Enigma: Rising Tide

Enigma: Rising Tide is a naval vehicle simulation developed by Tesseraction Games and published by Dreamcatcher Interactive. It was released for the PC in August 2003. Enigma is an alternate history game that takes place in the World War II era.

Tesseraction Games was purchased by Resurgent Interactive in October 2007, and they reported two Enigma-related titles being in-development: Enigma: Rising Tide Chapter Two and an add-on for Enigma entitled Hotel Da Volta.

Tesseraction Games officially went out of business on December 19, 2008, due to Resurgent Interactive going into default. The final release of Enigma: Rising Tide was version v2.1.3a dated February 2004.

Backstory
In a Nutshell... The basis for the events in Enigma: Rising Tide is essentially that the British passenger ship Lusitania was not sunk by a German U-boat in the First World War, but instead completed her voyage without incident. This event, or lack thereof, basically prevented the United States from entering the war on the side of the allies, thereby dooming the French and BEF (British Expeditionary Force) to defeat from the German offensives in 1918. With total victory in France, the German Empire formally annexes France and Britain (which was occupied as a result of the treaty that ended the war)*, and becomes the German Weltreich (World Empire). Upon the occupation of Britain, Winston Churchill- then Britain's chief naval strategist- flees to Hong Kong with the rest of the British government on the fleet flagship, the new battlecruiser HMS Hood. In the haste of leaving the country however, the Hood's two uncompleted sister ships are abandoned and captured by German Forces. Under their new masters, they are completed and christened the Prince Edward and Kaiser Wilhelm, the former being named after the British traitor, Prince Edward, who stayed behind and helped the Germans form a provincial government for Britain.


 * Information released to us recently indicates that Britain may have actually been invaded, not annexed as part of a treaty. See below for details.

In Depth Backstory: Naval War in Enigma World War I  The following is details of the key naval engagements in the First World War as they took place in Enigma, from the point of view of the Royal Navy:

''These are trying days for the people of England. The European land war is all but over with the surrender of the BEF in July 1917. All that stands between a German invasion and freedom is the Royal Navy. The RN, under the leadership of Admiral Jellicoe, has been held up in Scapa Flow since the crushing defeat at Jutland. There is a strong public anger at the RN and its inability to stop the lesser German Navy. The U-boat blockade is having a serious effect of the British economy; mainly the fuel needed to drive the military is not getting through. The inability to bring the United States into the war has greatly hurt Britain's ability to win. To make matters worse, the discovery of the "Churchill Note" has enraged many citizens. The blockade against Germany has severely strained relations between Britain and the United States with the seizure of American ships and goods. Despite England's precarious position, the English people remain defiant and determined to fend off the Hun.''


 * Royal Navy at a glance in the late stages of Enigma World War I.

Key figures:


 * Sir David Beatty: British Admiral killed in Jutland engagement.


 * Admiral John Jellicoe: Commander of British Taskforce at Jutland. Jellicoe's cautious approach to naval warfare is a disappointment to many who think the Royal Navy should have actively sought out the German fleet and engaged it. Jellicoe is also strongly opposed to the convoy system, saying "it would be like shooting fish in a barrel." Appointed First Sea Lord in December 1916.


 * Admiral John Fisher: First Sea Lord. Prior to the start of the War, Fisher pushed to modernize the fleet to stay ahead of the German Fleet. Enraged by the Churchill Note, Churchill's bungling of the Gallipoli Campaign, and the loss at Jutland he resigns December 1916 and is replaced by Jellicoe.


 * Sir Frederick Sturdee: Commander of British force at the Battle of the Falklands, that destroyed Spee's cruisers. Replaced Beatty as commander of Grand Fleet, when Beatty was killed at Jutland. He's a critic of Jellicoe's passive use of the Grand Fleet.


 * Admiral Max Horton: Submarine captain famous for his exploits in the Skagerrat. (Note; he's a future architect of ASW tactics.)


 * Battle History


 * Heligoland Bight: On August 28, 1914, a British cruiser raid on German shipping at Heligoland led by Commander Tyrwhitt and Admiral Beatty. They manage to sink and damage a handful of German ships, but withdraw under heavy German fire.


 * Coronel: November 1, 1914; Acting on intercepted radio signals, British Admiral Cradock sails to intercept a German commerce raid force off Chile. The British force is composed of obsolete cruisers, and is consequently destroyed by the German force, led by Admiral Spee.


 * Falkland Islands:. Upon hearing of the loss at Coronel, Admiral Fisher dispatches a force of modern British battle cruisers, led by Frederick Sturdee, to fortify the coaling station at Port Stanley. On December 8, 1914 the Germans began their raid and were met by the superior British force. The Germans lose four cruisers in the engagement. Sturdee's casualties are eight dead and fifteen wounded.


 * Dogger Bank: Having failed to defend the coastal towns of Scarborough and Hartlepool, a task force was dispatch to deal with the oncoming threat. This time the British Fleet was ready. On the morning of January 24, 1915, acting on the intercepted radio signals from Hipper's force, a British force of five battle cruisers under Admiral Beatty, sailed out to meet the oncoming force. Firing at an extreme range, they managed to sink the Blücher and turn the force back.


 * Jutland: This is the only major confrontation between the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet. The IGN crushed the Home Fleet, sinking and capturing a good portion of the fleet. Admiral Beatty was killed in the engagement. As a result of the German victory, the Grand Fleet has not ventured out far from the protection of its home port.


 * Blockade of German ports: A major mining offensive in the North Sea to keep any ship from entering German ports. This blockade has caused problems between the British government and the rights of America to conduct free trade and open oceans.

