Subnautica

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1406 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,191 out of 1406
  2. Mixed: 133 out of 1406
  3. Negative: 82 out of 1406

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  1. Telembrium
    Jan 25, 2018
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Subnautica takes mechanics from the survival genre and incorporates them into the core gameplay of an adventure game. While this does work well in the early game, it quickly becomes a chore when the story opens up, with the player being perpetually inconvenienced with the trifling tasks of collecting food, water, and resources after they've long stopped caring. A story which creates questions, provokes thought, and presents outrageous implications is ultimately anticlimactic, with the metaphorical key which could explain everything just being idly thrown away as if it were nothing. Despite this, an exotic world to investigate, combined with a pleasant graphical style, offers an enjoyable, if somewhat rudimentary, experience in exploration.

    The story begins with the player crash-landing on a planet almost completely covered in water. Immediately, they’re tasked with trying to survive as well as attempting to find other crash-landed crewmembers. This is the best part of the game. There's a sense of urgency, plot questions actually get answered, and becoming acquainted with the foreign environment is exciting. The survival mechanics work here, as they slowly draw the player out of the starting area's safety and present a clear path of progression. Unfortunately, the game quickly shows its lame side, as every single crewmember calling for help dies immediately before the player arrives. Eventually, the player discovers that they are infected with a deadly alien bacterium, which they need to cure.

    The player soon find that aliens have built several underwater bases on the planet which (conveniently) happen to be a facility for researching a cure to the alien bacterium. From here, the gameplay becomes an utter chore, as the player is endlessly tasked with finding or creating another differently-coloured keycard to enter the next alien base, essentially making the gameplay analogous to 1993's Doom, except for the lack of shooting alien abominations.

    The player continues to find new alien bases, with each one delivering another bit of story exposition which usually creates more questions than it answers. All the while, they'll constantly be harassed by incredibly annoying enemies called "warpers", which teleport the player around (potentially into certain death) and which can't be killed. The player, however, can be killed, and the end result is that they respawn at home or in their submarine and have to go back to where they were, meaning that death is simply a complete waste of time.

    Eventually, the player finds the final base and meets an ancient, sentient sea monster who communicates by speaking to the player telepathically. This sea monster could potentially explain everything the player wants to know: who are the aliens, where are they from, what were they doing with artifacts from Earth, why was the native fauna experiencing such accelerated evolutionary patterns, and etcetera. Instead, the monster tasks you with a fetch quest to power a button, which, when pressed, inexplicably kills them. Ensue another fetch quest where the player builds an escape ship, which, after using it to leave the planet, prompts a kicker that shows that the monster is apparently still in existence, telepathically revealing that it's "together" with the player somehow. Return to title screen.

    Ultimately, the exploration is fun, but everything else is a drag. One has to deal with meaningless and tedious deaths as well as the constant annoyance of the “warper” enemies to do it, but the exotic landscapes, pleasant visuals, and sense of scale make the experience of exploration a positive one regardless. The survival mechanics, however, need to be reapproached. They should be harmonious with the adventure gameplay, creating an interactive system rather than being an excuse to impede progress. In regards to the story, questions need to be answered, and unexplained events should not be left on the table. Without closure, the story becomes superficial, and it leaves the player feeling burned.    … Expand
  2. Waveform1
    Feb 25, 2019
    3
    REAL MIXED BAG HERE

    It is attention grabbing and intriguing... for the first 2 hours I'd say about when you're building your first habitat is when the boredom sets in, then when you're trying to advance (Especially the cyclops) the boredom starts to slide into frustration and impatience. The scavenging, while fun at first, quickly begins to devolve into a tedious, headache inducing    REAL MIXED BAG HERE

    It is attention grabbing and intriguing... for the first 2 hours
    I'd say about when you're building your first habitat is when the boredom sets in, then when you're trying to advance (Especially the cyclops) the boredom starts to slide into frustration and impatience. The scavenging, while fun at first, quickly begins to devolve into a tedious, headache inducing scavenger hunt. While the game is very visually appealing, towards mid game that luster too begins to fall away as you have to make constant, long... long trips back to wherever you set down your main base as the resources required begin to get farther and rarer. Even just on freedom mode I was a full 24 hours in and I was barely halfway through, which brings me to my next point...

