Subnautica: Below Zero

 PC
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 190 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 93 out of 190
  2. Mixed: 51 out of 190
  3. Negative: 46 out of 190

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  1. erkmacgurk
    May 22, 2021
    2
    An epic fail. Just abysmal. The original was so good, and all the base code was all ready there, so how did they screw it up so badly? Simple. The original talent left/went on holiday/got sacked and got replaced by the usual mediocre culprits. So all the mediocre ideas come gushing out, like "how about voicing the Emergency PDA with someone who speaks English as a second language?' andAn epic fail. Just abysmal. The original was so good, and all the base code was all ready there, so how did they screw it up so badly? Simple. The original talent left/went on holiday/got sacked and got replaced by the usual mediocre culprits. So all the mediocre ideas come gushing out, like "how about voicing the Emergency PDA with someone who speaks English as a second language?' and 'lets make the main protagonist say things like "this could come in handy" when picking up a rock!'. Lets replace the mystery of the original with a banal nonsensical story about shallow characters and the **** things they say about each other. Lets make the sandbox so small its not a sandbox anymore. you can't travel 10 metres without finding something significant.

    The dialog is so cheesy and moronic it will make you wince. Forget about the subtle humor of the original, think what really stupid people say to each other in real life and now you know what you're in for. As for all the other mistakes, trudging around on land (huh?) for hours in blinding snow, playing stupid mini games with a remote controlled robot penguin, spoon fed game progression, truly awful sound effects, pathetic attempts to be cute, down to to an alien that broadcasts an distress signal in Morse code (no really, they did that).

    I was so shocked by how bad it was, I thought I was looking at the original through rose-colored glasses, so I went back and replayed it. Nope, these morons took one of the best games of the last 20 years and ruined it.    … Expand
  2. The_Elike
    Oct 25, 2021
    0
    You'd think I'd love this game since everything good is copy pasted from the first game. Unfortunately that is not the case because the technical issues are so bad the game barely functions. The constant crashes, poor render distance, environmental pop-in, the weird fog that covers everything, having to explore on land, and a poorly thought out map that is too crowded in the middle and tooYou'd think I'd love this game since everything good is copy pasted from the first game. Unfortunately that is not the case because the technical issues are so bad the game barely functions. The constant crashes, poor render distance, environmental pop-in, the weird fog that covers everything, having to explore on land, and a poorly thought out map that is too crowded in the middle and too barren everywhere else combine to crush any enthusiasm I had for playing. I would put this glorified dlc up against No Man's Sky and Halo MCC as one of the worst experiences on release.… Expand
  3. zebsy
    May 30, 2022
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I got the original Subnautica for free on Epic Games and loved it, and put around 70+ hours into it. A fantastic game. So I supported this follow up in Early Access and paid for it. I don't regret this as I feel like I effectively paid for Subnautica, but this follow up is worse in almost every aspect. The thrill and horror of the original is replaced by twee penglings, poor dialogue, and terrible ground based sections - the snowfox being truly awful. Subnautica for me was about the clever and gradual realisation that you didn't need to keep coming to the surface - you could live far far underwater, setting up various bases to move between. It was utterly mind blowing and one of the best video game experiences I've ever had.
    Below Zero had a lot to live up to, and it falls well short.

    Another notably awful part of Below Zero, (for which I have just removed another point from the score), is the terrible, risible Sea Truck. The original game's Sea Moth and Cyclops combo, with the later addition of the Prawn, was just absolute genius. A mobile, customisable base which could dock other vehicles. Just amazing. This expanded upon the base building and living underwater theme I mentioned above. Fantastic gameplay and great fun all round.
    The Sea Truck replacement is just awful. It's like it's been conceived in an afternoon, and many of the dev team must have played it and thought "ergh". But they kept it. Why? I have no idea.
    It's ugly, slow, cumbersome, boring, and a daft long shape to fit through gaps. And you have to manage putting it together and taking it apart again. Sounds good possibly, but the gameplay is shockingly bad. You can't even dock it properly in the moonpool. Rubbish.

