2018 was a game-changer for the survival videogame franchise when the first Subnautica game finally reached the surface. This is not the game we are reviewing, but it is important you know this for context as it is the prequel.

Unknown Worlds took creative liberty in designing a survival experience that took place on an aquatic planet, an environment that forces the player to leave the human comforts of dry-land and dive into the deep underwater, should they have a shot at surviving. Because of this feature, 3D graphic designers and gaffers had an incredible heap of situational lighting effects available at their disposal due to their game being based underwater. As a result, Subnautica was given an incredible, uniquely beautiful, and terrifying at times atmosphere with mystic lighting effects and stellar immersion (especially on an ultra-wide-screen monitor).

They took it further by adding unique survival gameplay that was profoundly addictive and always had you on your toes to explore the next biome. During that exploration, the player often operates sea vehicles, one of which is a massive, mobile HQ submarine called the Cyclops, debatably the coolest feature in the whole game. All through the experience, you will be tasked with avoiding undefeatable leviathan predators that will hunt you down should you dare trespass their territory.

Anyone who played the first game will recall its funny dialogue given by recording of found media on PDAs scattered across the map, and voice lines from your own PDA assistant, and your vehicle’s AI. Each one had a different voice, with so much personality and uniqueness everywhere; other than the occasional visual glitch, this game was a masterpiece in creativity. So, where did things go south in the less-enjoyed sequel?

Now – don’t get me wrong – Subnautica Below Zero is definitely a welcome addition to the Subnautica universe, as its game adds more depth to the world Unknown Worlds Studios is building for us to explore.

Subnautica Below Zero shares most of its basic creative ideas with the prequel, which involves crash-landing on the aquatic Planet-4546B. This time, instead of exploring the 2km2 volcanic crater of the first game, we are popped into an artic region of the same size with a new feature: surface exploration. This feature was met with mixed reviews: Some players loved the expansion of the game universe to the surface, adding new alien life and lore to the story. Others disliked it, arguing that it took away from Subnautica’s main gimmick: underwater survival. Those on the opposition would have preferred more underwater areas to explore than this new surface level. Do note, the first game did have two islands in it, but they were very small locations. This new surface is vast and acts more like a mainland rather than an island. Regardless of the land expansion, I personally feel it did not take away from the performance of the underwater world-building, which introduced us new underwater alien worlds to explore, while returning some classic biomes with a fresh, revamped coat of paint.

When looking online, the voice that damns the studio for focusing more on the surface than the underwater is not what concerns me. I have three main points that I feel hindered Subnautica Below Zero’s threshold of success.

First off, the creative writers decide to move away from the “silent protagonist” model (a model in which you, the player’s character, are silent for the whole game), and move towards a protagonist with dialogue. There are lots of games that do this right, but in order for it to work, you need to have very good writers to flesh out a personality without making it feel generic or sanitized. Furthermore, you need to make sure the protagonist does not speak too much, which can take focus away from gameplay. I would say Robin, the protagonist of Subnautica Below Zero, handles this well enough, except for some dialogue that I found was filler at best. (“Nice! I got a scanner!” We get it. So did Riley from the first). To wrap up this point, a game’s horror scenarios are less terrifying with a speaking protagonist; a silent protagonist maintains videogame immersion by making you feel like the protagonist.

Second off – and I was mortified by this – the Cyclops is gone! My absolute favorite part of the first game is gone! Instead, the developers introduced a new type of portable-base vehicle called the Seatruck, a vehicle that while cool, does not match the same caliber as the Cyclops. Its customization factor is far lower than that of the Cyclops, replacing modules added from the builder tool and restricting the customization to prefab-only modules. It’s a little sad and anti-climatic; I just want my Cyclops backs. Why is it gone?

Thirdly – the glitches. Subnautica being a fairly large game developed by a small studio, that title was prone to glitches and certainly had them from time to time, but not terribly bad. Below Zero’s glitches were noticeably larger. Let me give you an example of something that really annoyed me: They recycled Riley’s body animations from the first game over to Robin’s animations. Robin, being a differently shaped character model than Riley, experiences a lot of unnecessary clipping in her animations as a result. I understand studios have limited time to work and that cuts have to be made, but these animations are so critical to the immersion of the player that tanking these can make or break a game’s general sense of polish. Unfortunately, in Below Zero, we don’t get that polish we were looking for.

If you can look past the formerly mentioned issues Below Zero is still definitely worth experiencing, especially with one of its best features yet: A better light engine that makes light react better with other surfaces such as the sea floor, plants, buildings, and fish. That is one redeeming quality this game has: it’s sheer, raw graphical beauty. Everything is so vibrant and shiny! Gotta love that, of course. Nevertheless, I always side for competent animations and hitbox detection over crazy graphics, as do many gamers.

If you have never played an entry in the Subnautica series, I recommend playing the first title before Below Zero. Not only will you understand more about what is happening in the sequel, but you will also understand the appreciation people had for this timeless classic. Subnautica pulls a weird one on its fan base by making the prequel better than the sequel, not to say both games aren’t good, but Below Zero is just missing some things that made Subnautica the immersive legend it was, such as the silent protagonist, the Cyclops, and other development choices. You will have fun playing both but do yourself a favor and play Subnautica One first, you’ll thank me later!

                                                                                            © 2024 Aidan W. Jackson. CC BY-NC-ND.