    CHEATING

    This game drives you to cheat, I have NEVER in my life played a game that wants you to cheat this much. Unless you are a veteran and know exactly what to do, you constantly are needing materials you either can't get too or just plain don't know the location of. I've heard that this game doesn't hold your hand, but in all reality it puts a blindfold on you, spins you around three times and tells you to go get 4 Kyanite.
    My breaking point was when I got to the point where I needed a prawn suit. It needs aerogel and ruby among other things. The ruby was easy enough, the gel sacks for the aerogel were what got me. I had never seen them before and after spending two full hours just looking for these tiny deep sea sacks I gave in and started cheating. and cheated, and cheated.
    I couldn't STOP cheating when I figured out I could. what used to take me hours now took simple seconds, I could actually start to move forward in the story again, speaking of...

    THE STORY AND MY STUPID PROBLEM

    I have no complaints about the story, it's polished, well thought out and snarky at times, my problem with it was that I got STUCK.
    It had probably been 6 hours by now, I had a small base, a seamoth, discovered both islands, got to the one with the three degasi bases. I combed it up and down and dismissed the degasi crew as a cool subplot, nothing more nothing less
    I was very wrong...
    hours after I had combed over the island I was becoming increasingly desperate for something productive to do, the story had run cold, all I was doing at this point was running around for supplies to expand my base.
    I got sick of it, started looking it up.
    Turns out that I had missed a single abandoned PDA on the degasi island... one sitting on the side of a random trail... one that in my three expeditions I had not seen once because it was hidden in the grass. The exact one that gave me my next story marker. The level of fury I had at that current moment was unprecedented. I had been playing all day and a small portion of the night simply to get as far as I can only to get hung up on this one tiny detail. Wasted hours and hours trying to find this one crucial pda where I was given no hints or indication that I needed to do so in the first place.

    THE GAME ENGINE

    I think my feelings can be summed up as a single statement here "This game engine makes Fallout: New Vegas look strong"
    I was constantly clipping into things, at one point I beached my seamoth to explore only to find just the very tip of it sticking out of the sand when I got back, so I had to use my seaglide to ram the beach, clip into it, climb in my seamoth and then drive out (Which damaged it very badly)
    At one point I was exploring the Aurora, picked something up and ended up clipping into the wall. That almost permanently
    reversed the water and air, so every time I was inside a structure it acted as if I was outside and vice versa

    THE ATMOSPHERE

    I already touched on how towards mid game you have to make long long trips through ocean with very little to look at, and while that improves slightly towards end game it certainly isn't helped by the lack of music
    The music is amazing, there just isn't enough of it.
    At points I would find myself staring at dark mute blue for tens of minutes, nothing to look at, nothing to hear except the whir of my seamoth and even that starts to drone after a while.
    you could say that this makes it more realistic, but the truth is it just gets so *boring*, this only works to make the scavenging even more boring. Towards the end of the middle I found myself getting so bored that I just muted the game and used my own sci fi music. But I couldn't make it fit the tone like an in game soundtrack.

    CONCLUSION

    This is a good game. But it needs so much more work to be enjoyed to its fullest extent. Fix the pacing of scavenging, fix the paper thin solid layers and add more music. As well as the fact that spending hours trying to find a single type of resource and then having to run stupid long distances over and over again to get more of it isn't fun. But the game uses the scavenging as a crutch to prop up a game with no other substance or mechanics.    … Expand
  3. carnivorCactae
    Dec 29, 2022
    1
    The first few hours are not bad. They are pretty interesting tbh, but they get extremely repetitive and boring fast.

    Game c***blocks you every 5 minutes and forces you to do chores over chores over chores until you'll be asking yourself why you aren't getting paid for the hours of literal work you've put into the game. Inventory full? Build more storage-space. Need Ressources for    The first few hours are not bad. They are pretty interesting tbh, but they get extremely repetitive and boring fast.

    Game c***blocks you every 5 minutes and forces you to do chores over chores over chores until you'll be asking yourself why you aren't getting paid for the hours of literal work you've put into the game. Inventory full? Build more storage-space. Need Ressources for Storage space? Good luck finding them or bringing them along with your tiny inventory! Need specific ressources that require specific tools to mine them? You guessed it: Need to find these ressources first! And pray to Cthulhu you'll have enough inventory-space!

    Not only does the game never tell you where to find most of the needed crafting-materials (good luck guessing what vague locations your PDA was thinking about!), it spreads them out so you'll keep on backtracking, searching and cursing at your limited inventory-space.

    When you are finally able to build the big submarine (controls like **** or the prawn-suit [good luck sinking somewere in this thing and the jump-thrusters can't get you out!] (they cost an INSANE amount of rare materials and will require you to spend hours over hours looking for small and hidden ressources spread miles away), all they do is let you get "deeper". And even there the novelty wears of quickly.
    Because guess what you have to do at the bottom of the ocean again: Searching and searching and searching for rare materials, backtracking until your eyes bleed and repeat this until you fall asleep.

