Subnautica is a scy-fy-esque, underwater survival game that places you into a primarily underwater world filled to the brim with vibrant plantlife and fish.

What does this game need to be great? Content. They could very literally just implement bountiful amounts of content and that alone would hold this game at a very elevated stature to not only mine, but I feel quite a few others viewpoints.


The good news is that the Devs *seem* to be very active, but that is completely expected with brand new titles.
The bad news is that at any given moment they could cease update production and we'd be ♥♥♥♥ out of luck.

Subnautica is a great game, conceptually, but to obtain that solid, justified "great game" status in my book it needs to have MUCH more content, and a bit more overall polishing. Now that is crazy considering the fact that it is a brand new title, but hey, the devs did great work in my book.

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pros and cons
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WHAT IS GOOD: (pros)

- The graphics were designed very, very well. I was, and still am wholeheartedly impressed with how immersive the graphics alone are. The devs have blended the perfect mix of vibrance-to-shadowy-darkness ratio, allowing you to feel sunbeaten and safe on the surface yet utterly terrified of the unknown once you get deep enough.

- The sound is very good, I'd like to say that I utterly despise the soundtrack they have implemented (it's a mix of random nightcore-ish club music-esque tracks with some easy going starts to them. I think that if they just took the music out entirely and created in depth, immersive sound for most actions and/or places in the game that it would add even more layers of immersion while also making Subnautica have that deep complexity factor.) Overall, though? I love the sound. That, matched with the graphics make this one of the most immersive games I've played in a while.

- The immersion. Once you start playing this you're almost 90% of the time going to be very literally afraid of what could be below you. A friend and I joked about going too deep and realizing the entire ocean floor was a creature, and as unrealistic as that sounds, that's the kind of thing this game makes you think about. At least until you get a feel for the creatures in it, then... well... Just read my "cons" table

WHAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED/CHANGED: (cons)

- Fish AI. What can I really say? It is very basic, and you have to essentially have a staring contest with a creature for them to be any danger. This game is completely relying on that fear of the unknown, but once you get over that, this game becomes kind of boring actually. There's no real danger, beyond what psychological tricks this title plays on you with that ever prevelent "unknown" feel.

- Crafting. Crafting in this game is the biggest let down. Everything is given to you. There's no trial and error, no experience, no interaction. It's utterly linear, hand-holdy, and very very bland after you use it more than about 20 times. What they really need to do is take a lesson from Minecraft, for example, and let us find our own way in Subnautica. You're telling me that I just automatically understand how to create a fully functional submarine? That I just have some inate knowledge to create a Stasis Rifle? No. Fix this. It's unrealistic, creatively limited, and a bit frustrating considering all the other amazing elements of Subnautica.

- DANGER. Implement a creature that comes to the surface and ♥♥♥♥♥ your ♥♥♥♥ up if you don't fight back. Make a creature that can actually see you from a distance away and comes-a-huntin'. Make a creature that blends in with the rock and grabs you as you swim past. Right now, even on HC mode, playing is a bit lackluster due to the fact that you can literally get away from anything. There's no real danger about any aspect of this game. I literally fear forgetting to eat something more than I do the creatures in this game. That's not good.

- Map. It's essentially always the same. I know this is a very unfair critique so early on, but I feel I need to say it for future purposes. Subnautica would IMMENSELY benefit from having some type of minecraft-esque procedural generation map functionality. With JUST how limitless the underwater landscape can be in terms of map creation, I'm VERY sure that with time (and perhaps some of the resources that the devs have obtained from the early access) the devs could implement this, and should implement this. After just a few playthroughs the map itself becomes a bit hollow, but overall they've done a great job in making me come back for more map-wise.

- Survival. Your food bar goes down far too quickly, as stated in most other reviews I see. As I said above, I quite literally worry about forgetting to look at my food meter more than I ever have about dying from a mob.

- Realism. Everything is so perfect in this game, there's no survival aspect once you really boil this title down. It's all: "Go collect this" and "Go collect that" then "let this 3d printer thingy do your work for you, because why not?" Everything you create comes out perfect. Hell, even the knife you make out of VERY basic resources comes out with perfect branding on it as if you had just purchased it from a market. There needs to be that procedural grind, that feeling of "wow, did I really make it all the way here from when I spawned in?" Overall? I just think they should either completely remove the hand-holdy crafting system or revamp/overhaul it to the point where it doesn't do 80% of the work for you.

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I know I was a bit harsh here, but generally this is a good game. I wouldn't have critiqued it so harshly, or even wasted my time typing this if I didn't absolutely know that the Devs could easily turn this into one of the best games of the genre.

I'll be revising this as I play, and as the game is updated. I'll also provide in depth changelogs of my edits, so that you guys know what you are buying. On more of a straight to the point level? Yeah, I recommend this game. As of right now (3/8/2015) this game has the replayability factor yet fails to have enough content to go all the way. I keep wanting to go back to it, yet I know there's nothing to do. This will improve as the game updates, obviously, but it won't make the fact that in another 20 minutes I'll have every bit of new content they update in my inventory go away. This game needs to make me feel like I've created something, not pushed a button and had it created for me.



EDIT: 3/10/2015 (1:40 PM)
I have added a "pro's" list encompassing some of the things I love about Subnautica, as only having a "con's" list was a bit unfair.

EDIT: 3/10/2015 (2:08 PM)
I have added a "realism" button point in the cons section, as well as did an overall polish of the review in its entirety.

