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

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  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. Sinatra
    May 29, 2021
    5
    A disappointment in almost every way. The game itself is not bad, it´s just so mediocre in comparison to the first one. But let me tell you about the improvements in BZ:

    The positive: GRAPHICS: Wow, this game looks good!!! BIOMES (well, at least a few of them): In the very beginning of the game you´ll soon stumble upon the twisty bridges. This is one of my favorite biomes of both    A disappointment in almost every way. The game itself is not bad, it´s just so mediocre in comparison to the first one. But let me tell you about the improvements in BZ:

    The positive:

    GRAPHICS: Wow, this game looks good!!!

    BIOMES (well, at least a few of them): In the very beginning of the game you´ll soon stumble upon the twisty bridges. This is one of my favorite biomes of both games and it shines with its design and its alien looks.

    BASE BUILDING: the biggest improvement here is the addition of the large room. Oh boy, was I excited when I found it and amazed when I build it, because of so much room I had to play with.

    The negative:

    BIOMES: While most of them are nicely designed, they feel so "meh" compared to the first subnautica. The wonder (or terror) you felt in the first game when discovering new locations is totally gone in BZ. I thought about it, but really don´t know why many of them just feel boring. But let me tell you something about boring.... the land biome.... wow.... it´s huge, it´s white and 99% of the time you have a snow storm and can´t see more than 5 meters. There are POI´s, but so few that it just feels empty... after an hour there, I felt like I was wasting my time ( and I spent many hours there, because I thought "there must be more here" ... but "spoiler" - there isn´t)... I never had that feeling in the first Subanutica.
    And who thought that it was a good idea to make a large land biome, where you get stuck on every rock, as the character can´t make a jump an inch high?

    FAUNA: Mostly reskinned, but does not feel as dangerous as in the first part. The only time I was scared and amazed was when I encountered the ice worm - it´s so well designed and it sounds so terrifying, that suddenly all other creatures seem unpolished.

    VEHICLES: The devs already showed us in the first entry how much fun vehicles can be and the feeling of accomplishment you can have when building them. What happened here? The community was asking for more vehicles, but apparently that didn´t matter. The truck you get might have sounded good on paper (modular building), but just falls short to what we are used to. I remember how I often I thought "what I would give to have a Seamoth now". The biggest issue for me was the feeling, that there was no effort put in the seatruck. Originally the vehicles were so thought through in their design, that it was jaw dropping (at least for me). Being able to dock my Seamoth in the Cyclops was a brilliant idea. The Moonpool and all its functions... wow. Now I have a vehicle where I only can dock the front part in a moonpool. So, while I was used to dock and unload everything I collected, now i have to manually undock the front part, dock in the moonpool, go outside , enter "the rest" of the vehicle, get the first load of resources in my storages (and why ... WHY????.... can´t I just have one large storage???? Why so many small ones????), swim back to my base and do it all over again. WHY???? Did no one think of making a tube-like moonpool where I could dock my seatruck?
    And let´s not forget the snowfox. Let me just say, I´ve never had a worse handling in a video game....
    So, honestly, what happened here? Did the devs think that the quality of life from the first game was too much to handle for the players?

    STORY: if you want to call it that. It feels like you have parts of stories that are randomly thrown together without any purpose. So, the main plot is that your sister died and now you want to investigate what happened to her. Alterra (the bad, bad company) told you she died because of negligence. Later on you´ll find a PDA in which it is mentioned again and - as far as I know - that is it. Did I miss something?
    I know the story was changed in mid-development and I don´t know what it was. So is this a remnant of the old story???
    PDA´s now contain totally mundane information of the interactions of the science crew on the planet. Do you remember the story of the Degasi survivors? Where is the quality of such storytelling gone?
    The "other" story got interesting later on, but 5 minutes later the game ended. I remember that I thought "what? that´s it?"

    IN GENERAL: Of course we all expected a better Subnautica, or at least one of the same quality. And in some degree BZ does that, but also does so many steps backwards in so many other aspects. The wonder, the fear and the sense of accomplishment is missing here completely. I also was expecting some more "new" craftables.
    If you have never played Subnautica, then I would recommend to play BZ first and then Subnautica 1.    … Expand
  4. lord_raccoon
    Jul 7, 2021
    6
    Was a big fan of the first game, but Below Zero totally disappointed me. I didn't make it to the end, had to watch an ending on youtube. Idk what exactly is bad about the game. For sure it has absolutely different atmosphere. I remember i was so scared to explore the planet in first part, but there it wasn't scary at all. A feeling that you are not alone ruined the feelings i had before.Was a big fan of the first game, but Below Zero totally disappointed me. I didn't make it to the end, had to watch an ending on youtube. Idk what exactly is bad about the game. For sure it has absolutely different atmosphere. I remember i was so scared to explore the planet in first part, but there it wasn't scary at all. A feeling that you are not alone ruined the feelings i had before. The world itself is not much interesting to explore, as well as plot seems to be too boring.