    It gets even more mundane since the deep gets less detailed, more weird AI-bugs keep popping up (wildlife swims in a stuttering manner or clips through your ship or your base) and ressource-requirements seem to skyrocket.

    This game seems to have the intention to punish you for progression. The further and deeper you go, the more you have to collect, backtrack, repair, replenish energy-cells and so on, and so on.

    Ah yes there is a "No ressources are required-mode", but this makes the "game" (rather work-enviroment) even more boring. The Novelty wears off very quickly, the building-mechanic is like pulling nails, with a "camera" way too close to the building-sectors and even noone to show off your impressive (still pretty limited) buildings, because its SP only.

    This mode shows you even more how empty and bland the game really is, with a paper-thin story and story-elements ridicoulosly hidden away or placed in weird unfair locations!    … Expand
  4. BFG-1337
    Apr 27, 2021
    4
    If you are like me, you will find this game boring, repetitive and childish, like the developers of it are...

    The wow factor goes away after 10 minutes, there is nothing special here, just some underwater things and crafting. Too much eating and drinking, i wish you had infinite oxygen to explore the underwater and added something else to prevent you from going deeper like pressure    If you are like me, you will find this game boring, repetitive and childish, like the developers of it are...

    The wow factor goes away after 10 minutes, there is nothing special here, just some underwater things and crafting. Too much eating and drinking, i wish you had infinite oxygen to explore the underwater and added something else to prevent you from going deeper like pressure instead of stupid oxygen consumption... Its to irritating to constantly keep going up to take oxygen even tho you have a tank, it only lasts 20 seconds.... Im pretty sure they last a lot more than that - you can upgrade them but thats more farming...

    Gamplay-Repetitive, boring, uninspiring
    Sounds- Average sounds... nothing to say here
    Story- Escape from planet because you crashed on it, also there are special aliens that posses the force or something and there are underwater temples OOOOOO JEDI ALIENS
    Hotel? Trivago

    4/10 - Boring    … Expand
  5. 4y4
    Apr 7, 2021
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Disappointing. No map. Constant hunger and thirst (in real life you are not hungry 2 minutes after eating.). Repetitive, boring gameplay.… Expand
  6. Hardeh
    Feb 1, 2018
    2
    When you get into this game first time - you are overwhelmed with it's beauty and atmosphere. Everything looks awesome, and you are very motivated to play it.
    Then, it comes to gameplay.
    For the game this atmospheric gameplay is equaliy boring and choring. For the first, your character needs food and water for every like 3 minutes or so. Second, your inventory is extremely small    When you get into this game first time - you are overwhelmed with it's beauty and atmosphere. Everything looks awesome, and you are very motivated to play it.
    Then, it comes to gameplay.
    For the game this atmospheric gameplay is equaliy boring and choring.
    For the first, your character needs food and water for every like 3 minutes or so.
    Second, your inventory is extremely small compared to all the things you need to drag down with you in order to survive.
    Third, and MOST BAD GAME DESIGN DECISION EVER MADE - all the tech you need in order to progress the story is locked behind finding "tech fragments" and scan them. They are scattered pretty much randomly all over the map. There are actually two ways to find them - on game's wiki or autistically going in circles on the sea floor and trying to find them for hours and hours (and tens of hours actually).
    Did i mention that this game does not have a simple map? I mean you have incredibly future tech - fabricator that can make things out of thin air, vehicle station that can make submarines out of thin air and such things. Even the sea glide thing can scan and draw 3d map for you. But you don't have a simple map that can memorize areas that you have already visited?
    Of course there are radio beacons, but you need to place tons and tons of them to get any proper navigation - and your hud becomes a mess with this amount of marks.

    People call this "exploration" - i call it "artificially inflated walkthrough time".

    So you can stuck on any moment of story without any clues and hints what to do next - just because you don't have needed blueprint and so game's radio event is not triggered.