    The story of Below Zero is rather average, with the huge disappointment that the creature in the ice didn't break out and start to move. That would have saved the game. The actual ending, once it was finally added, was rather limp and not worthy of even a second play through. This contrasts badly with the awesome ending to the original game, which is a brilliant climax and something I've replayed a few times to get the full experience.
    If I was being ironic, I'd score this game "Below Zero" (ahaha) but will give it a 3 for effort. Very disappointing after the superb and utterly mesmerising original game. Play that instead - you won't be sorry.    … Expand
  4. jeffkren
    Oct 24, 2022
    0
    This is a downgrade of the original, its like they stripped the game into a DLC and then called it a game.
  5. Gabrielhov
    Feb 22, 2023
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I just finished the game and it's such a disappointment. When I finished the first game it quickly became one of my favorites. So I couldn't feel more disappointed when I faced: - boring vehicles available
    - boring fauna - uninteresting storyline
    - nonsense ending
    - boring land exploration

    Base building is great, Graphics are good, gameplay is fine
    But it doesn't feel rewarding after playing some hours.    … Expand
  6. Kalantris
    May 17, 2021
    3
    Everything special from the original is gone. The horror, the struggle for resources, the terror of searching wrecks and getting lost in ventilation shafts with bare seconds of oxygen remaining. The story is boring and some clues are complicated for absolutely no reason, the protagonist is uninteresting and so is everybody else. The sound no longer has anything to do with yourEverything special from the original is gone. The horror, the struggle for resources, the terror of searching wrecks and getting lost in ventilation shafts with bare seconds of oxygen remaining. The story is boring and some clues are complicated for absolutely no reason, the protagonist is uninteresting and so is everybody else. The sound no longer has anything to do with your surroundings, aggressive wildlife is a non-issue from the very beginning and there's just way too much stuff to do on land, where the engine just doesn't work. Running around a knee-high railing because your character can't even jump over things is such an ejnoyable experience.

    Unlike in the first one, where the Cyclops actually felt like the pinnacle of development, allowed you to build in it and personalize it, actually felt like home because of its sheer size, in Below Zero you're limited to a glorified claustrophobic tram, that doesn't even allow you to build anything on it.

    The weather system is yet another thing, that just went south. It changes once every 2 minutes for some reason, but almost always has one thing in common - you can't see further than five meters ahead. It makes searching for land markers extremely frustrating at times and adds this weird feeling to the game when you're on land, when you suddenly get an extreme weather warning only to witness two lightning strikes in the distance before the storm suddenly dissipates and is replaced by heavy fog comming out of nowhere ten seconds later.

    The only improvement over the original is the change to enameled glass, that doesn't require you to hunt for the damned teeth anymore. It does however require diamonds, but that's not a problem, as quest objectives are conveniently placed around important biomes with masses of oxygen plants around them allowing you to safely dive down hundreds of meters without even bothering to take the seatruck with you.