Factions
Imperial Germany- The German Weltreich is, arguably, the most powerful nation in the Enigma world in 1937. Imperial Germany controls the vast majority of Europe and Africa and has a powerful battleship fleet based out of Scapa Flow, Scotland. Though traditionally viewed as evil by many, Enigma seems to portray Imperial Germany as the "good guys", especially at the end of chapter 1. Whether this will remain true or not will probably be revealed in chapter 2 (see below). True to form, the Imperial German Navy (IGN) maintains a powerful fleet of U-Boats, mainly Type-VII boats from the Great War, as well as the new Type-IX boats. At the time of the game, the IGN is in active conflict with the LFN (see below) and near conflict with the US. Under construction at Kiel are the new battleships GERMAN BATTLESHIP Bismarck and GERMAN BATTLESHIP Tirpitz, which will surely play a major role in the future of Enigma. Germany is led by Kaiser Wilhelm II and his chancellor, Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron), who avoided death in the Great War thanks to America's failure to intervene.

United States- The U.S. is the second powerhouse nation in Enigma. Their failure to intervene in the Great War resulted in the collapse of England and France, but during the course of the campaign no one seems to feel any regret for this. The U.S. fleet is composed mainly of carrier and destroyer task forces, and no US battleships are present in chapter 1 of Enigma. The US doesn't seem to be portrayed as either good or evil, but they seem to lean more towards evil at the end of chapter 1. The US is secretly hostile towards the Germans, and defends itself against the LFN when necessary. One fact that is important to note is that the US is devoted to the support of independent Ireland, and has a number of convoys to that country that are subject to controversy. The United States is led by Harry S. Truman. It seems that the US has somehow managed to avoid the Great Depression and as a result had no need for Roosevelt.

League of Free Nations- The ironically named League comprises Imperial Japan and the British government in Exile, which is based in Hong Kong. The League is a shadowy group which seems to be hostile towards both the Americans and Germans, as they strike at both on every opportunity. The LFN fleet is composed mainly of submarines and the powerful task force built around the battlecruiser HMS Hood (refitted in the 1920s to eliminate the armor problem that caused the real Hood 's demise). There seems to be a considerable amount of internal friction between the Japanese and the British, but this is not overly obvious in chapter 1. The LFN is led by the British Government in Exile, headed up by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Their lone goal is to retake Great Britain, no matter what the cost.

The Story
The main story of Enigma: Rising Tide is centered on the US and Germany at first, and the escalating tensions between these two. After a number of conflicts between destroyer groups in the Caribbean, the two powers come to the brink of war with the sinking of the convoy ship SS Samuel Wren off of Ireland in mid-1937. It was claimed that the ship was sunk without warning by a German U-boat, which had surfaced to search the ship for illegal arms. However, after playing the LFN campaign, it is obvious that an LFN submarine was the culprit in this crime- the British aim to cause a war between the US and Germany in order to assist their ultimate goal of regaining Britain. Not long after this incident, the Prince Edwards task force is attacked just south of England as it attempts to head for the Falklands to engage the LFN warships there (the Falklands are now a German territory). In the engagement, the Prince Edward is sunk and HMS Hood escapes with moderate damage.

After the attack by the Hood, a task force with the Kaiser Wilhelm as its flagship sets out to pursue the escaping British, but it is intercepted by a large American destroyer force which delays the Germans long enough for the Hood to escape. However, intelligence later reveals that the Hood task force was engaged by the Americans, and that it did not escape unscathed. Chapter 1 of Enigma ends with a cutscene that reveals the Americans have launched a large-scale attack on the German fleet at Scapa Flow, effectively neutralizing the battleships stationed there. Afterwards, there is a short account of Chancellor von Richthofen's visit to the devastated site, which leaves no doubt that this is the alternate form of Pearl Harbor. It is this that seems to effectively paint the Americans as evil, as Richthofen's speech to the masses is eerily similar to that of Roosevelt's speech just after the attack on Pearl Harbor in real life. Also in this scene, Richthofen declares the age of the battleship is over, and that Germany shall build aircraft carriers and thousands of planes with which they shall rule the skies. His part of the epilogue closes with his orders to convert the Bismarck and Tirpitz, still being outfitted at Kiel, to be converted to carry planes. The epilogue ends with some well-made photos of the Bismarck under construction, near completion, and then after conversion to a brand-new class of warship, a battlecarrier. In the final photo, she has a large flight deck across the aft section of the ship, but still bears her two forward dual 14.96" turrets.

Chapter 2
The Enigma series is designed to be made up of a number of chapters, with Enigma: Rising Tide beginning this alternate-reality World War II. Chapter 2, release date unknown, will be entitled "Sink the Hood!", and will inevitably be based on the German Navy's attempts to hunt down and destroy HMS Hood's battlegroup after its attack on the battlecruiser Prince Edward at the end of chapter 1.

Chapter 2 had been put on hold as of May 2006. Tesseraction Games acquisition in September 2007 has once again put Enigma Chapter 2 back into pre-production. The storyline for the second release is being written by Australian writer Grant Madden and designed by Kelly Asay, Blake Hutchins, and Grant Madden.

December 31, 2008, Tesseraction Games closed its doors. (http://www.warfleet.net/shareholderletter.php)

Gold Edition
Enigma: Rising Tide also has a Gold Edition version available in some stores. It can also be downloaded from some websites such as GameSpot. Gold Edition includes 3 playable battleships, the soundtrack from the game, and improved graphics.

NOTE: The downloadable version does NOT include the soundtrack.