    I'm honestly tried to appreciate this game everyone's talking about - and after 20 hours i did uninstall, stuck in another "tech fragment" wall. So, yeah.    … Expand
  7. FriedDerGrosse
    Jan 28, 2018
    1
    It is a great game, but tbh I didn't enjoyed it. I don't know what it was. Played this for 10+ hours one day and was left with emptiness and loneliness. I just couldn't motivate myself to play it again. I couldn't motivate myself to go deeper to push the limits something that we do all the time in video games, but in this one... It feels like it is mirroring society: a big deep hole withIt is a great game, but tbh I didn't enjoyed it. I don't know what it was. Played this for 10+ hours one day and was left with emptiness and loneliness. I just couldn't motivate myself to play it again. I couldn't motivate myself to go deeper to push the limits something that we do all the time in video games, but in this one... It feels like it is mirroring society: a big deep hole with scary places, people/fish... A place where we come to to die. My memory is to real, that I am sitting here with tears in my eyes while writing this review. It just became to clear to me...… Expand
  8. theNILE
    Feb 5, 2018
    0
    Initially I was really enjoying Subnautica, but I found myself quickly losing interest. And I know why. There have been millions of games like this before. This game doesn't differ itself from other survival games. This game is just another bland, mediocre, survival collect 'n build game in the 'explore the deep' theme. It fails to provide anything new or exciting. It's just slowInitially I was really enjoying Subnautica, but I found myself quickly losing interest. And I know why. There have been millions of games like this before. This game doesn't differ itself from other survival games. This game is just another bland, mediocre, survival collect 'n build game in the 'explore the deep' theme. It fails to provide anything new or exciting. It's just slow progression and chores. In regards to story, there's relatively little story, if you could consider it story. In short, not enough to motivate you.

    Subnautica is an example of how not to make a game.    … Expand
  9. telefoonboek
    Jan 27, 2018
    4
    This review is based on my first hour experience. I might try it again tomorow. If you see rating 4, its not bad, but I am not convinced at the moment.

    At the start your greeted with an exploding starship and a few seconds later u splash into the sea, where the game starts. Beside picking up a fire exstuisgher and killing the fire. The game doesnt explain anything. Alof of equipment    This review is based on my first hour experience. I might try it again tomorow. If you see rating 4, its not bad, but I am not convinced at the moment.

    At the start your greeted with an exploding starship and a few seconds later u splash into the sea, where the game starts. Beside picking up a fire exstuisgher and killing the fire. The game doesnt explain anything.

    Alof of equipment is broken and you'll need some kind of repair tool. And food and water to live, all you need is in the sea.

    The game itself is beautifull, day and night cycles. The enviroment feels true and alive. I guess that survival and resource collection games are not my thing. I was looking for 1 kind of ingredient and couldnt find it, I grew somewhat frustrated and ended the game.

    I could open youtube and look it up, but whats the fun in that? So thats it, 4/10 based on my first houre. The game doesn't need to give everything away, but the explanation itself was kind of barebones. It might be part of what makes this game good for most others.    … Expand
  10. Thedrip
    Feb 6, 2018
    1
    Simply not a very good game at all. Maybe get it on sale for a dollar or two, but a s a full-priced game it's pretty awful.
  11. Much
    Feb 8, 2018
    0
    Stuttering popping mess ruined otherwise solid game. And it will never be fixed. I guarantee it.
  12. ybnrml86
    Mar 8, 2018
    0
    Buggy and wouldn't even load. Messaging with the dev team was not of much help either.
  13. Bryan3902
    Aug 30, 2019
    4
    Bear in mind, I only played this game for about 1 hour. But, that wasn't an enjoyable hour. Here's what happened.

    The initial crash sequence...cool. I put out the fire, explored the capsule, and poked around in the ocean outside, collecting some samples. Now, I'm getting thirsty. How do I get water? Digging in the game's recipe book, it seems I need bleach. Where do I get    Bear in mind, I only played this game for about 1 hour. But, that wasn't an enjoyable hour. Here's what happened.

    The initial crash sequence...cool. I put out the fire, explored the capsule, and poked around in the ocean outside, collecting some samples.

    Now, I'm getting thirsty. How do I get water? Digging in the game's recipe book, it seems I need bleach. Where do I get bleach? I need salt and coral. Where do I get salt and coral (the right kind)? You've got to look for it. I never did find salt. After a couple of deaths, I just didn't feel like it was worth my time.

    Maybe I give up too easy, but I really wasn't looking forward to rebuilding technology starting from the stone age. The game wasn't right for me. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad game.