    Still, a pretty nice game for 20-30 hours, i can't say i wasted the time. Its just worse then predecessor.    … Expand
  5. ClavicusVile666
    Jun 12, 2021
    6
    Like many reviewers here, I loved the first Subnautica, and can't help but feel disappointed by this sequel. The Good: graphics, sound design, some pretty biomes
    The Bad: Short and meh story, entirely too much time spent on land, poor vehicles (Seamoth > Sea Truck). Lastly, the map feels so small, especially since so much of it is taken up by land biomes. If you haven't played the    Like many reviewers here, I loved the first Subnautica, and can't help but feel disappointed by this sequel. The Good: graphics, sound design, some pretty biomes
    The Bad: Short and meh story, entirely too much time spent on land, poor vehicles (Seamoth > Sea Truck). Lastly, the map feels so small, especially since so much of it is taken up by land biomes. If you haven't played the first one, you'll probably like this game, but if you have... you'll probably enjoy parts of it, but long to go back to the first one.    … Expand
  6. Nastysheep
    Jun 23, 2021
    5
    So disappointing. Half the story is literally useless, as you can skip it altogether.
    A huge part of the assets you can build are literally useless also, this game was rewritten, and you can feel it horribly. You will never feel scared or in danger. Vehicles are a downgrade, the prawn suit is rendered useless too. Atmosphere is way below the first one and the map is way smaller.
    You    So disappointing. Half the story is literally useless, as you can skip it altogether.
    A huge part of the assets you can build are literally useless also, this game was rewritten, and you can feel it horribly. You will never feel scared or in danger. Vehicles are a downgrade, the prawn suit is rendered useless too. Atmosphere is way below the first one and the map is way smaller.

    You will enjoy this game if you didn't play the original.    … Expand
  7. Nicotin
    Aug 27, 2021
    5
    To anyone that is saying that this game is just as good as the first one, just different, they're completely out of their mind. Below Zero fails miserably to recreate some of the key components that made the original Subnautica great, and also fails miserably to achieve the things they were supposed to innovate on to compensate this change. I will try to ilustrate why even though there areTo anyone that is saying that this game is just as good as the first one, just different, they're completely out of their mind. Below Zero fails miserably to recreate some of the key components that made the original Subnautica great, and also fails miserably to achieve the things they were supposed to innovate on to compensate this change. I will try to ilustrate why even though there are some great 1 hr. + reviews on YouTube that explain this.

    Map: The map is a lot smaller and less deep that the original, and has biomes packed together, even vertically in some cases. This doesn't seem very realistic since you have a lot of biomes a few meters appart and more importantly it makes you loose the feeling of being on "open ocean"; you can see the limits of your enviroment almost all the time, which are also clearly iluminated as opposed to the deep dark sea on the original. You never wonder if there's a scary creature ready to get you since you always have clear visibility of your surroundings.

    Terror: there is literally NO TERROR in this game. Leaviathans are a sad joke and there are only squid sharks in every single biome, which is practically the only fauna you will practically see in the game. And they don't do absolutely nothing. You will very soon find that you are invincible with the defense upgrade of the Sea Truck. Late game leviathan? No problem, it will do 10 damage and run away. The PDA even tells you of the presence of them which takes away any fear of anticipation.

    Story: You basically have two story lines: finding what happened to the main character's sister and helping an architect to rebuild his body. None of them make absolutely any sense once you pay attention to it. The developers were supposed to compensate the lack of terror and map design in BZ with a great story, which aside from being very generic, it's full of plotholes that don't make any sense at all. You also are introduced to another survivor named Margaret, which you of course expect to develop over time and form a relationship which, but it turns out you only see her again twice in the game for a grand total of 5 mins on screen. The writing seems extremely lazy I couldn't even believe it. We lost all the greatness of the original Subnautica for this "great storyline".

    Land gameplay: it was just okay. Nothing special, and very buggy. I did not get any damage from either the land creatures and land leviathans since using the snow vehicle makes their behaviour so buggy they can't even hit you once. Ridiculous.

