Why Subnautica Is Good (Short Review)

Do you like Minecraft?

Do you absolutely hate the Water Temple?

Then you will have an estranged love-hate relationship with Subnautica.

Subnautica is a Survival/Crafting game from developer Unknown Worlds, creators of the Natural Selection series. The premise, like most other games of the genre, is simple - survive. Scrounge up raw materials from the world around you to build things you need to get by, like food, water, and tools. Eventually, you'll be able to craft more complex things, set up a base of operations and be able to fight back against the cold, uncaring world you've been plonked in. And right now, you're probably drifting away, convinced that this is yet another Minecraft ripoff and there's nothing interesting to it.

Subnautica, however, proves you wrong in many ways. Firstly, there's more context - you're the survivor of a crashed research ship, and you need to get yourself equipped to go and fix the ship's engine before the radiation kills everything. There's a goal to work towards, rather than just meandering around looking for sheep to shear. Secondly, you're underwater, with no solid ground to be found and only sheer crushing depth as a constant reminder of how shit you are. Only miles and miles of ocean, which adds a big sense of isolation and trepidation to the experience - no other people, just you on your own against this strange, alien planet.

Thirdly - and this is the clincher - it is utterly evil and has no qualms about sending sea monsters to bite your arse out whilst you're trying to scan some wreckage. And what makes it worse is that it probably came from a bullshit angle you didn't anticipate, because you're floating in the fucking ocean.

This is what Subnautica has over games like Minecraft - it plays on the primal fear of the unknown. There's little that's scarier than floating in the middle of the open ocean, surrounded on all sides by shadowy that could be hiding literally anything. And it doesn't matter where you twist and turn, the monsters will still be able to come up behind you - or maybe even beneath you, because there's no floor underneath your feet to stop them doing that. You think your tiny little submersible will keep you safe from the sharks and sea lizards, but when the roars of some terrible leviathan are ringing in your ears as you skirt the shoreline, it feels like a plastic bubble. How big is it? How many teeth? How fast? You don't know, and that fear is what gives exploring in Subnautica that major edge.

What makes it worse is that the environment doesn't help you at all, and you have no real way to protect yourself. In Minecraft, you are at least on the same Y co-ordinates as the enemy, and can craft any number of bullshit weapons to insta-kill the skeletons, making monsters a minor annoyance. Subnautica's aquatic terrain actively hampers your movement, so juking and jumping is not an option, especially when the creatures can swim much faster than you can. And all you have to defend yourself is a knife, which does fuck all against most of the armoured creatures in the world, and the Concussion Rifle doesn't give you reprieve from the swaming piranhas or blood-sucking worms. It feels a lot more like a fight for survival than exploring caves or digging holes.

So when you do build that extra-special thing you wanted, it makes it all the more worth it. It feels satisfying, because you had to dive into kelp forests swarming with angry lizards and fight off giant electric eels to get the materials you needed. You lost a lot of blood and nearly starved to get the raw goods, and when you finally craft it all together and get your seabase up and running, it's like you're sticking a giant middle finger up at the deep, dark ocean. Fuck you, ocean, I have a submersile and can make endless amounts of torpedoes to shred your evil monsters. Bring it on, baby, I can take whetever you got!

And then a sea serpent comes along and eats your sub. Because no, you can't take it.

In short, play Subnatica. There's been a big update that adds farming, which is awesome. It's on Early Access right now, but it's worth forking out the extra money to experience this. Go buy it. Now.