Professional Ship Simulator Wiki — Ships, Missions & Guides

It is approachable rather than easy. The sim ships with tutorials and a set of scenario missions that teach steering, speed control and simple docking without mission pressure, and the smaller hulls are genuinely forgiving. What it does not do is hide the physics: wind, current and bank effect will still move you. Start with the tutorial missions and a tugboat before you accept commercial contracts.

Realism is the point of the project. The developers model propeller wheel effect, bank and squat effects, wind and current drift, anchor behaviour and mooring line tension, and the maps are built from real height and depth data. Expectations should still be calibrated: this is a study-level simulator from a small studio, not a certified training device, and some systems are simplified for playability.

Start with the tugboat or the pilot boat. Both are short, slow and predictable, which makes them ideal for learning line handling, close-quarters manoeuvring and how the telegraph responds. Moving up to a container ship or bulk carrier too early is the most common way new captains get frustrated, because stopping distances and bank effect scale with displacement.

The developers have said the price will stay stable through Early Access, with a possible adjustment when the full version ships. A concrete figure had not been published at the time of writing, so treat any number you see quoted elsewhere with suspicion and check the Steam store page before you buy.

At launch the sim includes two large scenery regions built from real survey data, the detailed physics model, the clickable bridge systems, initial scenarios and tutorials, and the official store page lists eight mission types and nine ship classes. More ships, missions, real-world inspired scenarios and improved tutorials are planned before the full release, which the developers target for around mid-2027.

Modding is confirmed but not present at launch; the developers state Workshop support, custom ships, scenarios, scenery and harbour editing are planned shortly after Early Access begins. VR has been raised repeatedly in the community but has not been announced as a supported feature, so do not buy on the assumption that headset support is coming.

No, but hardware helps. The keyboard and mouse can drive everything, and the sim ships with a triple-layer keyboard layout so secondary panels stay reachable without leaving the bridge view. Gamepads and joysticks are supported, and a throttle and wheel setup maps well to the more than fifty assignable buttons and nine axes the developers expose.