    What a terrible mess and a terrible shame this game is.    … Expand
  7. coltsr2
    Oct 6, 2022
    0
    SUBNAUTICA: BELOW ZERO is a very disappointing anti-climax to its predecessor.
    I Was expecting a much bigger game, with a much bigger underwater map, a better version map of the original subnautica, one in which there were far more submersible vehicles to use with more exciting interesting features, equipped with better and more varied equipment to use, instead we got a cut down, tiny    SUBNAUTICA: BELOW ZERO is a very disappointing anti-climax to its predecessor.
    I Was expecting a much bigger game, with a much bigger underwater map, a better version map of the original subnautica, one in which there were far more submersible vehicles to use with more exciting interesting features, equipped with better and more varied equipment to use, instead we got a cut down, tiny underwater map (compared to the original), with ONE main underwater vehicle excluding the boring prawn! ONE! The boring sea truck with ridiculous, limited and claustrophobic views sat inside it! When you add all that to the repetitive silly sea creatures (mostly just 'ice versions' of the original) with rubbish AI and a boring clichéd story, and that pointless above water land mass to explore, which was completely boring and seemed like more of an after thought than a real attempt at some decent content. You end up with a big pile of excrement!
    This could have been amazing, it could of built on the original, instead it seemed like it was a major step backwards. I remember all the requests to the devs on the forums, for more submersibles and other ideas...it seems EVERYTHING was ignored and this is basically a slap in the face for the fans of the original. IMAGINE IF THIS WAS A FLIGHT SIM...the first had lots of interesting planes....and the sequel had just one! Once again we see the PAID FOR reviews from the main so called Critic website reviewers, who obviously couldn't review a rainy day in the desert let alone be sincere in their pc game review offerings! One reason i come to Metacritic is the user reviews, despite some being fake positives on this game, and blatantly so... many here giving it 10! and offering reviews saying they haven't even played it!....they are basically fan bombing it to make it look better than it is....MY honest opinion....
    SUBNAUTICA: BELOW ZERO is worth ZERO points for the ZERO effort they put into a sequel with ZERO new vehicles and ZERO new creatures with ZERO worthwhile stories worth my effort or time...which is why i have rated it ZERO! ....SUBNAUTICA: BELOW ZERO..gets a 0!    … Expand
  8. max_gradient
    Oct 14, 2021
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I was so excited for this game, but the moment they did the dev reveal stream it all went downhill. Instead of the mysterious eerie feeling of the first part, they jumped on the SJW bandwagon and presented some highly implausible characters for diversity reasons.
    Although they tried to tune the annoyance level down since the reveal, the hastily rewritten "new" story and the protagonists are still subpar, for example we now have a black lesbian super-scientist who found the cure for an alien disease that a super-high-tech alien couldnt. Also the alien blew everyone up, but it becomes your friend for no reasons. WTF.

    The story line basically consists of scanning a dozen of glowing green items in a row. "oh, you scanned a shiny green thing? here, let me add the location of the next shiny green thing to the map!". Incredibly boring.

    Also, the new mechanics are few and far between, and the amount of assets added does not really warrant a standalone sequel for this price. The game design feels unfinished, I was so excited to finally get the prawn suit, but you actually never need it and can finish the game easily without it. Of the 5 or so seatruck modules, I only needed 1. The rest is completely useless.

