Boat Crew on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Command your crew in Boat Crew, a gripping action-strategy experience amidst the Pacific War. Take charge of a PT boat against Imperial Japan, skillfully managing resources and personnel by any means necessary to ensure victory in this high-stakes conflict.
Boat Crew is a early access, naval combat and wargame game
developed by Tabbing Tabby
and published by MicroProse Software.
Released on August 01st 2022 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 329 reviews of which 294 were positive and 35 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.3 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 24.50€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Boat Crew into these genres:
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: Intel Core i5-3330 / AMD FX 4300
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 750Ti / AMD HD7850
- DirectX: Version 10
- Storage: 1 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Overall, I think Boat Crew is a great addition to the 'Crew' family of games. I love that the developer chose a PT Boat for the game, and that they seem to recognize how versatile the boats were during WWII. If you enjoy Bomber Crew you might enjoy Boat Crew, though it's not quite the same. In some ways it's considerably more challenging, but rewarding in ways that Bomber Crew wasn't. There's a bit of a steep learning curve at first, but eventually you start to pick up the ways to leverage certain weapons and tactics. For those just starting out that find it overwhelming, stick with it for a bit and see if you don't start enjoying it a bit more. Campaign Map: The campaign map is an interesting idea, and for the most part I like the concept. That said, I agree with a couple of other reviews that it sometimes feels like there's a requirement to focus on playing capture the flag via the map, and it can get in the way of enjoying the opportunities to really feel like a PT Boat skipper. The concept is worth keeping as I think it gives the game some direction. But perhaps an option to scale the importance of the campaign in lieu of running around patrolling might be worth considering...if feasible. Combat: The combat is more interesting than I'd expected it to be. Certainly the developer did a wonderful job of capturing the feeling of tracers flying by as the boat skips across waves. I have mixed feelings about the difficulty, though I have to give the developer credit for clearly putting a lot of work into balancing the various types of platforms. It's also interesting that unlike Bomber Crew, you can choose your battles to some degree. If you engage and you're outnumbered, you *might* be able to disengage unless swarmed by smaller patrol craft, though often you're stuck with whatever enemies come at that point. Now here again, this type of choice would be a lot more rewarding if it didn't mean that choosing to fight another day equated to losing another base on the campaign map. That's my dilemma. It's a PT Boat. It's made of wood, and so it's hard to say that a PT Boat should be able to stand up to a destroyer, or even some more heavily armed small vessels. There were times in Bomber Crew where it was satisfying to feel like a flying tank, but I have to acknowledge that dynamic would feel obnoxiously cartoonish with a PT Boat. But therein lies the problem with the campaign map focus and the way it forces you to engage in battles the way a destroyer might. Which leads me to my next point about the focus of how the combat comes about. Missions: I recognize that Boat Crew, like Bomber Crew, is an action oriented game and it does that well. The suggestions that come to mind might be better suited to an audience with a little more of a Silent Hunter style of play. But I would really enjoy seeing an option to focus on more PT Boat oriented missions and less on charging into battle (often alone versus whole flotillas). Some mission ideas that come to mind: - Rescuing downed pilots. - Visiting the site of a battle and searching for survivors of allied vessels. - Sneaking recon teams onto enemy islands without engaging unless necessary. - Providing gunboat support to recon or land units in contact with enemy forces. - Exfiltrating VIPs from contested islands. Providing critical supply runs through enemy lines. If the map focus changed to being more of a cog in a big picture rather than the driving force of the US Fleet, it might allow more of those mission options. Perhaps fitting your actions into bigger Allied offensives and drives to conquer those islands, making each big island like a miniature campaign that you play a pivotal role in contributing to rather than feeling like a naval version of Batman rushing to each new crisis. Resource Points (RP): I can tell a lot of thought was put into this and I respect the developer's reasoning for the way these are structured. The one thing that really sticks with me the wrong way is the requirement to drive/sail right over the spot where you sank a ship. Like a U-Boat, PT Boats had to use hit and run tactics to survive and it feels a bit counterproductive to stick around and fight a pitched battle driving into the heart of an enemy formation to get some resource points. As an example, I was able to ambush a carrier group and sink the carrier via torpedoes. But in order to get credit for it I was forced to return to the enemy formation I'd just escaped from and was promptly sunk. Some other thoughts that come to mind: - More smoke options. Not just from weapons, but smoke canisters attached to the vessel that can be used almost passively while attempting to evade. - More opportunities to ambush larger forces instead of having to charge in like the cavalry. This ties in a bit with how the campaign map requires you to rush to put out fires instead at times lying in wait along shipping lanes or littoral areas. - PT Boat 'packs'. I love that the campaign map allows you to see when allied flotillas are headed engage in combat, but I would enjoy it if you could also join in with smaller groups of PT boats to hit those enemy fleets as well. All that said, the developer has done a wonderful job of bringing PT Boats to the Bomber Crew style of gameplay, and for those who enjoy that style I think they'll enjoy it here as well. It's absolutely worth supporting, and I have to give the developer *major* props for choosing the PT boat for this one.
