HMS Marulken is a cooperative simulation game where players operate an alternate history Swedish submarine. If the name rings a bell, you might be familiar with the first unsuccessful campaign for HMS Marulken from last October. While the first attempt to fund the game was met with failure, Skvader Studios is ready to try again, this time with a more fleshed out demo.
So what went wrong the first time around? The main reason, so the team believes, was due to the lack of a playable demo, which took longer than expected. When it became apparent that funding wasn’t going to happen, a vow was made to try again.
This time around, there should be more time for Skvader Studios to raise awareness of HMS Marulken and really show off its potential. Because of the work that went into the first attempt at funding, the game is now in alpha and there’s one playable level available. This new rebooted campaign will be to turn this one level alpha into a full-fledged game with more features and more levels.
Will this campaign be a success where the first one failed? Given the recent success of UBOOT, there’s obviously a market for submarine combat simulations. Since the alpha of HMS Marulken has been available, the game might stand more of a chance. UBOOT’s success shouldn’t diminish HMS Marulken and it’s chances either. The games, aside from being about WWII submarines, don’t share many other aspects. Given the importance of cooperation in the multiplayer HMS Marulken, it can stand out from UBOOT, while holding some of the same appeal for those interested in the premise.
HMS Marulken has 27 days left in it’s campaign. The alpha can be played here.