    Dont bother making a part 3 unless you: have a decent story and good progression/quest design to go with it, can nail the atmosphere as the first game did, and add enough new content to warrant the price.    … Expand
  9. JohnCartman
    May 29, 2021
    2
    I am truly disappointed. The first game had atmosphere. You were alone on a huge and deep map and that you could feel. You didnt really need a story, you were just trying to survive. The sheer amount of water, the depths, the monsters. Oh boy, they gave me the chill. I loved getting radio messages about sunken pods, so i could go there i try to find them and explore what happened to theI am truly disappointed. The first game had atmosphere. You were alone on a huge and deep map and that you could feel. You didnt really need a story, you were just trying to survive. The sheer amount of water, the depths, the monsters. Oh boy, they gave me the chill. I loved getting radio messages about sunken pods, so i could go there i try to find them and explore what happened to the people. The Torgal Family was my favorite. I wanted to know everything what happened to them and was dying to find their old underwater basements. That thing was amazing. But Below Zero? First of all, yes, its nice to see the aliens (one alien) who built things on the planet, but i dont get the feeling being alone or trying to survive. I am not really lost, i kind of found everything pretty fast, and never ever felt beeing watched by some creatures who tried to kill me. I only died once, because i was out of air. The creatures could not do anything to harm me. I had the electric thing on my sea truck and therefore i was invincible. If you watched the new cinematic trailer than you understand the game immediately. It is a joke. The guy, who i never encountered in the game always gets beeing attacked, than he survives and looks like he doesnt give a s….t. Well if the trailer suggests me these feelings, than why the hell should i care? And whats up with the land part? It has zero added value to the game. ZERO. (Ahhh maybe thats why its cold below zero…) The game is boring, there is nothing scary. NOTHING. Its just a copy of the old one, with some new graphic updates and a new seatruck. The seamoth from the original was awesome and i loved the cyclops. Man, you could have done so much better, if you have just focused on Bart Torgal and tried to show us his story, which is kind of still hidden. Why not explore further more those aspects? Maybe he got of the planet? Maybe he is still there somewhere and could survive the virus? I dont care about the new character, who tries to find out why her sister died. And whats up with the huge monster in the ice? You are teasing us with the creature, but its dead. So its just for pure cosmetics and aesthetics?… Expand
  10. TheTim
    May 13, 2022
    0
    Pure downgrade from the previous game, with terrible forcefed story with a full set of completely unlikeable characters rather than wonder and exploration. Locations aren't enjoyable to visit. The overland walking segments of game are much longer and inferior to the previous game. The vehicles, one of the few bits of appeal in first game, were made less fun and less useful. Ending feelsPure downgrade from the previous game, with terrible forcefed story with a full set of completely unlikeable characters rather than wonder and exploration. Locations aren't enjoyable to visit. The overland walking segments of game are much longer and inferior to the previous game. The vehicles, one of the few bits of appeal in first game, were made less fun and less useful. Ending feels like sudden short cliffhanger of disappointment. Played for tiny price on gamepass and it wasn't even worth the time it took to install it. Would've done a refund if I'd had to pay the asking price.… Expand
  11. fetqqq
    Jul 25, 2021
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 4/10
    A stripped-down version of the first part, which is lost in music, atmosphere, oddly enough plot. In the first part, there was a feeling that I was not on my own on the planet, and I need to get out by any means, or at least find someone else who survived, such a plot is easy to believe and easy to penetrate. All this gave an incentive to explore the map, where parallel landscapes that admired. In the second part, the character's strange motivation, there is no longer a desire to survive, you have to motivate yourself by the fact that you need to find a sister, girlfriend or someone there, and this is difficult. The most boring winter top (I don't want to float). I liked the first part very much, I bought the second one, but the desire to play it is absent after what I saw.

    Well, what else let down is the lack of additional complexity for those who played the first part and already understands how to quickly find resources, drink and feed themselves. Survival in the first part was not an obstacle, but due to the fact that it was the first experience of overcoming obstacles that added interest to the game.    … Expand
  12. astronut
    Jun 8, 2021
    0
    The world feels so small, all sense of exploration and awe is gone, replaced by boring land exploration and a story so bland even netflix wouldn't want to make a movie of it (and let's not talk about the dialogues, how i miss having a silent protagonist), also lot of bugs and no official vr support for some reason. So that leave us with prettier graphics and alien penguins, two years ofThe world feels so small, all sense of exploration and awe is gone, replaced by boring land exploration and a story so bland even netflix wouldn't want to make a movie of it (and let's not talk about the dialogues, how i miss having a silent protagonist), also lot of bugs and no official vr support for some reason. So that leave us with prettier graphics and alien penguins, two years of feedback for this... yeah I'll never buy a game in early access again, even if it's a sequel to one of my favorite games.… Expand
  13. gatezz0007
    Jan 7, 2022
    2
    Terrible story, terrible music and ambient sound, smaller map, it's really downgrade from first game.
    Original Subnautica is one of my favorite games, but this "below zero" is a trash.
  14. Augustus75
    May 18, 2021
    3
    It simply is a toned down, much less dangerous sequel that lacks the immersion of the first.

    Don't give us base building, then give us zero reason to build them. Especially with awesome quality of life additions like the jukebox. Also, as many have noted, the vehicular changes remove yet another layer of gameplay that is beloved by fans of the first. Everything is easy to achieve    It simply is a toned down, much less dangerous sequel that lacks the immersion of the first.

