If you’ve never heard of Subnautica before, it isn’t exactly a new game. Just like many of the titles in its genre, Subnautica was first available as an early access title on PC back in 2014. The early access was also made available on Mac OS X and Xbox One in the couple of years after that. It then came out of early access for the PC back in January of this year before also fully releasing on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this month.

Subnautica differentiates itself from the other games in the genre by not only setting the entire experience in water but also giving the game an actual plot for players to follow. New players start off the game in the middle evacuating a giant starship via one of its drop pods, both of which proceed to crash into an ocean planet. Players must then figure out how to survive this water world while also finding a way to get off it.

The giant starship the player originally started out in lies in ruins a few hundred meters away from the player’s drop pod, providing a clear goal for exploration. Subnautica does a great job at telling its main story without forcing the player to follow it exclusively. The game mostly leaves players to their own devices and allows them to play and progress at their own pace, striking a good balance between its story and its open-world.

"As for building habitats, players utilize the Habitat Builder, a sort of handheld version of the replicator but for building structures."

The game doesn’t make it easy for players to get started though as it provides very little guidance on what to do and how to do it, leaving you to discover most of it yourself. It might take awhile but once players get the hang of the game’s mechanics, the experience starts flowing more smoothly as players discover and realize their objectives and start moving towards achieving them.

Players will need to watch out for several things to survive their watery prison including thirst, hunger, health, and oxygen, among others. Emptying out on either hunger or thirst will start depleting health, which in turn will lead to death once it runs out. The most pressing of the four though is oxygen as players will be spending most of their time underwater and running out of oxygen far below the surface will instantly lead to death.

The core of Subnautica’s experience is in its exploration and crafting and how both of those mutually expand as the player progresses through the game. With oxygen dictating just how long a player can stay underwater to explore, being able to craft better oxygen sources such as bigger air tanks allows players to explore further into the ocean. And being able to explore further in turn allows players to obtain new resources for crafting better tools and/or equipment.

Apart from the main game mode called Survival, Subnautica also offers three others to give players a variety of experiences. Freedom removes both hunger and thirst, Hardcode is the same as Survival but players will only have one life, and a Creative mode that basically lets players play around with the game’s building and crafting system without hindrances by removing the game’s survival and story elements.

The crafting system in Subnautica is pretty par for the course for a game in its genre and consists of combining several resources to create tools, equipment, and more. While this type of crafting system usually requires a bit of suspension of disbelief as the end product is oftentimes far removed from the resources used to build it, Subnautica makes up for it by utilizing a Star Trek-inspired replicator, which helps to maintain the game’s immersion.

As for building habitats, players utilize the Habitat Builder, a sort of handheld version of the replicator but for building structures. There’s a whole multitude of ways players can build and customize their ocean homes, including building a variety of power generators to keep everything running, rooms for storing all your resources, or even your own aquarium. It provides a nice respite from exploring the depths of the ocean for resources.

Collecting resources for crafting in Subnautica involves a whole lot of discovery, or searching the Wiki, as the game gives very little to no clues as to exactly where you find specific resources. Oftentimes you’re simply swimming up to every thing that isn’t water or sand to see if it’s something you can either simply pick up with a press of a button or something you can harvest using your knife.

"Subnautica is probably one of the most visually stunning yet absolutely terrifying takes on the open-world survival genre."

The visuals of Subnautica range from bright and colorful to dark and ominous, giving its ocean world a whole lot of life. The ocean’s plants, creatures, and other living and non-living inhabitants are all striking in many different ways with both familiar and alien features, making them easier to spot and be weary off. The game is a visual treat for those who have always been fascinated by the diversity of aquatic life, even if this time it’s all alien.

Coupling the game’s visuals is the amazing sound design that makes the game truly terrifying. The horror of not knowing what and where sounds are coming from oftentimes makes drifting around in the deeper depths of the ocean a heart-racing experience. Even when you feel a bit safer in your submarine, not fully knowing what else is swimming in the ocean’s dark depths around you is unnerving.

Subnautica is probably one of the most visually stunning yet absolutely terrifying takes on the open-world survival genre. Its survival and exploration elements coupled with its robust crafting system as well as an actual plot makes for a refreshing and enjoyable experience that even those who have tried to stay away from the genre might actually enjoy. As long as they’re not too afraid of the water.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

"We brought over the game in its entirety, so there isn’t any new game content specific for either console."

