Subnautica 2 Has Revived One of My Favorite Trends With New Survival Games

With the release of Subnautica 2‘s Early Access, players are already praising the vast underwater world of the long-awaited sequel. Set on a different alien planet than the first title, every aspect of Subnautica 2‘s setting is completely new, even if some gameplay concepts and resources remain the same. As of this time of writing, there are a lot of unknowns about what can be explored in this game, a trend with the genre that only comes around at a very specific point in a title’s life cycle.

The abundance of players trying Subnautica 2 easily makes it the most popular survival game out right now, to the point where everyone in Early Access is sharing what they’ve found. Although there is plenty of discourse surrounding the game’s restrictions toward fighting hostile wildlife, general opinions about the title are very positive. Many players desire to investigate Subnautica 2‘s world more and more, without prior knowledge of the game to drive them to the “best” possible survival strategies.

Subnautica 2’s Early Access Has Created A Survival Experience That Is New For Every Player

The best part about Subnautica 2‘s early stages is that, despite the game being incomplete in Early Access, almost everything is new. Typically, survival games have entire wikis full of information, from players who have meticulously researched and experimented with different parts of the game to leave nothing to chance. This optimization of a survival experience is good to reference sometimes, but there’s something special in discovering a game’s solutions for yourself.

In Subnautica‘s case, the vast aquatic world and wealth of wildlife make this process even more endearing. There is no clear direction to your survival, so your discoveries are made at your own pace rather than at the dictation of what is “optimal” from prior knowledge. The fresh nature of Subnautica 2 puts all players on the same level of information, with no easily looked up answer to whatever problems they face. Challenges have to be met head-on, rather than finding a quick and easy work around through a YouTube video or a wiki’s pages.

Although having that information later will be helpful for new players who want to skip an initial grind, the first few steps of Subnautica 2 are better because there is no sense of familiarity. The horrors of new hostile creature encounters are genuine, while the discovery of a new biome or region feels like a huge accomplishment. If these goals were expected obstacles rather than naturally occurring hurdles, it would diminish the authentic ways players interact with them for the first time.

Lack Of Online Information Makes Every Discovery Feel Exciting & Surprising

One of the best examples I can provide to explain this feeling is when I encountered the Zezuran Desert, a new biome for Subnautica 2. Similar to the frigid lands of Subnautica: Below Zero, you can’t just walk around the Zezuran Desert without some sort of protection from the area’s intense heat. Without any resources to look up how to do this, I had to use context clues and pour plenty of time into research to discover exactly how developer Unknown Worlds had crafted a solution to this unique problem.

This line of thinking is applied to nearly every aspect of Subnautica 2, even if some systems are built upon concepts from the first game. While you do have similar survival mechanics taken directly from Subnautica, the differences in the sequel’s new world still add new concepts to research and manage. From finding new blueprint recipes for items and upgrades to carefully studying wildlife to understand its quirks, the lack of information about everything in Subnautica 2 creates immersive quality the game will only lose over time.

Co-Op Survival In Subnautica 2 Only Adds To The Joys Of Investigating An Unknown Setting

The co-op nature of Subnautica 2 allows discoveries to be shared during moment to moment gameplay, enhancing the early experience of the game in many ways. For example, one player can find out the hard way how some hostile fauna in this game works, and tell friends about it after they’ve scanned and unlocked new information about that wildlife. Almost like sharing scientific findings about the environment with colleagues, this fosters your own personal community with friends playing the game, creating deep levels of engagement.

As player creativity evolves and wikis begin to grow, this early sense of discovery will inevitably fade away, which comes with its pros and cons. On the one hand, the game’s most frustrating obstacles will have community-driven solutions, giving players more chances to engage with the parts of the title they like most. However, in my opinion, this survival game trend is the most enjoyable part of Subnautica 2 right now, and will hopefully come back whenever the game gets an update in Early Access.

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