Subnautica: Below Zero (Win, Mac, XB, PS, Switch)

[Osprey]

This is a thread about Subnautica's sequel, out tomorrow (May 14th), but I want to first say that, if you haven't played the original game, you really need to. It's an open world underwater exploration and survival game and, really, one of the best survival games ever made. PC Gamer even calls it the best ever.

It was released for Windows and MacOS in early 2018 and then ported to Xbox One and PS4 later that year. Switch and PS5 versions are expected very soon. Since it was released later on consoles, it might've flown under console gamers' radars. If so, you owe it to yourself to check it out. There's supposedly no real story connection between it and the sequel, so you could start with the sequel, but the original is probably a better introduction.



Anyways, the sequel (or you might call it a standalone expansion), Subnautica: Below Zero, finally comes out tomorrow and the reviews are really good. The consensus is that it's not quite as good as the original, but that it's still basically the second best survival game, after the original.

Subnautica: Below Zero review
Subnautica: Below Zero Review | PC Gamer



According to Wikipedia, it's being released on Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch simultaneously. Again, if you can play the original Subnautica first, that would be ideal, but you'd likely be OK if you choose to start with the sequel.

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[Jovavic]

The first one is on Game Pass, if you have it. I played the first one for a few hours and it's enjoyable but survival games like this or No Man's Sky just don't hold my interest for more than a few hours for whatever reason, but I'm glad that fans of genre have something new to play.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

When I finally got to playing Subnautica I couldn’t believe I slept on the game so long! Man I had an absolute blast with this one. I’m not generally one to play survival games but I was blown away by Subnautica.

super excited for Below Zero tomorrow. I haven’t read into any of the reviews or anything, but I know many were skeptical because it was originally going to be a DLC but then they decided to make it its own game.

Either way, I just hope base building is expanded a lot more. I loved building my bases, but aside from different layouts and location there’s not much variety for building bases in the first game.

 

[Osprey]

When I finally got to playing Subnautica I couldn’t believe I slept on the game so long! Man I had an absolute blast with this one. I’m not generally one to play survival games but I was blown away by Subnautica.

I'm the same way. I love the survival concept, but I'm not really into roguelikes, and a lot of survival games are similar in that, if you die, you start over at the beginning, and that's where I generally lose interest. Subnautica is more like a traditional game in which, if you die, you just spawn at your base minus some of the most recent items that you picked up, which isn't too punishing, but still just punishing enough to try to avoid it. Also, survival isn't as hard as in other games. It's challenging, but not unfair or too much of a nuisance. You're encouraged to explore without worrying too much about dying, which I like.

super excited for Below Zero tomorrow. I haven’t read into any of the reviews or anything, but I know many were skeptical because it was originally going to be a DLC but then they decided to make it its own game.

I would try to keep from reading them. I read a little and kind of wish that I hadn't. Games like this are more fun when everything is a surprise.

Either way, I just hope base building is expanded a lot more. I loved building my bases, but aside from different layouts and location there’s not much variety for building bases in the first game.

I believe that I read that there are more things to craft, so I presume that that means that base building is expanded.

 

[kingsboy11]

Never played before, but I've seen multiple people play through the game a couple times and its just looks so good. I know when they were working on Below Zero that they went through a number of changes in the plot and voice actors and a bunch of other stuff as well so very curious to see what the finished product is going to look like.