Virtual reality almost seems like a perfect fit for a game like Subnautica. Is PSVR support something you’re thinking of adding?

We’ve been excited about virtual reality and we worked to release Subnautica in VR for the launch of the Oculus Home store. It turned out to be a ton of work to convert a game that wasn’t designed for VR to a game that works great for VR. It’s a not the most polished experience there, but there are moments that are positively jaw-dropping.

Unfortunately, making the game run on PSVR isn’t feasible. At this point, we’ve worked for years to get the frame-rate to release standards on the PS4 (30 fps). For PSVR, we need to make it work closer to 60 fps, then doubled again so we can render separately for each eye. That means we would have to optimize it roughly 400% of where we are now, which just isn’t possible.

Will there be any new or extra content in the PS4 and Xbox One release?

We brought over the game in its entirety, so there isn’t any new game content specific for either console. Our team customized the UIs and controller support before handing it off to Panic Button, who has done a great job of helping us optimize the game for console. They’ve added some new features, like support for the PS4 controller lights, so they turn red when your sub is damaged and leaking and such. Everything else is still intact.

"We never thought of Subnautica as a survival game. It’s really all about the experience of being underwater and exploring the unknown."

On paper, Subnautica is a survival game, but it offers such a different experience from what one usually expects from a “survival” game. was that something you were consciously working towards during the game’s development?

We never thought of Subnautica as a survival game. It’s really all about the experience of being underwater and exploring the unknown. When we released it into early access on Steam, we didn’t even have core survival elements, like food and water. I remember vividly one of our players saying “How DARE you make a survival game without survival mechanics?!” and that struck home for me. If the game presented itself as a survival game, it should probably include basic survival mechanics that players are expecting. We then tried a simple food and water system and I think it helped reinforce the game’s themes. We also noticed it helped players leave their escape pod, even when they were scared, and gave them some early implicit goals. This was helpful because we often saw people paralyzed, staying in their escape pod, refusing to leave, especially at night! The struggle for food and drink then naturally falls away as you get better transportation, gardens and storage, but by that point you have your own goals you want to achieve.

What would you say were your inspirations, whether within gaming as a medium or outside of it, for Subnautica?

My personal inspirations include everything by James Cameron, especially his films, Aliens, Avatar and The Abyss. Doing real-life S.C.U.B.A. always gives lots of ideas about plant and fish movement, reefs and immersion cues.

But the thing that got me the most excited is just the feeling of exploring the deep, dark, alternately beautiful and terrible, ocean depths. Feeling like I’m an explorer, almost an astronaut, not knowing what I’ll find, that’s the emotion that drove me.

How has it been to be working with Panic Button?

They’ve been great – they are very professional and experts at their jobs. They also have very high standards and were committed to making the game the highest possible quality. They were the ones that put in the console-specific details like controller lights and rewrote  many of the interfaces, to really make the game shine. Even though I game mostly on PCs, I actually think consoles could be the ultimate way to play Subnautica (especially with a big TV and sound system!). We’re hoping to work lots more with Panic Button on Subnautica: Below Zero and future games too.

"We’re in the process of changing from a one-game-at-a-time studio to a multiple-games studio. This is a difficult transition, and one we’ve tried before, but it’s so important for our growth and success, we’re trying again. We have so many games we want to make!"

Will Subnautica have any PS4 Pro or Xbox One X specific enhancements?

On both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, Subnautica runs at 1440P. Those are the only enhancements, although of course the frame-rate is even better as well.

Do you have any plans for bringing Subnautica to the Switch?

This would be a dream come true. We’re definitely going to be talking about it more after the PS4 and XB1 work dies down. It’s taken so many years of work to get it working well on the much more powerful PS4 and XB1, I imagine it will be really difficult to get it working on the Switch, but we’re going to discuss it.

What’s next for you as a studio? Do you have plans for a sequel, or more expansions after Below Zero, or perhaps something completely new?

We’ll see how much players like Below Zero, and how long it takes! If that goes well, we could do more games based off Subnautica. It also depends how excited the team is to keep working underwater. We also have other prototypes we’re working on, as we’re in the process of changing from a one-game-at-a-time studio to a multiple-games studio. This is a difficult transition, and one we’ve tried before, but it’s so important for our growth and success, we’re trying again. We have so many games we want to make! We’re always hiring, so if you’re experienced and looking to work in our office in San Francisco, or from your home anywhere in the world, please apply!