Cold Waters

Cold Waters draws inspiration from classic titles like Red Storm Rising and lets the player command an American submarine in hypothetical Cold War conflicts that, fortunately, never escalated into open war, facing off against submarines, surface ships, and patrol aircraft of the Soviet navy in a tense environment where a single mistake can mean a quick end to the patrol. Rather than the extreme complexity of the most demanding older simulators, it relies on more streamlined, but still tactically demanding controls, where the correct use of depth, speed, angle, and silent running decides whether the submarine remains undetected until the right moment for an attack or a quiet escape arrives.

The campaign ties individual missions into a broader story of an escalating conflict that, in a different turn of the Cold War, could easily have grown into open war, and rewards cautious, deliberate play over rash aggression — a single mistake in estimating the enemy's position can mean getting hit by a torpedo or a depth charge. Clear, legible graphics and an intuitive interface let the game appeal even to players who'd be put off by text-heavy simulators like Dangerous Waters, without sacrificing the tension of hunting submarines beneath the waves. The sound design of the sonar and the music underscoring the tense moments before firing a torpedo are among the strongest things the game has to offer, and together with the crew's callouts they create a powerful atmosphere of undersea tension.

Upon release, Cold Waters was very well received by both critics and players as a successful revival of the genre of modern submarine simulators, one that had been neglected for a long time. It's still considered one of the most accessible, yet still tense entry points into the genre of Cold War submarine simulators, even for players with no prior experience with hardcore simulators.

Why play it: For players with no experience with hardcore simulators who are looking for an accessible, yet still tense way into the long-neglected genre of Cold War submarine simulators.