Last year, I had the pleasure of reviewing Ship Graveyard Simulator 2, and I loved it. I gave the game an 8/10 due to it’s fine balancing of both chill and productive gameplay. I found there was something oddly relaxing about smashing up massive ships for scrap while the seagulls squawked their squark in the skies above. No stress, no enemies to deal with or digital bosses to appease – just you, your tools and the beached piles of money that come in the forms of ships.
Now, we have had multiple DLCs rolling in from the shores: Steel Giants and Submarines. Both titles sounded like the perfect excuse to oil up my grinder, clean the dust off my sledge hammer, and fire-up my blowtorch, however, I was curious – were they going to keep those laid-back, strangely Zen vibes, or turn my relaxing go-to into a sweaty, stressful mess?
Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 – Steel Giants DLC
Steel Giants is all about going BIGGER. We’re talking four enormous new ships in the guise of a tanker, a gas carrier, a nuclear icebreaker, and a container ship and seriously, these things are so big that they almost feel like floating cities. It super fun to climb around on them and discovering the many nooks and crannies, but it’s also to get lost in these behemoth mazes of metal.
The big twist here is the addition of steam pipes, accidentally cut through the wrong one and boom you’re taking a hot metal shower. It’s a neat little hazard that makes you think before going in, all grinders blazing. On top of this, you get new contracts to tick off, hidden treasures to dig out, and a bunch of new achievements to chase, if you’re into that sort of thing.
However, the bigger the ship, the more the game seems to struggle. Bringing down large sections can obliterate the framerate, and sometimes chunks of metal either get stuck floating in mid-air or clip through the floor entirely. It’s not a game-breaking issue, by far; however, it does tend to pull you out of the moment. A few times I also had parts refuse to scrap at all, meaning a reload to acquire the 100% completion I needed to satiate my OCD.
There’s also the fact that while these ships are towering monsters, your toolkit remains exactly the same as with the base game. No upgrades and no faster gear often leads to the feeling that you’re grinding in more ways than one.
Ship Graveyard Simulator 2: Submarines DLC
Where Steel Giants goes huge, Submarines goes tight. You’re tasked with cutting up three famous submarines: the I-400, Kursk, and Ohio, and they’re all too small to swing a cat in (there are no cats, incidentally). It’s a massive contrast to the big, sprawling open decks of Steel Giants.
Inside, you’ve got hazards such as radiation, live electrics, and awkward spaces that make you think hard about your approach. You can’t just charge in and chop up everything in sight; you’ve got to figure out the safest, smartest order to dismantle your subs <insert food pun>. I actually like this forced deacceleration of how I played the game. Yes, it slowed the pace down but it makes every step feel so satisfyingly deliberate.
Horsies for Coursies
If you just want huge playgrounds of steel to smash apart and you don’t mind a bit of repetition, Steel Giants is for you. It’s flashy, massive, and a little chaotic — perfect if you just want to zone out and make a mess.
However, if you prefer something more methodical, with a bit of thinking involved, Submarines is the better pick. It’s tighter, trickier, and has more “don’t mess this up” moments, which makes it feel a little fresher overall.
For me? Submarines just edges it. Once the bugs were squashed, it offered a nice change of pace while still keeping that oddly relaxing core gameplay I liked about the base game.
RATING
OUR SCORE - 6
6
SCORE
If you just want huge playgrounds of steel to smash apart and you don’t mind a bit of repetition, Steel Giants is for you. It’s flashy, massive, and a little chaotic — perfect if you just want to zone out and make a mess.
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