Subnautica is a scy-fy-esque, underwater survival game that places you into a primarily underwater world filled to the brim with vibrant plantlife and fish. What does this game need to be great? Content. They could very literally just implement bountiful amounts of content and that alone would hold this game at a very elevated stature to not only mine, but I feel quite a few others viewpoints. The good news is that the Devs *seem* to be very active, but that is completely expected with brand new titles. The bad news is that at any given moment they could cease update production and we'd be shit out of luck. Subnautica is a great game, conceptually, but to obtain that solid, justified "great game" status in my book it needs to have MUCH more content, and a bit more overall polishing. Now that is crazy considering the fact that it is a brand new title, but hey, the devs did great work in my book. --------------------- pros and cons --------------------- WHAT IS GOOD: (pros) - The graphics were designed very, very well. I was, and still am wholeheartedly impressed with how immersive the graphics alone are. The devs have blended the perfect mix of vibrance-to-shadowy-darkness ratio, allowing you to feel sunbeaten and safe on the surface yet utterly terrified of the unknown once you get deep enough. - The sound is very good, I'd like to say that I utterly despise the soundtrack they have implemented (it's a mix of random nightcore-ish club music-esque tracks with some easy going starts to them. I think that if they just took the music out entirely and created in depth, immersive sound for most actions and/or places in the game that it would add even more layers of immersion while also making Subnautica have that deep complexity factor.) Overall, though? I love the sound. That, matched with the graphics make this one of the most immersive games I've played in a while. - The immersion. Once you start playing this you're almost 90% of the time going to be very literally afraid of what could be below you. A friend and I joked about going too deep and realizing the entire ocean floor was a creature, and as unrealistic as that sounds, that's the kind of thing this game makes you think about. At least until you get a feel for the creatures in it, then... well... Just read my "cons" table WHAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED/CHANGED: (cons) - Fish AI. What can I really say? It is very basic, and you have to essentially have a staring contest with a creature for them to be any danger. This game is completely relying on that fear of the unknown, but once you get over that, this game becomes kind of boring actually. There's no real danger, beyond what psychological tricks this title plays on you with that ever prevelent "unknown" feel. - Crafting. Crafting in this game is the biggest let down. Everything is given to you. There's no trial and error, no experience, no interaction. It's utterly linear, hand-holdy, and very very bland after you use it more than about 20 times. What they really need to do is take a lesson from Minecraft, for example, and let us find our own way in Subnautica. You're telling me that I just automatically understand how to create a fully functional submarine? That I just have some inate knowledge to create a Stasis Rifle? No. Fix this. It's unrealistic, creatively limited, and a bit frustrating considering all the other amazing elements of Subnautica. - DANGER. Implement a creature that comes to the surface and fucks your shit up if you don't fight back. Make a creature that can actually see you from a distance away and comes-a-huntin'. Make a creature that blends in with the rock and grabs you as you swim past. Right now, even on HC mode, playing is a bit lackluster due to the fact that you can literally get away from anything. There's no real danger about any aspect of this game. I literally fear forgetting to eat something more than I do the creatures in this game. That's not good. - Map. It's essentially always the same. I know this is a very unfair critique so early on, but I feel I need to say it for future purposes. Subnautica would IMMENSELY benefit from having some type of minecraft-esque procedural generation map functionality. With JUST how limitless the underwater landscape can be in terms of map creation, I'm VERY sure that with time (and perhaps some of the resources that the devs have obtained from the early access) the devs could implement this, and should implement this. After just a few playthroughs the map itself becomes a bit hollow, but overall they've done a great job in making me come back for more map-wise. - Survival. Your food bar goes down far too quickly, as stated in most other reviews I see. As I said above, I quite literally worry about forgetting to look at my food meter more than I ever have about dying from a mob. - Realism. Everything is so perfect in this game, there's no survival aspect once you really boil this title down. It's all: "Go collect this" and "Go collect that" then "let this 3d printer thingy do your work for you, because why not?" Everything you create comes out perfect. Hell, even the knife you make out of VERY basic resources comes out with perfect branding on it as if you had just purchased it from a market. There needs to be that procedural grind, that feeling of "wow, did I really make it all the way here from when I spawned in?" Overall? I just think they should either completely remove the hand-holdy crafting system or revamp/overhaul it to the point where it doesn't do 80% of the work for you. --------------------------------------- I know I was a bit harsh here, but generally this is a good game. I wouldn't have critiqued it so harshly, or even wasted my time typing this if I didn't absolutely know that the Devs could easily turn this into one of the best games of the genre. I'll be revising this as I play, and as the game is updated. I'll also provide in depth changelogs of my edits, so that you guys know what you are buying. On more of a straight to the point level? Yeah, I recommend this game. As of right now (3/8/2015) this game has the replayability factor yet fails to have enough content to go all the way. I keep wanting to go back to it, yet I know there's nothing to do. This will improve as the game updates, obviously, but it won't make the fact that in another 20 minutes I'll have every bit of new content they update in my inventory go away. This game needs to make me feel like I've created something, not pushed a button and had it created for me. EDIT: 3/10/2015 (1:40 PM) I have added a "pro's" list encompassing some of the things I love about Subnautica, as only having a "con's" list was a bit unfair. EDIT: 3/10/2015 (2:08 PM) I have added a "realism" button point in the cons section, as well as did an overall polish of the review in its entirety.