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Boat Crew made me start playing Kantai Collection again after a two year hiatus, which I regret going on one in the first place. But seriously though, if you love being a guerrilla at the sea, this game is for you. Either be a one man army ninja-ing your way through enemy beachhead, join-in on a Allied amphibious assault, or assemble your own small fleet of other pirates- I mean guerrillas, and sink an enemy carrier. The sea is your oyster.
Expand the review
Bomber crew, but you're in a PT boat during the Guadalcanal campaign, and surprise! it's also basically a bullet hell - you better be good at dodging 127mm if you want to succeed! Despite the name, it's not that fussy about crew management. Crew have traits and skills, but they're not restricted to one skill and can level multiple different skills at the same time. They can also do some tasks automatically; Loaders grab ammo and feed guns, repairmen grab parts and fix damage, etc, all without needing to be explicitly told to do so, which makes the game surprisingly low micro. You still drive the boat yourself though, and you'll need to manually mark targets for your crew to shoot at them or use certain weapons that are purely manual control (but the most recent update gives a lot of aiming assists which helps make them usable) The game can also be really hard, especially later on where enemy ships and planes can sink you within seconds, and some shells can cripple you in one hit, but conversely your weapons are equally lethal to the enemy and you've got the speed and agility to dodge most attacks if you're good enough, making the game fast paced and risky but satisfying. Your boat is customizable, weapons can be swapped in and out, resources distributed around, crew can be given more or less armor, and colors/camo patterns can be changed. It's not too complicated; most times the only thing you have to worry about is slots and cost, but there's still enough choices to allow for a variety of playstyles.
Expand the review
Having loved Bomber Crew, and having played through the game several times, I was really skeptical of Boat Crew at first. Having played through a few campaigns now, I'm honestly having a lot of fun with the game <3 I've been hanging out in the Boat Crew discord, and the developers are extremely down to earth guys. They're always open to suggestions, quick to implement bug fixes, and are really open with the community. You can really tell how much passion and love has been put into the game. Yeah the game has it's quirks and is a bit unpolished in some areas, but that's why the game's in Early Access. TLDR: get the game if you want to: - almost singlehandedly win the Guadalcanal campaign for the allies - gunbrawl entire flotillas of destroyers and cruisers with a singular 37mm AT gun - deplete what little is left of the IJN's naval aviators by sinking aircraft carriers in your free time
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Short: It's a great game with hopefully more features and polishing in the next month/years! Long(er): Boat Crew is fun! With the addition of a dynamic campaign it became a real game whereas before it was more of a showcase. You start out on your little PT boat with just two MGs and a prayer. You patrol the shores, enemy bases and ocasionally engage with smaller convoys to get some resources together. Once you got your first toropeodes you can start playing with the big boys! You can start getting bolder and more agressive. You can sink those pesky merchant ships with ease now and maybe even try to surprise a destroyer for the big payday. Apart from the obvious PT boat weapons like torpedoes or depth charges (U-Boats are there but need an overhaul) there are nore niche weapons like a mortar, an AT gun or rockets that you can employ to liberate bases or sink ships. You also have to allocate finite materials on your boat like ammo, medpacks and repair equipment. Once you run out of either of these you should head back to a friendly harbour for a refill. Combat is mainly grouped into 3 main pillars. * Battle smaller foes like patrol boats or plains with your guns (MGs up to a 40mm Bofors cannon). You designate a target (those familiar with Bomber Crew know the mechanic) and your crew shoots at them independently. Unfortunately they won't shoot at all if you're not designating anything. Their self preservation has its limits. * You attack bases and try to take our the shore based artillery or MG nest with your guns, the mortar or rockets while dodging artillery, mortars, planes and small arms fire. Once you killed the defenses you leave and wait for the ground troops to pick up where you left and take over the base. Once taken over you have a new base to refill and repair. * Battle larger foes like destroyers, cruisers and carries