A million copies sold in four hours, and another in quite a short window since a game’s release? Well, it must be quite a special one to gain those kinds of numbers. For a title that’s just entered Early Access, and as such is giving its players only a fraction of what’s to come as it begins to evolve, Subnautica 2 has managed to get some serious traction.
Yes, the franchise is quite popular among survival fans thanks to its bizarre premise and the way it bakes that weirdness into its gameplay. But there have been titles that have squandered that advantage over the years. What makes this one different? What has made two million players dive right into the depths of the alien planet it takes you to, surfacing only to get some air before you go right back to it again?
That’s what we’re here to tell you about. Let’s go!
The Story Behind The Survival
It can be easy for a survival title to take a relaxed approach to its narrative, using it to frame your actions within a specific context that makes the gameplay loop meaningful to its players. But Subnautica 2 is self-aware enough to subvert that particular fallacy, and bakes its narrative into the world’s very design in ways that make its themes become a constant undercurrent no matter what you’re doing in the game.
While that might make you expect a complex premise, that isn’t the case. It’s simple enough to get into early, and it acts as the catalyst for some very nuanced examinations of corporate apathy, the dangers of technology, the nature of reality, and a gripping story about your fellow crew members. You step into the shoes of a Pioneer who joins their comrades on the CICADA colony ship to leave your conflict-ridden home planet behind in search of greener pastures.
In typical Subnautica fashion, things don’t really go according to plan, and you’re stranded on a planet that’s more water than land. While that isn’t too bad on its own, this one’s trying to take over your mind, and you’re also left relying on a digital AI assistant from Alterra, the corporation that sponsors your trip, that seems to have plans of its own, although it’s too early to tell what those might be.
Of course, every run you take on is going to help you discover that your trip might have been ill-fated from the very start, and each new discovery brings more lore and world-building to the table in a way that has you constantly questioning your own assumptions. It helps that some of those discoveries are downright unsettling, and the story does a great job of leaving you wanting more.
However, the fact that Subnautica 2 goes harder than its predecessors is only a part of why it’s such an addictive experience. Its story is facilitated by your own diligence in exploring the planet that it takes place on, and as such, the world you’re engaging with is our next stop in our examination of what makes this one so irresistible.
A Hostile Working Environment
Even in its Early Access version, there’s a staggering amount of flora and fauna to discover in Subnautica 2, while the environments and biome variety are also quite great for what’s clearly a fraction of what the full release is intended to look like. We’ve already been to poison swamps and volcanic areas that have geysers you do NOT want to walk into at the wrong moment, lest you learn a lesson you’re not likely to forget the hard way. That’s exactly what we did, just so that you don’t have to.
But of course, curiosity is the driving force behind Subnautica 2. It’s designed to have you thinking about your personal goals within the planet’s exploratory framework, while every run gives you enough tidbits from the overarching story to keep you hooked. It helps that the crafting systems have been refined, and that most of the stuff you pick up has uses in multiple recipes. If you’re a hoarder, this one is going to have you very happy indeed.
The base building feature is another improvement over the previous games, and it’s now so intuitive that it’s become an important part of our time with the game. We’d have loved to have our buddies visit our bases when diving into multiplayer, but that’s not a part of things at the moment. It is what it is. However, making your base the best it can be feels so rewarding, thanks to a lot of options to make it your own personal showcase of the hours you’ve put into the game.
Granted, the early access version’s red walls limit how much of the planet you’re going to be visiting until future updates come along, but the chunk of it that’s currently on offer is a great showcase of better things to come, given that there’s no reason to be pessimistic about the quality of future content in this one. You might say that everything we’ve said about the planet you’re exploring is kind of taken for granted in any open-world survival title, and you’d be right.
But Subnautica 2 gets you so invested in the alien planet in a way that makes you feel like you’re a part of it, for better or worse. That every discovery builds narrative tension while dishing out new ways to engage with the world makes this planet a must-see destination for players who like survival titles or melancholic and deeply unsettling stories. Take your pick.
Lonely, But Not Alone
We’ve spoken at length about the single-player experience, but the addition of co-op multiplayer with up to three Pioneers is among the biggest and most welcome changes that Subnautica 2 brings to the franchise’s formula.
The often lonely and suffocating nature of the solo experience makes way for a cooperative gameplay loop that works very well within the game’s framework, while progression gets quite quick when you work together as a team.
It’s good that there’s a distinction between the solo experience and multiplayer since it strikes a balance between the disquieting solitude of solo runs while letting those of you who are just there to wet your feet bring some much-needed company along. It’s a nice way to weave in some player agency in how the experience is approached, while playing comes with its own ways to make the game your own.
The ability to add mutations to your character to give yourself unique abilities sets up the scope for solid build potential later down the line, while vehicles like the Tadpole are solid, but have yet to show us their full potential.
We’ll be the first to admit that Subnautica 2 isn’t perfect, but we’d ask you to remember that this is the first step in a long journey. And it’s one that has so many more milestones to its completion, and a lot of ground to cover.
The Search For A Better Future
Subnautica 2 might have had a release that most Early Access titles would dream of, but we’re afraid its challenges are just beginning. Just like how it expects its Pioneers to bring their best to each run, every update from the developers needs to sustain the momentum gained from the release build.
The lack of more content is definitely among the most prevalent complaints, and it’s one that carries the risk of fatigue and players dropping off the game as other titles compete for their attention. Although the franchise’s value offsets that risk, it needs to navigate the game’s future with precision.
Subnautica 2’s release build feels like everything comes with a ceiling that you can’t help but feel at every turn, the knowledge of its existence making you wonder just how much you can get out of the world within the red walls that are holding you back from the rest of the planet. It’s how the game breaks that ceiling, and how well it manages to do so over multiple updates that will decide if this one can be the best one in the franchise yet.