User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1406 Ratings

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  1. Apr 24, 2018
    7
    In Summary: It's a rewarding first person game, but it isn't an 'A'.

    The Good: 1) Great exploration and survival play in a novel ocean world environment. 2) Pretty color palette and lighting effects. 3) Crafting and base building adds to this game significantly. 4) The product has an entrepreneurial feel. The Bad: 1) All that technology and no ability to create a map? This gets
    In Summary: It's a rewarding first person game, but it isn't an 'A'.

    The Good:
    1) Great exploration and survival play in a novel ocean world environment.
    2) Pretty color palette and lighting effects.
    3) Crafting and base building adds to this game significantly.
    4) The product has an entrepreneurial feel.

    The Bad:
    1) All that technology and no ability to create a map? This gets really annoying.
    2) Most aliens weren't very alien ... just variations on common earth species, and not well thought out. Barracudas, sharks, kelp. Aquatic mushrooms? Not great.
    3) The ecology/biology of the map was not compelling at all. Reefs and kelp beds don't form in this way. An hour long talk with an oceanographer would have yielded a much superior biome layout..
    4) Radiation does not work like this.
    5) Crash fish? A basic understanding of biology would have helped here.
    6) It can turn into a grind after a while...more work than fun.

    The Ugly:
    1) Lacks spear guns ... not even a trident. This is a political statement that they are welcome to make in their own product, but it does impair the experience. They do have torpedoes though ... I find this strange.
    2) Fired a staff member for making his conservative opinions known. As I understand it, this was on his private time and account. I'll spare you the soap box, and just state that these types of incidents are very worrisome and I cannot support any organization that threatens freedom of expression. (That said, to respect the reader I left this point out of my rating considerations, and relied on the previous points to assign a value)
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  2. Oct 6, 2020
    5
    It has nice graphics, but I got bored about halfway through the game. Every mission seems to be the same - you get a mayday signal, run to the lifepod, but are too late and everyone is dead. The crafting got very tedious after a while and the story is pretty basic. I feel this game is overrated.
  3. Dec 26, 2018
    7
    Subnautica is a good game. The exploration is fun under water. The under water world is well populated and the water effect is nice. The vegetation is perfect. The music is pretty good too. I had a lot of problems with the lack of a map. You see, you fabricated a device in the game that can render and detect the shape of the terrain, but yet you can keep any of this data for a map. It's aSubnautica is a good game. The exploration is fun under water. The under water world is well populated and the water effect is nice. The vegetation is perfect. The music is pretty good too. I had a lot of problems with the lack of a map. You see, you fabricated a device in the game that can render and detect the shape of the terrain, but yet you can keep any of this data for a map. It's a big logical hole for me. I felt the story didn't involved me that much at times and the task of keeping me alive was kind of boring. I did prefer to die then try to run fish for water or food. The lack of proper storing capacity becomes a problem and the solution they have wasn't very efficient. I give it a 72%. For an indie game it's impressive. Expand
  4. Feb 17, 2018
    7
    Suffers from a very slow start and lacks decent in game-tutorials players can often find themselves lost and confused. However the payoff can be quite rewarding if the player is willing to plow through
  5. Sep 19, 2018
    6
    I wanted to like this game as it looks great and should supposedly have an interesting story. Instead, it was really tedious and there was practically no hint about what to do and how to do things. The inventory is small, the depths are crushing and the recipes are few and far between. I read walkthroughs, looked at videos for inspiration yet none came. I found the steps so convoluted andI wanted to like this game as it looks great and should supposedly have an interesting story. Instead, it was really tedious and there was practically no hint about what to do and how to do things. The inventory is small, the depths are crushing and the recipes are few and far between. I read walkthroughs, looked at videos for inspiration yet none came. I found the steps so convoluted and the difficulty of underwater navigation that I simply gave up after 14 hours. Maybe this game is not for a casual, all-in-one go gamer like me. Expand
  6. Jan 28, 2018
    5
    Many guides, articles, etc. make it seem like you can play this game and avoid predators. The truth is: you can't. Most areas that progress the stories are tightly patrolled by increasingly powerful predators and you can only distract them or fend them off temporarily. It's a bit like Amnesia under water. (I'm about 30 hours in but the high number of predators you can't really get rid ofMany guides, articles, etc. make it seem like you can play this game and avoid predators. The truth is: you can't. Most areas that progress the stories are tightly patrolled by increasingly powerful predators and you can only distract them or fend them off temporarily. It's a bit like Amnesia under water. (I'm about 30 hours in but the high number of predators you can't really get rid of has me so frustrated that I'll either start using cheats or quit)
    Annoying as this is, it also means that there is no way to explore probably more than half of the game in peace. Most fans of the game then argue "just use creative mode" - which of course robs you of the story, the step-by-step progression and the survival in terms of food and water.
    On top of it, the game was released in a ridiculously buggy state. Even the save system is very flawed - when you load up your last save, you will probably have a different item equipped and it doesn't save which lights are switched on or off.
    Every time I load a save, I hear some announcement about emergency power and shortly afterwards that power has been restored because... in fact, my ship/base does have more than enough power.
    Fish can still glitch through the hull of the base. And they occasionally twitch around in ways that look weird, aren't physically plausible and probably happen because of bugs as well.
    The scanner room seems glitched - the list of things to scan for changes seemingly randomly. Different people say different things about what affects it.
    And then there are a number of design flaws. For instance, building new base parts generally reduces the overall hull integrity of the base. But you can only see how it affects it when you actually build it. No numbers are shown beforehand, so it's going to be a surprise whether your base will start to leak. Inventory management works very well but the list of blueprints is really annoying to browse thanks to HUGE icons.
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  7. Jan 4, 2019
    6
    Good :