while doding heavy artillery fire. Here you aim your torpedoes and hope they don't miss while you wait for that beautiful fiery explosion. Usually you do that while you're dodging smaller boats, planes trying to strafe you and picking up your crewmates. While you're doing that you have to take care of your crew. A well placed hit from the enemy and Joe Doe will fly overboard. Luckily he knows how to swim (for a while) as he eagerly awaits your return to pick him up again. Crewmates have their own perks (both beneficial like the acrobat or detrimental like the featherweight) and gain experience as they do their job. Each crewmember can technically do every job in case of an emergency but once they level up you want them to do what they're good at. Also you get so called call-ins, fighters, bombers or artillery that help you in your mission. But to be ably to employ them you have to fill a "heat gauge", so you're not able to call them in at the start of the battle right away. One thing you have available at the start of the battle though is your squadmates (that you have to buy, so it's more of a late/end game thing). You can select up to five additional AI controlled PT boats that follow you around and shoot enemies independently. They will not have torpedoes or anything against larger foes but they will help you keep smaller boats and planes away. Right now they're more of a gimmick though as they die rather quickly to heavy fighters and larger ships as they follow you blindly without trying to dodge incoming shells. MAJOR plus point for me: IT'S (to a degree currently) MODDABLE!!! Lots of tweakable parameters like bullet/torpedo/rocket damage, projectile/torpedo/boat speed, splash radius, rate of fire are easily changeable. What you cannot change are the crew, anything related to the 3d models like gun placement, type of guns or torpedoes per hardpoint and so on. So the pros are basically: * Its fun! Especially when it gets hectic. * nice graphics with decent enough physics * Crew management is nice * fitting out your boat is great * nice progression system with the resource points Cons/points for improvement: * The AI squad mates need some kind of overhaul. Right now they're too expensive for the early game as you're trying to kit out your own boat before you spend resources in squadmates that can die rather quickly. * U-Boat gameplay is very simplistic. You intercept a U-Boat, you drive over it and drop a depth charge. I wish they would try to avoid you more actively or surface and use their deck guns when you're far enough away as they can't outrun you. * No difficulty selection. Newcomers might struggle at first, especially when they encounter their first larger ships. Some parameters like crew health, chance for the crew to go overboard, ship health could be made tweakable to make the entry easier. But then again, some of it is moddable ;) * The crew management could use more depth. Right now you don't really get attached to your crew because even though they get levels, they don't really *feel* that different. I think they should start out with only one perk and develop more perks/traits as they level up. Also the traits should be more impactful and really make a difference. A repairmen should get sturdier and harder to get overboard or work faster, while the loader should get quicker and carry more ammo. Right now I have no idea what the levels actually do.
Expand the review
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Frequently Asked Questions
Boat Crew is currently priced at 24.50€ on Steam.
Boat Crew is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 24.50€ on Steam.
Boat Crew received 294 positive votes out of a total of 329 achieving a rating of 8.25.
😎
Boat Crew was developed by Tabbing Tabby and published by MicroProse Software.
Boat Crew is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Boat Crew is not playable on MacOS.
Boat Crew is not playable on Linux.
Boat Crew is a single-player game.
Boat Crew does not currently offer any DLC.
Boat Crew is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.
Boat Crew does not support Steam Remote Play.
Boat Crew is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Boat Crew.
Data sources
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 22 July 2025 14:18 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 23 July 2025 10:55 |
| Steam price | 31 July 2025 04:49 |
| Steam reviews | 30 July 2025 19:59 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Boat Crew, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Boat Crew
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Boat Crew concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Boat Crew compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
12
Developer
Tabbing Tabby
Publisher
MicroProse Software
Release
01 Aug 2022
Platforms