Silent Shark

Silent Shark is a tactical WWII submarine simulator set in the Pacific Theater. You command a submarine by plotting courses, estimating targets and building firing solutions from incomplete information, using a tactical chart and period-inspired instruments.

Track and identify contacts

You use a hydrophone to track ships and convoys by sound, distinguishing freighters from escorts by pitch. The periscope provides a stylized 3D view of contacts within visibility range, with 1.5x and 6x zoom. To estimate range, identify a ship to get its mast height, then use the stadimeter to calculate distance from the angle to the mast’s top.

Map tools include a compass, ruler, timestamped points and angles to help you plot an intercept. The game also models historical instruments such as the engine telegraph, depth meter and stopwatch.

Prepare and attack

A successful attack involves approaching from the right angle, managing depth and speed, accounting for visibility and sea state, configuring torpedoes and planning an escape before escorts respond. The Torpedo Data Computer (TDC) and Position Keeper let you enter angle-on-bow, target speed, target bearing and target distance to set up a firing solution. You also control tube flooding, gyro angle, spread and salvo through a firing box modeled after the real instrument.

The deck gun uses HC/HE and AP/Common shells, with realistic damage types and progression from 3-inch to 5-inch guns over the course of the war. If destroyers locate you, you must evade them and choose when to move fast or stay slow and silent. Destroyers use a realistic sonar model and their own hydrophone readings to predict your location; aircraft, merchant traffic and convoys also pose threats.

Patrol conditions

Sea state, weather and time of day affect visibility and stealth. Thermal layers vary dynamically with the time and region, and you measure them with bathythermographic readings.

Pacific campaign

The campaign assigns patrol zones and involves long-range mission planning. Radio intelligence provides situational updates and contact hints, while historical events—including early-war base losses in Manila and Sumatra—affect strategy. Dynamic base operations include relocations as the war progresses, and enemy convoy routes, escort strength and patrol density change over time.

Reputation-based progression features six submarines, from Porpoise-class to Balao-class. You manage fuel, torpedoes and fresh air across extended patrols, and must manage aircraft threats through careful dive timing and surface discipline. Enemy ships have historical names and persist across the patrol: ships you sink do not return. The campaign presents a long-term survival challenge across the full duration of the Pacific war, with cribbage available during long patrols.

Other ways to play

The game includes tutorials, standalone scenarios and a scenario editor. It supports modding through Steam Workshop and an extensive modding SDK, and its music changes dynamically based on Holst’s Planets.