    - story - exploration - the only game under sea - 200 h to play - rich enough for crafting Bad : - stutters with a powerful PC (RTX 2080 TI, 9900K, 64 GB RAM, Samsung 960 Evo 1 TB) - mid-resolution textures : graphically, the game is average - the beginning of the game is laborious : every resource must be collected, everything must be built. After building a base,
    Good :

    - story
    - exploration
    - the only game under sea
    - 200 h to play
    - rich enough for crafting

    Bad :

    - stutters with a powerful PC (RTX 2080 TI, 9900K, 64 GB RAM, Samsung 960 Evo 1 TB)
    - mid-resolution textures : graphically, the game is average
    - the beginning of the game is laborious : every resource must be collected, everything must be built. After building a base, the Cyclops and the Prawn, the game becomes more interesting.
    - Hunger and thirst management is really annoying
    - There is only one end whereas there should have been 3 ends, according to your deeds.
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  8. Feb 20, 2021
    5
    worse minecraft. I know that minecraft didn't invent sandbox games, but I feel like Minecraft did the mechanics and exploring the better.
  9. May 15, 2020
    6
    Overall this is an interesting game and initially pretty fun. However what dooms this game to a less than stellar score is the bugs and general lack of polish. Let's start with the bugs because these are the most game breaking.

    Later in the game you have to use the prawn suit to get around. The problem is that hit detection is so bad that it gets stuck on everything, including air.
    Overall this is an interesting game and initially pretty fun. However what dooms this game to a less than stellar score is the bugs and general lack of polish. Let's start with the bugs because these are the most game breaking.

    Later in the game you have to use the prawn suit to get around. The problem is that hit detection is so bad that it gets stuck on everything, including air. Countless times I've been walking around and suddenly I can't move anymore. Nothing works. You can get out but getting back in solves nothing. Often you get stuck on scenery but I've gotten stuck walking down a hallway, on a beach, etc. It appears that the suit clips into the surroundings and you're stuck. The only workaround is to restart. It gets worse towards the end of the game where you are in tighter areas. I had to restart 5 times on the last area alone.

    Yet another issue with the prawn suit is that if you save while inside then often when you reload it flings you and the suit in a random direction. You won't stop until you eject from the suit at which point everything recovers. However once you're in this state you cannot recover without ejecting. In one case I was in a facility and reloaded and it did that. When I reloaded the suit was inside the walls bouncing around as it hit invisible walls. After several restarts it finally flung me out of the facility. But before I could eject I had already gone so far that I was outside the world itself. There was no way to get back.

    Yet another bug with the prawn is that if you are inside and get out then (at least in facilities) you remain the shrunken height that the game treated you while you were in the suit. So everything is above your head. Restarting solves the issue.

