtained through the game company's website at Ubisoft. The game also removed several familiar gameplay features such as "depth under keel" and incorporated a confusing and sometimes bug ridden upgrade system whenever a player attempted to add new equipment or torpedoes while docked in port.

Under water attack in Silent Hunter 5

The sub pens of Silent Hunter 5.

From here a player could upgrade equipment and torpedoes.

Due to its many radical departures from previous game versions, as well as several seemingly critical game bugs which made gameplay extremely difficult, Silent Hunter V was seen as a failure by the game producers and no further simulators were created for the series.

Silent Hunter IV

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