Subnautica 2 entered early access last week after a lengthy drama with developer Unknown Worlds’ owner Krafton, swiftly selling over two million copies and putting its developers on track for that hefty bonus. I was a big fan of the first Subnautica, but definitely played it a bit to death in early access, so I’m trying to take a more cautious approach this time.
Subnautica 2 opens with your character crash-landing on the watery planet of Proteus, where it quickly becomes apparent that many, many people have crashed here before you. You’re guided by your lifepod computer NoA, who urges you deeper into the ocean to find the last voice recordings of your predecessors. This serves as both a plot and tutorial, as your journeys put you in the path of upgrades you’ll need to go deeper into the ocean.
As John Walker at Kotaku noted, all this chattering can get a little annoying; I was constantly being called back to my lifepod to receive the next bit of direction, and I sometimes felt overwhelmed by how many people were talking: the voice recordings, NoA, the instructions coming from my PDA. The plot of the first Subnautica was subtle and, for me, far secondary to just exploring around, but it’s pretty front-and-center here. For players impatient to get moving, or who found the first game too vague, I could see this being a good thing, but I often felt annoyed that the game was constantly tugging on my sleeve when I just wanted to get my bearings and look at some fish.
When a computer isn’t trying to talk to you, the usual Subnautica formula is at work. You gather resources to turn into new resources in your fabricator machine, and you use those to build gadgets and upgrades that let you explore more of Proteus. There are also biological adaptations, found by sticking your hand in some underwater plants, that can let you eat Proteus’ fish, dash a short distance, or upgrade your maddeningly limited inventory. My explorations in Subnautica 2 felt fruitful due to all this–I felt like I was always making progress toward improving–but it clashed with the slower, more survival-focused way I like to play games like this, where I’m far more interested in the tasks of daily living than base-building and taming the landscape.
That landscape, as you’d expect from Subnautica, is cool as hell, full of strange new creatures to admire and flee from. I’ve yet to encounter one of the series’ massive, terrifying enemies, but I’ve already run afoul of an endless number of aggressive fish. Some players are frustrated that there’s no way to kill or deter the fish like there was in the first game; there’s no knife or stasis rifle here, only distraction flares that can get predators off your tail for a bit. I’ve mostly dealt with the enemies I’ve encountered so far by continuing on my way as they ram and nip at me; I’ve got no shortage of healing items, and it’s also not a big deal if you die, with the plot even pushing you to do so. Mostly I’ve been annoyed by the meaner fish because they keep trying to bite me when I just want to look at them; they are big and weird and beautiful, and I wish they just wanted to hang out with me instead of eat me.
Weird creatures have always been my favorite part of Subnautica, and the devs have clearly put a ton of thought into the design and lore for all the creatures. In my five or so hours with the game, I’ve made some general overtures at base-building, but I’ve mostly just focused on upgrades to my speed and air capacity so I can hang out underwater more looking at all the weird little guys. There’s fish that ram each other and fish that split in two and big flying whale-type guys and lots of tiny critters hiding among the seaweed or swirling in great big shoals or just flittering by as I explore. Subnautica has always been great at encouraging the combined feeling of “I have to go touch that” and “I should get as far away from that as possible,” and I’ve found this particular push-pull more engaging than its scripted counterpart of chasing down a voice recording and then returning to my lifepod for my next assignment.
I’ve built the saddest of bases so far just to check out the tools–a room, a hatch, and some storage for all the resources I can’t stop hoarding–, though I am eager to find the upgrades that will let me build a vehicle so I can look at cooler, likely scarier fish. Base-building is one of Subnautica’s draws, but it’s never really been my favorite part apart from the crafting that lets me explore more of the world.
That world is still gated in early access, with Unknown Worlds predicting two or three years of early access to come. Besides being easily distractable, I’ve been trying not to rush things to avoid burning myself out on the game and losing interest before its long-off full release, a pitfall I succumbed to with the first game. Early access can be a double-edged sword this way: a game you’re interested in is finally playable, but there might not be much to it yet, and it’s easy to get your fill when the game is far from its final state. My time with Subnautica 2 feels particularly prone to this given the way it pushes you toward its plot, so my commitment to just futzing around probably helps me here.
That said, I’d like to take more advantage of what’s here so that I can be ready when more of the game is available; my tendency to wander made me woefully unprepared to build the original game’s heartier vehicles and really dig into its depths once the full game was out. There’s a Subnautica 2 version of me who’s kitted out with the best gear as the game continues to expand, and that’s probably a sensible version to work toward–if I can stop chasing fish around and then fleeing from them to do so.
