Subnautica Review

Subnautica is one of the best games I've ever played. I've personally never liked the survival genre that much, having tried Minecraft way back in the day and played about ten hours of Ark: Survival Evolved. So I was really surprised when Subnautica grabbed hold of my attention and refused to let go.

You start off as a survivor of a crashed space ship, marooned on an alien planet, floating in an alien ocean with nothing more than a lifepod, a fabricator, and a first aid kit. As you gradually explore your underwater environment, you'll harvest fish for food and water, as well as minerals and plant life to make equipment. This is the main gameplay loop of Subnautica: explore, gather materials, and upgrade your tech. What makes it so satisfying is the care and realism put into the various biomes. You'll encounter gigantic floating islands covered in coral and strange creatures; you'll explore underwater caves filled with giant jellyshrooms and terrifying albino eels. You constantly have to be on the lookout for predators, because Subnautica isn't really about combat. Eventually you'll make a rifle that'll briefly stun creatures, as well as an underwater mech suit that'll protect you from most monstrosities, but you'll never be entirely safe, especially from Reaper Leviathans, gigantic predators who'll even attack your cyclops, a large undewater sub that serves as your mobile base.

Fear is a huge part of Subnautica, despite it not being a horror game. Early on, I was terrified to swim in deep water. Thalassophobia is a fear of the sea, and I think all humans probably have it to some degree, but I never thought a video game would be immersive enough to make me feel as though I'm about to be swallowed by some eldritch horror from the abyss. Once you explore the game thoroughly, you'll become familiar with what's lurking in Subnautica's waters, and your fears will dissipate, which is almost a shame.

Subnautica does actually have a plot, though I haven't quite finished it. This is another change from the survival game norm, and it gives the player a little more impetus to play rather than just base building or collecting food. This isn't fair to Ark, since it was never billed as a singleplayer game, but Ark was so damn monotonous, having no respect for your time. Who thinks it's fun to spend an hour taming a dinosaur by spamming berries into its inventory? Apparently a lot of people, since Ark sold 5.5 million copies. Subnautica is a single player game, however, so you don't have to worry about other people ruining your fun. It's well worth the 24.99 Steam's asking, though I actually got it free through Epic's new store, which was a hell of a deal. The only criticism I'd add is sometimes the crafting recipes are rather vague, so don't be afraid to use a wiki, though don't delve too far. Some things should remain a surprise, and I miss the feeling that I had before I knew that no tentacled monstrosity would rise from the deep to devour me. The mind is capable of the greatest horror, after all.