    Overall this game feels very bland, lazy, and definetly nothing special like the first one. The most worrying part is that after playing BZ, it really makes me wonder if the developers just stumbled upon the greatness of the original Subnautica by random chance. They really screwed everything they could screw in BZ which does not deliver anything other than Sea Monkeys as a replacement for the Cuddlefish. This is not just a "different game but equally good". It's just and OK 5/10, which is trash compared to the original Subnautica.    … Expand
  8. TactlessCorpse
    Mar 28, 2022
    6
    The original Subnautica was really special to me and had great world design, an interesting story line that gave many moments of surprise, and there were reasons to have multiple bases and generally have interest at almost every type of biome. I paid for Subnautica: Below Zero the moment it was available for early access because of how well they made that game! After that... I patientlyThe original Subnautica was really special to me and had great world design, an interesting story line that gave many moments of surprise, and there were reasons to have multiple bases and generally have interest at almost every type of biome. I paid for Subnautica: Below Zero the moment it was available for early access because of how well they made that game! After that... I patiently waited for the release of Below Zero while avoiding any spoilers. Even with all that preparation for success... Below Zero really didn't have anything unexpected or surprising for me.

    This sequel is a lot more like an expansion. It's worth playing with that in mind. You do get a chance to start from scratch, explore some new territory, collect resources, and build. In other ways, it falls short in everything the first game did so well. I was particularly disappointed in the extremely predictable story line and it's lackluster endings. I made one base and never felt a need or desire to make more. New tech was cool to add, but I was already bored with the world and had nothing left to explore by the time I was able to craft most of it. They really could have taken the opportunity to go a bit further with scale and the story line but it feels like they just didn't spend much time even thinking about that.

    Hope the best for this dev team in the future and I hope they find ways to not only match the success of the first game, but introduce some more layers of greatness! I'll certainly keep giving them a shot!    … Expand
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  11. ComandanteCobra
    May 6, 2023
    6
    Less engaging than Subnautica, If you haven't player that, try It before this one.
    Some life improvement has been made (a litte more resources, some clever veichles ideas), visual bugs fixed...but story is less engaging and also exploration is less "scary" and less impressive.
    Navigation is somewhat worse than the first one: A lot of interesting things to discover are placed in places    Less engaging than Subnautica, If you haven't player that, try It before this one.
    Some life improvement has been made (a litte more resources, some clever veichles ideas), visual bugs fixed...but story is less engaging and also exploration is less "scary" and less impressive.

    Navigation is somewhat worse than the first one:
    A lot of interesting things to discover are placed in places and background veeeery similar to each other and very easilly missed leading to some frustration.
    Very good soundtrack.    … Expand
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. iknock
    May 25, 2021
    6
    TLDR: Below Zero is still a good game in a vacuum, but it pales when compared to its bigger, meaner and overall much better prequel.

    The original Subnautica was more of an experience than even a game. It felt like I was actually exploring an alien world that was constantly trying to kill me, while my jaw dropped after finding a massive cave for which I did not have enough equipment.    TLDR: Below Zero is still a good game in a vacuum, but it pales when compared to its bigger, meaner and overall much better prequel.

    The original Subnautica was more of an experience than even a game. It felt like I was actually exploring an alien world that was constantly trying to kill me, while my jaw dropped after finding a massive cave for which I did not have enough equipment.

    Below Zero, on the other hand, is not that. But before ranting, note that it is still very good and definitely better than most games. It has beautiful and distinctive areas, a simple yet engaging story, a surprisingly alive world and satisfying exploration. The voice acting is also good to really good, albeit some characters feel lacking (I'm looking at you Emmanuel). And even if I'm not going to be very forgiving, it still hooked me so much I finished within a couple of weeks.

    But here comes the problem: It's a terrible sequel, as they changed little and what they did change was for the worse. The list is at the end of the review, but it can be summarized as "trying to be what it isn't". It is not a linear game. It does not have many, engaging characters. It is not designed to be on land. It is Subnautica, a marine exploration game in which the world both challenges you and tells you a story. BZ is trying not to be that and, to me, it seems it failed while trying.

    LIST OF PROBLEMATIC CHANGES:
    - MAP: Its map is smaller in both depth and surface, with each biome being visually appealing but with little incentive to actually stop in them.
    - LINEARITY: The story is now much more linear and omni-present, removing the charm of exploring areas at your own pace and putting it together like a puzzle. Linearity is not suitable for this kind of exploration game: for example, even after a key character "left my side", I could still hear him in dialogues as if he never left. This was because I did things in a different order as the devs may have expected, but that is bound to happen in Subnautica!
    - STORY: The focus of the story shifted from the world itself to a bunch of characters. This can work, but I found it less engaging as the player explores the world itself. For instance, in the original they talked about an ancient lab. Later on, when you found its ruins you felt like a detective, putting together the events that led to its destruction, what its original purpose was, what each room was, etc. This does not happen nearly as much in BZ, as locations take a back-seat compared to what the characters did and felt.
    - DIFFICULTY: The challenge has been greatly toned down. I never felt feer for my life (and my equipment), as there are only a couple of threats that become powerless very early on. In a "survival" game, this made the world much less engaging.
    - VEHICLES: The "seatruck" replaces both the seamoth (first vehicle) and the cyclops (last vehicle), while at the same time being worse than either. The seamoth felt agile but vulnerable at deeper levels, but the cyclops was a basically a moveable base, although larger and hard to get. This balance felt amazing, having to weigh risks and rewards and giving a real feeling of progression. The seatruck on the other hand is extremely easy to get and surprisingly sturdy, removing risk-reward compromises and mid and late games incentives.
    - THE BLOODY LAND: The game focuses on land biomes way more than it should. All movements feel "clanky" and exploration is tedious since you move slower and it's harder to traverse vertically. Also, the weather is constantly changing and getting foggy, which is annoying when you're trying to find the next place required to advance the story.    … Expand
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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.
  22. Zahoul
    May 16, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is good. I would have given it a better note if it was the first one. However, it is the sequel, and poorer than the first one.