    Don't give us base building, then give us zero reason to build them. Especially with awesome quality of life additions like the jukebox.

    Also, as many have noted, the vehicular changes remove yet another layer of gameplay that is beloved by fans of the first. Everything is easy to achieve in this sequel and I often found myself needing little protection from most dangers.

    If this is the future of this franchise, then count me out.

    (Subnautica original is one of my favorite games of all time, bugs and all.)    … Expand
  15. DPS86
    Jun 9, 2021
    2
    Very disappoint stand alone DLC.
    The map is smaller then the original
    The story arcs are shallow, not coherent and quite plain and boring. The alien artifacts look like chinese ripoff lego toys and dont comunicate any sense of wonder. The arctic land part are a nuisance, I expected a dangerous white hell, not a boring one corridoor canyon on board a vomit inducing wobbly bike. Like    Very disappoint stand alone DLC.
    The map is smaller then the original
    The story arcs are shallow, not coherent and quite plain and boring.
    The alien artifacts look like chinese ripoff lego toys and dont comunicate any sense of wonder.
    The arctic land part are a nuisance, I expected a dangerous white hell, not a boring one corridoor canyon on board a vomit inducing wobbly bike.
    Like for the first one you can complete the game with a single cylinder base and probably even that is not needed.
    The enemyes are weak and found only one titan to be slightly spooky, the others look like normal sharks.
    They took away my beloved cyclop submarine. But with such a small map I doubt it could have fit anywere the poor thng.    … Expand
  16. TwiTu
    Jul 26, 2021
    0
    "Being inclusive is not political. Playing as a woman is not political."
    Thats what one of the developers replied to a customer complaining how much effort they put into race and gender, while blatantly ignoring real issues with the game.
    Shoving the sexuality (and sexual preference - WTF kids play this game too!) of protagonists, how strong they are for women and how diverse the    "Being inclusive is not political. Playing as a woman is not political."
    Thats what one of the developers replied to a customer complaining how much effort they put into race and gender, while blatantly ignoring real issues with the game.

    Shoving the sexuality (and sexual preference - WTF kids play this game too!) of protagonists, how strong they are for women and how diverse the characters are, that all your white and male characters are either dumb, goofy, gay, evil, corrupt, stupid and useless down the throat of people is the very definition of politics and makes your game propaganda.

    Everyone knows what the last game was. Nothing political was included at all. But I am sure you will make your Keep Calm Kitty brown or black too once someone on Twitter claims youre racist for having a white kitty on it. Or just from this review, just to spite me.

    Back then you still understood that nobody plays games for politics. Not even political simulations. They do it to escape the overly political real world. Making the story revolve around it and mentioning/pointing it out every single dialogue is the very definition of political propaganda. Have you never been shown Soviet or Nazi propaganda in school???

    You could have easily added a customizable player character. You could have easily made the story more of a mystery like on the last game. But due to the choice of character, and your urge to virtue signal, she bleats out the whole plot already after 30 mins of gameplay.

    Not to mention, the way you portrayed these "inclusive" characters made them extremely unlikeable. They are incompetent, arrogant, overly aggressive, cant control their emotions, unfunny, cringy, narcissistic, insecure and stereotypical in general. So what picture are you trying to paint here in any case? Is that supposed to be inspiration for POC and females? You only look like the devs of TLoU2, who tried to be woke and then made the worst people POC and/or female, made you kill doggies and horses, made the vast majority of the people you need to kill POC and female and to top it off even added a Jewish character who has a huge nose.
    Bravo. Congratulations. But thats what happens when you force something without even understanding it. Politics after all.