    This game just dumps you in the ocean and tells you to swim. There's no tutorial. I'm just not interested in a game where the main challenge is trying to figure out how the game works.    … Expand
  14. gfisher1
    Mar 18, 2021
    0
    An excellent experience. This game will appeal to a broad ranger of tastes. I'm a casual gamer who likes large open worlds, where I can play at my own pace and have varied, worthwhile experiences in short bursts. I deliberately got into the story and found the game world absorbing and, at times, intense. If I have one criticism it is that I found myself, early in the game, wondering how toAn excellent experience. This game will appeal to a broad ranger of tastes. I'm a casual gamer who likes large open worlds, where I can play at my own pace and have varied, worthwhile experiences in short bursts. I deliberately got into the story and found the game world absorbing and, at times, intense. If I have one criticism it is that I found myself, early in the game, wondering how to do certain things and having to go online and quickly look up that information. I can't wait for the sequel.… Expand
  15. Spiderpig96024
    Sep 15, 2020
    0
    This game is very fun to play i seemed to keep on coming back and watned to play more the only reason i wouldnt give it a ten is because its a little glitchy for me
  16. Gorbunov2004
    Aug 7, 2021
    4
    Какая-то выживалка без сюжета не понятно что вообще делать просто выживать не интересно, в начале почти ни куда не сплавать так как кислород кончается каждые 30-45 секунд. Игра на любителя.
  17. Daffit
    Jan 4, 2021
    0
    This is best open world, survival game Ive ever played. Much better than The Forest.
  18. Chaostheory6682
    Apr 16, 2022
    0
    This game is too unstable for me to recommend. When it plays it is a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, I've spent as much time making it play as I have finishing the game. It's something wonderful handicapped by mediocre development. At times it works great, at others it crashes every ten minutes. I've had to delete game files, reinstall the game, tweak ini's, and add mods just to makeThis game is too unstable for me to recommend. When it plays it is a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, I've spent as much time making it play as I have finishing the game. It's something wonderful handicapped by mediocre development. At times it works great, at others it crashes every ten minutes. I've had to delete game files, reinstall the game, tweak ini's, and add mods just to make it playable at times. Based on that I would seek out better versions of this game… Expand
  19. angelrubio
    Sep 10, 2022
    0
    RT and LT are switched on 360 gamepad, so don't believe the lies that this is controller supported, (if you switch them in options you get the incorrect UI prompts, good luck playing like this)
  20. PrincessRose
    Apr 15, 2023
    4
    This game is interesting and exciting at first but it doesn't take long before it all starts looking the same and then it feels boring and aimless as there is no direction in what to do and ends up feeling so repetitive as you are just continually trying to find resources which is tedious and boring. This game is too much of a chore. Even though the setting is unique it's not veryThis game is interesting and exciting at first but it doesn't take long before it all starts looking the same and then it feels boring and aimless as there is no direction in what to do and ends up feeling so repetitive as you are just continually trying to find resources which is tedious and boring. This game is too much of a chore. Even though the setting is unique it's not very interesting game play wise. Searching the seabed for materials isn't fun for me. It's ironic that a game with a vast ocean has no depth and is actually very shallow with not much to it, not my kind of game it's too boring.… Expand
  21. vova22379
    Mar 29, 2023
    1
    ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  22. akujiwar
    Jan 21, 2023
    0
    Update, actually, meh. After the engine merge with below zero, some issues faults and poor design was brought to the OG.

    This is in addition to previously existing problems. Step 1, make a good game. Step 2, make a **** sequel etc. Step 3, implement the bad from the sequel into the original= ???
  23. CodaHensley
    Dec 2, 2022
    3
    Genuinely don't like this game. I have no tried to play it three different times and each time have given up within just an hour or two. This game is tedious as **** imagine a survival game that (at least in the early game) requires you to play exclusively in ten second bursts. That's what the oxygen system does to this game. Breaking up resource collection by forcing you to the surfaceGenuinely don't like this game. I have no tried to play it three different times and each time have given up within just an hour or two. This game is tedious as **** imagine a survival game that (at least in the early game) requires you to play exclusively in ten second bursts. That's what the oxygen system does to this game. Breaking up resource collection by forcing you to the surface constantly is such an annoying gameplay mechanic. I understand eventually you get bigger oxygen tanks, I understand that the hostile environment is meant to be punishing, but I'm unwilling to waste my limited time incrementally building some bigger tanks so I can spend more time underwater scanning stupid crap.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

10
#10 Best PC Game of 2018
8
#8 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
20
#20 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 39 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 39
  3. Negative: 0 out of 39
  1. AusGamers
    Dec 7, 2018
    92
    It isn’t without performance hiccups, especially the deeper you go. But the breadth of content here and the open-world nature both in terms of playspace and just pure choice in how you go about it is something rarely seen in games.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    May 16, 2018
    95
    Subnautica is hands down the best survival game I have ever experienced. I completely lost track of time while playing it and for the first time in ages I rescheduled my appointments and neglected my responsibilities to spend more time with a game. If I could I would hand out free copies in the streets so as many people as possible can see how ridiculously good Subnautica is. [04/2018, p.62]
  3. GameGrin
    May 10, 2018
    90
    A great game that took five years to make. Subnautica is an open sandbox sci-fi fantasy that can inch it's way into horror as you explore the depths of the ocean world. Just be ready to farm!
    Read full review
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