    On the positive side, we have to speak about what we like in subnautica: the gameplay, the exploration, fauna and flora. It's nearly the same than the previous game, but it was already very good.
    The new map is interesting, even if smaller than the first one. Biomes are better designed than Sub' but they are far simpler. We still have the same excitation when going deeper and deeper and acquiring new elements.
    The story is fun, even if it could have deserved to be longer and richer.

    On the negative side, the game is far simpler than the first one. The new vehicle, the Aquatruck, kills the game IMO. We have it from the near beginning, and we can go down to the bottom of the ocean with it. In Sub', we had to choose. Seamoth for small caves, or Cyclops for bigger explorations, but it was a journey. In BZ, the aquatruck will easily do everything you need.
    Prawn suit? Didn't even craft it as all materials can be collected without mining and close to the Aquatruck.

    The level design of biomes is also simpler. Forget about lava zone/lava castle, you will have here 1 biome for the endgame, and you will go there probably twice. that's it.

    As for the base crafting, there is not much more than we used to have. Immersion chamber is not useful.

    In the end, the game takes the best from the first one, but simplifies it.
    It stays a good game, I had fun with it, but we have to say it's just an extension to Sub'. Not a fresh new game.    … Expand
  23. 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
  24. dubesor
    May 17, 2021
    6
    This felt much more like an expansion/addon rather than a standalone-game. Mechanically, it's pretty much the same as Subnautica, with very minor alterations. Flora and Fauna is pretty much the same except altered to be the "ice-version". Too little changes for me unforunately, I would have loved to see totally new enemies, totally new fish, new items to craft! Oh well. Size wise it's alsoThis felt much more like an expansion/addon rather than a standalone-game. Mechanically, it's pretty much the same as Subnautica, with very minor alterations. Flora and Fauna is pretty much the same except altered to be the "ice-version". Too little changes for me unforunately, I would have loved to see totally new enemies, totally new fish, new items to craft! Oh well. Size wise it's also much smaller than the base game / first game. Most of the content is above 400meters with minor exceptions in the endgame. The story and music was weaker in my opinion, despite them adding a meetable NPC and voice acting. I couldn't connect with the MC at all and unfortunately their decision to move from a neutral character that the player feels represents himself to a predetermined character meant I didn't experience any horror at all this time around. You have the same enemies with the same AI, doing the same thing, except they are reskinned. Caves are much smaller and you constantly bump into things. Seatruck is a **** seamoth that gets stuck everywhere. Overall I enjoyed the core gameplay loop that was already established and proven to work in Subnautica. The other stuff was passable at best. I just didn't feel anything this time around, the epicness of the soundtrack of the 1st was missing, the sheer horror from the unknown was missing (because everything was re-used there is no "unknown"), the stories didn't get tied up but are rather left to interpretation.

    That being said the core gameplay is still good, so 6/10 for me. It's fine but could have been done a lot better. I'd think of it more like an expansion though.    … Expand
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. 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
  29. MadWinning
    Jun 2, 2021
    7
    The plot is mind-blowing. A black lesbian developed a vaccine that a super-advanced alien couldn't, killed herself by accident. Her sister (you) resurrects the alien that destroyed at least 4 human ships (Degasi, Aurora, Sunbeam, Mercury II) killing dozens of humans, called for help but still killed the first human trying to locate them because "Lil wanted to know too much aboutThe plot is mind-blowing. A black lesbian developed a vaccine that a super-advanced alien couldn't, killed herself by accident. Her sister (you) resurrects the alien that destroyed at least 4 human ships (Degasi, Aurora, Sunbeam, Mercury II) killing dozens of humans, called for help but still killed the first human trying to locate them because "Lil wanted to know too much about Architects". Architects kill humans without warning and it is OK. Finally, you side with them and immigrate to their world to find a better life. Even f***ing seamonkeys gift you free resources if the alien is inside you, otherwise - steal your equipment! Racism.… Expand
  30. 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
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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.
    Read full review
  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]
See all critic reviews »