    The cyclops is almost as bad. It is also needed late in the game but gets stuck on things and there is no way to get it off or reset if you've saved already. In one case I had no choice but to use the cheat console to build a new one and move my stuff across so I could destroy the old one.

    Other bugs are annoying but not as bad such as signs in your base not remembering their colors or the cyclops moving if you get into and out of it several times.

    The survival mechanics are typical but there is really way too much grinding. You are constantly having to search for lots and lots of items and the game doesn't make it easy to find things. Navigating early on isn't hard but without a useful coordinate system it is hard to find things. This gets really bad late in the game when you're 1K+ meters down and it is dark, in the cyclops trying to navigate and you keep finding corners you cannot get out of. Some player-friendly help here would have been very useful. Even a map with pins would have helped.

    The story itself starts off strong but after about day 5 it pretty much ends. There is an overarching mission but nothing really directs you to anything. Early on messages recommend where you go next but by mid game you don't get anymore. It's like they forgot to implement the rest. So many times you are stuck wondering what you should do next. Some better directions are definitely needed.

    For improving your survival you can get better vehicles but honestly the seamoth is the only good one. The cyclops is too large, gets attacked by everything, drains power really fast, is hard to maneuver and is expensive to maintain. If it weren't for the depth I'd never use it. The prawn is expensive to create but its movement and jump are really bad to the point that it simply isn't fun. I'd prefer the seamoth.

    Building a base is fun but it is really tedious. Between all the gear you need, the limited storage you have, the constant balance of power and strength and the tediousness of actually building quickly drains you. I spent hours just trying to set up a simple base that I could use for the middle of the game. Some optimizations here would be nice like being able to copy or save blueprints would be nice. Several times I had to start over because I couldn't get some structures to line up. Redoing all the work is painful.

    Overall it is a fun game early on. But the middle game is bland and directionless. The last part of the game is buggy. Perhaps if the bugs are resolved this game could go up a point or two.
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  10. Apr 8, 2019
    5
    Favorite Thing: There was nothing that stood out in the few hours I played.
    Least Favorite Thing: Annoying reliance on collecting + severely limited space + no direction

    Date Dropped: 2019-04-01
    Playtime: 3h
    Enjoyment:5/10
    Recommendation: No. It's assuredly not my type of game.
  11. Jun 20, 2019
    7
    `Mar de Emociones´
    La historia se centra en un astronauta, que se estrella en un planeta oceánico repleto de colosales criaturas submarinas. En él, tendrá que utilizar todos los elementos naturales que estén a su paso para re-construir la nave y poder volver a casa.
    El diseño es realmente hermoso como era de esperarse. La jugabilidad es muy cómoda. El arte, la capa de colores y el
    `Mar de Emociones´
    La historia se centra en un astronauta, que se estrella en un planeta oceánico repleto de colosales criaturas submarinas. En él, tendrá que utilizar todos los elementos naturales que estén a su paso para re-construir la nave y poder volver a casa.

    El diseño es realmente hermoso como era de esperarse. La jugabilidad es muy cómoda. El arte, la capa de colores y el estilo que tiene este mundo Sub-acuático como las criaturas que residen en él, resultan impresionantes, aterradoras y hermosas al mismo tiempo. Su contexto visual recuerda mucho al de Portal, sobre todo por las escenas donde el personaje principal se encuentra dentro de la nave. Imagina el nivel acuático de Super Mario, pero unas 20 millones de veces mas grande con gráficos realistas, y que todo el juego este ambientado en esa área.

    No recomiendo en lo absoluto este juego a aquellos que sufren de Talasofobia (Miedo al océano), o temor a cosas masivamente grandes. Porque todo el juego esta construido por un océano profundo que parece casi infinito, y criaturas marinas de enorme tamaño que pueden atacarte. El principal inconveniente con esta joya marítima, es que todo su mundo es 1 solo nivel. Y por lo tanto puede llegar a aburrir con mucha facilidad, ademas que posee errores técnicos notorios como Glitches, muchos escenarios sin terminar, así como otros que aparecen de la nada. Sin embargo los aciertos que posee son superiores en gran parte, y convierte a este intrigante viaje submarino en una experiencia como ninguna otra.

    En resumen. Subnautica te ofrece: Aventura, exploración, mensajes educativos sobre la vida marítima, supervivencia, terror, ciencia ficción, y mucho mas, todo esto sin necesidad de matar a nadie. Es uno de los mejores, y el mas aterrador juego educativo que haya visto.