    Other than that I cant really add anything that others havent said already, except that... well... Racists do make bad games, because all they care for is race while neglecting the important things like story, immersion, map, vehicles, characters, dialogue, bugs, controls and early access player feedback in general. Just like in this game. Seriously, if you look at the choices they made, the feedback they blatantly ignored and how they treat their players, it seems this game was just made to make the people mad that they think are racists. Yet they are the racists themselves. No self-reflection at all.
    Yet they dont mind taking the money from the people they think that are racists. Again, very telling.

    When you look at Steamcharts its very obvious that most players dont like this game nearly as much as the last one. Even now the 3+ year old game has 1000 to 2000 more players than the new Below Zero. And the peaks in player numbers are even more drastic. Sometimes twice or triple that of Below Zero.
    Get woke go broke.    … Expand
  17. Bl4ckbeard
    May 20, 2021
    0
    Downgrade from first game and disappointment in almost every way.

    - Smaller ocean - Bad vehicles. Seamoth and Cyclops are combined into one vehicle, and vehicle progression is gone, you just get seatruck and then find add-ons for it. - Big iceberg biome is terrible. Such enormous land biome doesn't belong in Subnautica. It's called Subnautica for a reason. Also your character kept    Downgrade from first game and disappointment in almost every way.

    - Smaller ocean

    - Bad vehicles. Seamoth and Cyclops are combined into one vehicle, and vehicle progression is gone, you just get seatruck and then find add-ons for it.

    - Big iceberg biome is terrible. Such enormous land biome doesn't belong in Subnautica. It's called Subnautica for a reason. Also your character kept getting stuck on terrain all the time.

    - Biomes. In first game, every biome felt like you're entering new world. In BZ almost all biomes feel samey and boring. There's no scary biomes like Blood Kelp or Grand Reef from first game, or really dangerous biomes like Dunes or Mountains from first game.

    - Protagonist. It felt like devs tried to make the protagonist as "selling point". Really cringey, kept getting offended when alien said something.

    - Story. When you start the game, you're under the impression that you go to find out what happened to your sister, but all this ends up being fully optional, instead main objective is to help the alien.    … Expand
  18. rundor
    Sep 16, 2021
    0
    When you make a sequel, you should not only try to make a game as good and fillied with content as the original but also perhaps even improve upon and increase the amount of content and quality of it.

    Below zero does absolutely none of that, everything is either worse, at best mediocre/the same, and above all most times extremely lacking compared to the original. This game literally    When you make a sequel, you should not only try to make a game as good and fillied with content as the original but also perhaps even improve upon and increase the amount of content and quality of it.

    Below zero does absolutely none of that, everything is either worse, at best mediocre/the same, and above all most times extremely lacking compared to the original. This game literally feels like a cash grab DLC compared to the original game and should NEVER have been marketed anywhere near as being a sequel. Even for a DLC it would have been lacking in some areas. It literally feels like this is about a THIRD of the game the original was, and that is including all the content from the first that was re-used for this game.    … Expand
  19. imwritting
    Nov 22, 2021
    1
    where to begin
    The game feels like a ripoff of Subnautica with decent graphics. usually the sequels are more ground breaking the only real change is the addition of actual voice acting a characters. that seems like a good thing no? its not good at all it feels void of humanity more so than the first. "you work with these people", "no i dont" is most of the dialogue between two characters    where to begin
    The game feels like a ripoff of Subnautica with decent graphics. usually the sequels are more ground breaking the only real change is the addition of actual voice acting a characters. that seems like a good thing no? its not good at all it feels void of humanity more so than the first. "you work with these people", "no i dont" is most of the dialogue between two characters and its boring. the other main character is monotone and is like that know it all back seat driver. it mashes to a formula that just doesn't work in the confines of the game.
    the actual gameplay is mediocre at best its the same exact formula and nothing changes you do the same things you did before and was tired of. The enemies in the first one kept you scared and paranoid, these are like the Halloween costumes you see on children and the scariest of them all is wearing bumblebee costume from the transformers, while in the first one was a guy coming from the shadows with a knife trying to rob you. they changed the rock drops cause you move north and all the minerals in outcrops drastically change.
    the pda, oh good god the pda. to some it up the first one was a nice English speaking person with jokes that made you smile. the one in below zero is calling you over your cars extended warranty from Bangladesh. why just why would you make the staple voice worse. what thought process would seem reasonable to take the original voice include it in some aspects like the habitat and completely redo the rest.
    biomes it gets worse. looking at the originals biomes felt alive and different colors constantly changing always something different. this one guess what 80 are the same color pallet just different designs and its all dull colors yeah there is a few colors that are different but they are few and far between the spiral forest which is a good chunk of the map glows in the dark but in colors that still remind you of the dull pallet of colors. if you compare the size of this game to the first you would expect it to be a dlc not a independent game.
    conclusion i could go on for days about the poor decisions this game entailed. to make a long story short i had no emotional connections no urge to replay and no urge to finish it was go here do this and your really not exploring just mindlessly wandering around waiting for the game to tell you your here. then changes were not well thought out and make the game seem more abysmal. Its dlc type content not solo game type I wish i didnt spend the money or time playing this it was a waste of both. I loved the first and thoroughly dislike the second there are plenty examples of good sequels this isn't one.    … Expand
  20. T-D-L
    Oct 3, 2021
    3
    I know people who paid and supported the alpha for this game, and if this was Subnautica 1 I would say their patience and money was well rewarded. Subnautica: Below Zero presents a serviceable story and interesting arctic alien zone yet does virtually nothing to improve the dated gameplay mechanics it established back in 2014.

