Long-Awaited Survival Game Now the #1 Game on the Steam Wishlist Chart

A long-awaited survival game is now the #1 game on the Steam wishlist chart, indicating a huge Steam launch when it launches sometime this year, assuming it isn’t delayed from its “2026” release window. The game in question is actually a sequel to a game that was very popular on Steam, so it’s not very surprising to see it anticipated among Steam users. However, for it to be the most Steam Wishlisted game at the moment is a bit surprising because while the first game was popular on the Valve platform, it wasn’t massive. To this end, it peaked at 50,876 concurrent players, which ranks 405 on the all-time Steam concurrent players chart.

For those who have not connected the dots, the Steam Most Wishlisted game in question is Unknown World Entertainment’s Subnautica 2, a sequel to 2018’s Subnautica. Like its predecessor, it is an underwater survival game where you explore and survive the ocean. To do this, you will need to craft vehicles, tools, and bases. And you can do this alone or play with friends.

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Will it Deliver?

Of course, it’s one thing to be highly anticipated; it’s another thing to deliver. Subnautica 2 has had a somewhat troubled development, and there is some reason to doubt Unknown World Entertainment.

The American studio has actually been around since 2001, but it was Subnautica that put it on the map. And Subnautica put it on the map for a reason. It sold millions of copies because it was, at the time, unique and quite good, as evidenced by its 87 on Metacritic and its staggering 96% approval rating across more than 172,000 user reviews on Steam.

Since then, though, the studio and the series have struggled to replicate this success, all while more and more competition has moved into the space. After Subnautica in 2018, the studio returned in 2021 with a spin-off, Subnautica: Below Zero, which was a solid game, but not as good. It didn’t sell as well and didn’t review as well, as evidenced by its 82 on Metacritic. Its user review score on Steam was also a bit lower at 89%. Then, in 2024, it returned again with the release of an entirely different game, the turn-based strategy game Moonbreaker. The studio obviously shouldn’t be judged much when it’s experimenting, but the game underperformed in every metric compared to previous releases.

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Right now, it seems a safe bet that Subnautica 2 will be a good game, but will it achieve the same level of success as its predecessor? Well, its Wishlists are a good indicator for it. At this point, it looks like it will be even bigger, at least on Steam. What will ultimately determine things will be its quality, though, and the quality hasn’t quite been the same from the studio since its breakout.

All of that said, and as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think, or join the conversation over on the ComicBook Forum.