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Rule the Waves 3

Rule the Waves 3

Rule the Waves III is a simulation of naval ship design and construction, fleet management and naval warfare from 1890 to 1970.

Released May 18, 2023 Developer Naval Warfare Simulations Publisher Matrix Games Platforms Windows SimulationWargameNavalMilitaryStrategy
View on Steam ↗ $23.99 (US · as of 2026-07-26)

What players say

Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.

89.3%positive879 reviews
Recommended · 20 found this helpful

“to me, over 1000 hours in this game, all i can say is it is everything i wanted, is it perfect?, no...is anything? is it what i enjoy?, yes...is that not what you want in a game? so that is my review”

— a player, Steam review · 1,628 hrs played
Recommended · 8 found this helpful

“spent 3 years building a brand new flagship as japan in 1920 with the highest technology of the time. war with china. deploy my battleship line, 20 strong, to face their 5 bbs, 2 cls, and 1 dd. their one dd speeds through my line at like 40 knots fires one torpedo sunk the next…”

— a player, Steam review · 31 hrs played
Recommended · 5 found this helpful

“If Microsoft excel was this addictive I would have been an extremely productive member of the society.”

— a player, Steam review · 85 hrs played
Read more reviews ↗

Player activity

Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-24 01:21 UTC · history via SteamCharts.

85playing at last check
10524-hour peak
789all-time peak
0 250 500 2024 2025 2026 466 avg · May 2023

Price tracking

US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-25. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.

$23.99−40% right nowcurrent · sampled 2026-07-26 08:39 UTC
$39.99base price
$23.99lowest since tracking began2026-07-25
US23.99 USD−40%
EU23.39 EUR−40%
UK20.10 GBP−40%
Australia35.10 AUD−40%
Canada31.19 CAD−40%
Japan2,700 JPY−40%
Brazil64.79 BRL−40%
China81.60 CNY−40%

Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.

China≈$12 Brazil Japan Canada US Australia EU UK≈$27

Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.

Latest official news

Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.

May 14, 2026
The Refit Update available now

A new update for Rule the Waves 3 is now available, focused on improving stability and refining several core systems following the release of the Expanded Battles expansion. This patch introduces a se

Mar 19, 2026
Rule the waves 3: Expanded Battles is out now

The naval strategy sim Rule the Waves 3 has a new DLC, Expanded Battles , now available. The expansion adds historical scenarios, a ship and scenario editor, and a Quick Battles mode to instantly gene

Mar 09, 2026
Rule the Waves 3: Expanded Battles | Dev Diary 5

Quick Battles This of course meant including a scenario designer for players who want to get into the nitty-gritty details of designing their ideal historical or fictional engagement. The flipside of

Mar 04, 2026
Tactics Update is out now

Hello wargamers, naval historians, and ship enthusiasts! We have a new update available before the release of the new DLC. Update highlights: - This update lays the groundwork for the release of Expan

Feb 27, 2026
Rule the Waves 3: Expanded Battles | Dev Diary 4

The Ship Designer the many draws to RTW3 was the ability to create ships to your liking. RTW3 is intended to be a naval warfare sandbox, letting players live through their own history as the head of t

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Screenshots

Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.

Facts & details

From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.

GenresSimulation, Strategy
Player tagsSimulation · Wargame · Naval · Military · Strategy · Naval Combat · Singleplayer · Alternate History · 2D · Management · Cold War · World War I (SteamSpy community voting)
FeaturesSingle-player · Steam Cloud · Family Sharing
LanguagesEnglish
Estimated owners20,000 – 50,000 (SteamSpy)
Minimum system requirements (PC)

Minimum: OS: Windows 11, can work on Windows 10, but not officially supported Processor: 1.2 GHz min, 2.4+ GHz Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: No minimum requirement (no hardware video acceleration is required) DirectX: Version 9.0 Storage: 1 GB available space