    You would be forgiven for confusing it with the first game    I know people who paid and supported the alpha for this game, and if this was Subnautica 1 I would say their patience and money was well rewarded. Subnautica: Below Zero presents a serviceable story and interesting arctic alien zone yet does virtually nothing to improve the dated gameplay mechanics it established back in 2014.

    You would be forgiven for confusing it with the first game at a glance, especially in the first 2-4 hours of play as it's the same game. the recipes are the same, the oxygen mechanic is the same, you'll hunt for peepers and bladderfish just like you did back in the first game it hasn't changed one iota and it sets a precedent for a new story told with the same tired, old, engine. I wasn't an hour in to the game before I had to summon forth the console (Shift+Enter by the way and that info is only available in a bloody PATCH NOTE) in order to warp myself out of a stuck spot because despite having half a decade of development time to improve things, gravity and collision is apparently still a problem.

    Truthfully, I love the world that the game presents to me, but I fear I am now too old to deal with all of the inconsistencies in Unknown World's design. After a decade of experience as a company, I'm surprised that this game still feels like amateur work. It was cute back in Subnautica 1, but now its 2021 and I don't have the patience for a non-stacking inventory system, one-item-at-a-time crafting(WHY!?), manually hunting out blueprint fragments because the scanning room has *never* been helpful in this regard. By far, the most frustrating thing about this game is that all of the designs problems are about one small change away from being great.

    Take titanium for example, the game literally has a joke in it about titanium being comically easy to find and duh, it's the first material you use, but a few hours in you'll find salvage which you can pick up with a hint that says "can be recycled into titanium", cool so this must be a more efficient method of gathering titanium at the expense of it being bulky, right? Wrong! It takes up 4 slots in your inventory and gives you how much titanium? Well 4, which takes up (wait for it) 4 slots in your inventory, So it's titanium with an extra step and in fact it's actually WORSE than gathering regular titanium because salvage has to be arranged in a square pattern in your non-stacking inventory.

    If you've played the game before you may have noticed I haven't mentioned the temperature meter yet, that's because it's the same as the oxygen meter but above ground, and I would bet money that they inherited it from the same script as the oxygen meter. Copy-pasting mechanics don't make them new, devs, even if you rename the script file.

    The new vehicles are cool, but because this game is forever cowering in the shadow of it's predecessor, none of these vehicles outperform the prawn suit, which is a mech suit that was nigh-unstoppable in the original game and is nigh-unstoppable now, there is no reason to use the seatruck when the prawn suit is more agile and can pick stuff up, there is no reason to use the snowfox because the prawn suit can go on land. The new vehicles feel more like gimmicks than actual additions.

