Subnautica

''Subnautica'' is a 2018 action-adventure survival game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The player controls Ryley Robinson, a survivor of a spaceship crash on an alien oceanic planet, which they are free to explore. The main objectives are to find essential resources, survive the local flora and fauna, and find a way to escape the planet.

''Subnautica'' was released in early access for Windows in December 2014, macOS in June 2015, and Xbox One in May 2016. The game was released out of early access in January 2018 for macOS and Windows, with versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in December 2018. The physical console versions were published by Gearbox Publishing. The Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S versions were released in May 2021. It received generally positive reviews from critics and sold over 5 million copies by January 2020.

A spin-off, '' Subnautica: Below Zero'', which was originally meant to be downloadable content for the base game, was released in May 2021. A direct sequel, '' Subnautica 2'', is planned to be released in early access sometime in 2025.

Gameplay

''Subnautica'' is a survival action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a first-person perspective. The player controls the lone survivor of the crashed spacecraft known as ''The Aurora'', Ryley Robinson, as he is stranded on a remote ocean planet known as 4546B.

The main objective is to explore the ocean and survive its dangers while completing tasks to advance the plot. Players can collect resources and blueprints, construct tools, build bases and submersibles, and interact with the planet's wildlife. Some of the most extreme dangers to the player include but not limited to: Crabsquids, Warpers, Mesmers, Bonesharks, Ampeels, Stalkers, Crashfish, and Leviathan-class lifeforms like the Reaper, Sea Dragon and Ghost Leviathans.

The majority of the game is set underwater, with two explorable islands, and a simulated day-and-night cycle that affects visibility, along with an eclipse that happens on a frequent occasion. Upon beginning a new game, players are given an option between four difficulty modes:

*In survival mode, the player manages their depleting health, hunger, thirst and oxygen. If the player dies, they respawn, but certain items are removed from their inventory.
*In freedom mode, gameplay is near-identical to that of survival mode, but without hunger and thirst.
*In hardcore mode, gameplay includes permanent death. If the player dies, they do not respawn, and their save file is instead permanently deleted. Additionally, the player does not receive warnings of low oxygen levels as they would in other modes.
*In creative mode, all depleting characteristics, such as health and thirst, are removed. All blueprints are unlocked, allowing players to craft without the need for resources. Additionally, the player starts with a stasis rifle, a Seaglide, a mobile vehicle bay, and a propulsion cannon. All items, base structures, and vehicles do not require an energy source to operate, and vehicles are immune to crush depth.

The game supports VR headsets, such as the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift, with the additional input of a keyboard and mouse or game controller.

Plot

While searching for minerals, the spaceship ''Degasi'' crashes on the ocean world 4546B. Three of its crew survive, living for an unspecified amount of time on the planet. 10 years later, the spaceship ''Aurora'' crash-lands on 4546B. Ryley Robinson (the player) escapes onto the planet with a lifepod. He attempts to contact other survivors, but discovers he is the only one left. He is contacted by trading ship ''Sunbeam'', responding to the ''Aurora''s SOS. When the ''Sunbeam'' attempts to rescue Ryley, it is shot down by an alien construct.

The player investigates the construct and learns that an alien race, the Architects, have placed the planet under quarantine. They constructed a Quarantine Enforcement Platform, shooting down any ships attempting to enter or leave the planet. Ryley attempts to disable the gun but learns he is infected with the Kharaa Bacterium, preventing him from doing so. Alien creatures known as Warpers begin to hunt him. Onboard the ''Aurora''s wreck, he uses the ship's transponder to receive blueprints for an escape rocket. He begins experiencing hallucinations of a mysterious creature.

The player ventures deeper into 4546B. He discovers an alien research facility where the Warpers, actually quarantine enforcement units, were built. He learns that 1000 years ago, the Architects brought Kharaa to 4546B to look for a cure. Venturing deeper to find a possible vaccine, he discovers the Sea Emperor, a massive creature, who has been telepathically communicating with Ryley through the hallucinations. The last of its kind, the Architects attempted to harness Enzyme 42 from it for use as a cure, but the Sea Emperor was too old and feeble. They attempted to force its offspring to hatch, but they died soon after. The Architects mysteriously vanished, and the Sea Emperor has been trapped in an aquarium since.

After activating a teleporter to enable the Sea Emperor's young to leave, the Sea Emperor gives the player the knowledge of how to make hatching enzymes. Using them, the Sea Emperor younglings hatch and secrete Enzyme 42, curing Ryley and the ocean as a whole. Finally at peace, the Sea Emperor wishes Ryley farewell and dies. A now-cured player disables the Quarantine Enforcement Platform and escapes the planet in the rocket. As he is doing so, he receives one final telepathic message from the Sea Emperor.

In a post-credits scene, Ryley's PDA notifies him he will not be allowed to land until his debt of 1 trillion credits for the use of Alterra resources is paid off.

Development

''Subnautica'' was announced by Unknown Worlds Entertainment on December 17, 2013, with Charlie Cleveland as the director and lead gameplay programmer, and Hugh Jeremy as the producer. The music is composed by Simon Chylinski.

Cleveland was heavily inspired by ''Minecraft'', which he noted "transformed the game industry" and "threw away all traditional challenge oriented and progression oriented games". The release of ''Minecraft'' overlapped with Unknown Worlds releasing '' Natural Selection 2''. Feeling exhausted, the team wanted to try something new and decided to make such a game. Other influences included scuba diving, the filmography of James Cameron, and "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". Cleveland did not initially view it as a survival game but as an exploration game. The team was also motivated by the Sandy Hook school shooting to make a non-violent game without guns.

The development team opted to use the Unity engine rather than Spark, the engine used for the company's previous game, ''Natural Selection 2''. ''Subnautica'' producer Hugh Jeremy justified this decision because of the different demands that the game places on the engine, and "because he teamdoes not include people working on Spark, it's not appropriate for ''Subnautica'' to use Spark. By using Unity for ''Subnautica'', Spark can continue to develop in certain directions, while ''Subnautica'' develops in others. To use Spark for ''Subnautica'' would be like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole."

The game lacks the traditional mission or quest structure usually found in video games. This was a deliberate choice; Cleveland stated "with intrinsic rewards, people are instead encouraged to just do the activities for their own merit, less people would be motivated to do it. But, if they did get over that learning period they would get to the point where they internalized that activity as pleasurable on its own and they would continue". Cleveland opted for this after reading an essay by Jamie Cheng who implemented similar philosophies into his game '' Don't Starve''.

Early access versions of ''Subnautica'' were released on Steam Early Access on December 16, 2014 and on Xbox One Preview on May 17, 2016. During this initial release the game featured no hunger or thirst mechanics. After receiving criticism, specifically from one player whose critique "struck home for me", the team opted to include such a system eventually discovering that it helped players orient themselves to the early parts of the game. The full version of the game was released on January 23, 2018, for macOS and Windows personal computers, and on December 4, 2018, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. The Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game and a spin-off, called '' Subnautica: Below Zero'', were released on May 14, 2021. Previously, ''Below Zero'' was released in early access on January 30, 2019.

In May 2025, game publisher Pladigious announced that Subnautica will be released on Android and iOS platforms on July 8, 2025.

Reception

''Subnautica'' received positive pre-release reception. Ian Birnbaum of ''PC Gamer'' described ''Subnautica'' as an "underwater ''Minecraft''", remarking that "with an experienced developer at the helm and a limitless variety of the oceans to play with, it's going to take a lot for ''Subnautica'' to go badly wrong. As the toolbox gets deeper and the shape of the end-game gets set, ''Subnautica'' will be a unique example of the ways survival can be tense, rewarding, and fun." Marsh Davies of ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun'' praised the rewarding nature of exploring the world of ''Subnautica'', but criticized the "arbitrariness" and lack of intuition in some of the in-game recipes.

At launch, the game received "generally positive reviews" on all platforms according to review aggregator Metacritic.

By January 2020, more than 5.23 million copies had been sold across all platforms.

Accolades

See also

* List of underwater science fiction works

Notes

References

External links

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{{Unknown Worlds

2018 video games
Action-adventure games
Fiction set on ocean planets
MacOS games
Nintendo Switch games
Open-world video games
Science fiction video games
Video games about extraterrestrial life
PlayStation 4 games
Indie games
Single-player video games
Survival video games
Unknown Worlds Entertainment games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set on fictional planets
Video games set underwater
Scuba diving video games
Windows games
Xbox Cloud Gaming games
Xbox One games
Panic Button (company) games
Fiction set in the Andromeda Galaxy
First-person video games
Underwater civilizations in fiction