    Honestly, I was excited to play this game because I have such fond memories of Subnautica 1 but I have been thoroughly disappointed by this iteration and all it would have taken to make Below Zero an amazing game is someone giving half of a care about the fundamental mechanics of this no-longer-unique survival series.    … Expand
  21. theirrelephants
    May 16, 2021
    1
    Terrible story, the music/ambient sound is much worse than the first one (guess they shouldn't have fired their original sound guy for suggesting hiring people based on skin color was racist). No sense of dread and you have to put up with an awfully voiced protagonist for the entire game. They also replaced the AI voice with a new AI voice that has a terrible accent for... no realTerrible story, the music/ambient sound is much worse than the first one (guess they shouldn't have fired their original sound guy for suggesting hiring people based on skin color was racist). No sense of dread and you have to put up with an awfully voiced protagonist for the entire game. They also replaced the AI voice with a new AI voice that has a terrible accent for... no real reason, apparently. It was equally painful to listen to. Why does the AI have a fake accent? Why WOULD one?

    Amusingly in regards to the story, they have apparently reworked it completely from what it was originally was due to complaints. If this is the revamped storyline, I'd hate to see the original, because the new one is still trash.

    You get the endgame vehicle near the start of the game, and the game itself is a lot SMALLER than the original. Probably because they added more land... in a game about sea exploration. Geniuses, the development team is not.

    Forget sequel, I wouldn't even call this a decent expansion. I deleted this game several hours after pirating it.

    1 point for pretty graphics.    … Expand
  22. sex69
    May 18, 2021
    0
    It's funny, but the story is so... It's normal. I don't like the story. It's like a healing game.
  23. michaelkelgin
    Jun 16, 2021
    1
    Most other summed it up already so I will try to be concise: In the first game the Cyclops was a GOD BEAST; once you found all the pieces you could customize it and build inside it and it was amazing and allowed you to explore down to the core of planet it felt like. Compared to the majesty of the cyclops the sea truck is like a fart warbler. No customization at all and the bigger you makeMost other summed it up already so I will try to be concise: In the first game the Cyclops was a GOD BEAST; once you found all the pieces you could customize it and build inside it and it was amazing and allowed you to explore down to the core of planet it felt like. Compared to the majesty of the cyclops the sea truck is like a fart warbler. No customization at all and the bigger you make it with pre-fabs it starts to move slower than a CEO going to hand out bonuses so your incentivized to keep it minimal. The map is tiny compared to the first one. It feels backwards - like if you never played the series before play below zero first and then subnautica 1 and you would be really happy with the progression to the sequel with the bigger map and better stuff and more immersive story. Below zero just has less of everything than the first and it's an awful let down as the first was one of my favorite games OF ALL TIME.… Expand
  24. Hyperfailure
    May 20, 2023
    4
    Not as good as the first one, granted it reuses much of the same ideas and all. Overall, just felt genre fatigue playing it and did not finish or even get far

Awards & Rankings

50
#50 Best PC Game of 2021
40
#40 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. GameGrin
    Aug 19, 2022
    90
    Subnatica: Below Zero is an excellent survival game, being equally beautiful and terrifying. The narrative is strong but can feel out of place at times.
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 17, 2022
    80
    If you played the original part and you enjoyed it, Below Zero is a good choice. For those who once had enough, there is probably no need to play again. The sequel takes the best from the original game and adds something new.
  3. CD-Action
    Jul 23, 2021
    90
    The world of Below Zero is much smaller than its predecessor’s, but it is still an absolutely brilliant survival game that tells an interesting story set in a fascinating environment. Additionally, it is more friendly towards less experienced players, and managed to get rid of some technical issues that affected the original Subnautica. [08/2021, p.78]
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