    Jugabilidad: 8/10
    Personajes: 7/10
    Historia: 7/10
    Diseño: 9/10
    Entretenimiento: 6/10
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  12. Oct 8, 2022
    7
    Many people talking about great graphics while all they can see is the blur effect of the water. You going to realize it once you approach actual land, and you find yourself in Far Cry 1.

    The engine can't even handle distances. Everything which is farther than 500m got a basic overall texture which repeats itself about every 5 m2, and nothing shows up besides the raw surface. This is
    Many people talking about great graphics while all they can see is the blur effect of the water. You going to realize it once you approach actual land, and you find yourself in Far Cry 1.

    The engine can't even handle distances. Everything which is farther than 500m got a basic overall texture which repeats itself about every 5 m2, and nothing shows up besides the raw surface. This is especially helpful when you looking for some material from above, and it is there but not there, so you going to miss it.

    There is nothing else in the game than widely spread materials what you constantly need, and you either found them or not and looking Youtube videos for help (that's why it is the most discussed PC game of '18). If not, you can spend infinite time to find what you need, by luck. The entire "excitement" is based on that. After you learned from videos what to do, you become totally bored.

    The game also channeling constant desperation and loneliness. If you thought that Generation-Z is a lonely game without additional players, that is nothing, compared to this. But of course this is not necessarily a bad thing, because it's part of the story line.

    The crafting mechanics is polished and you feel that 90% of the game making time was spent on that (10% on the graphics), but without game mechanics, it worth very little.

    You can't just put a player into loneliness for 100+ hours and expect positive results (okay, actually you can, since the game got highly positive reviews for a reason which is beyond me).

    But to be honest, this game is very unique in its own way, so I have to recommend it.
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  13. Nov 3, 2021
    5
    I was recommended this game after playing Outer Wilds and boy oh boy this recommendation was such a miss. Boring, tedious and repetitive gameplay. Story not moving fast enough and not engaging enough to keep my interest. For the first few hours i was playing on survival but the chore of managing hunger and thirst was too much. Then i switched to freedom mode but the gameplay was still aI was recommended this game after playing Outer Wilds and boy oh boy this recommendation was such a miss. Boring, tedious and repetitive gameplay. Story not moving fast enough and not engaging enough to keep my interest. For the first few hours i was playing on survival but the chore of managing hunger and thirst was too much. Then i switched to freedom mode but the gameplay was still a chore - too much time spent on crafting and micro-managing inventory. Finally i switched to creative and game became playable. I don't get how this game can have such a high score. Maybe it's fun for children treating this as an ocean-themed minecraft? Expand
  14. May 5, 2021
    7
    bastante entretenido aunque luego de un rato puede ser repetitivo, para terminarlo lo hice en muchas pequeñas sesiones de juego.
  15. Nov 30, 2022
    7
    Keşif hissini doruklarında yaşıyorsunuz ama bir yerden sonra gelişmek gerçekten çok zor oluyor.
  16. Jul 6, 2020
    5
    I love survival games and also horror, and this happens to have both of them. I don't know why I don't like It. Probably will revisit It some time in the future.
  17. Dec 25, 2019
    7
    Very good game, interesting setting, world interaction and progressing through, has replayability. 7/10.
  18. Jan 8, 2020
    7
    Типичный выживач, скучный сюжет, лор непонятен и как-то уныл,биомов мало, как и живности, очень затянуто, из + можно выделить классный сеттинг и атмосферу. Графика весьма спорна, вроде вода и инструменты в руках выглядят сносно, однако все остальные текстуры это просто уровень 2008 года.Типичный выживач, скучный сюжет, лор непонятен и как-то уныл,биомов мало, как и живности, очень затянуто, из + можно выделить классный сеттинг и атмосферу. Графика весьма спорна, вроде вода и инструменты в руках выглядят сносно, однако все остальные текстуры это просто уровень 2008 года.
  19. Jun 1, 2021
    5
    El juego en si es bastante chill, un superviviente en un planeta lleno de agua que necesita recolectar recursos para sobrevivir, realmente es una premisa sencilla y la historia tampoco es que sea del todo compleja aunque si interesante, mi principal problema es con la optimizacion del juego, yo no tengo un PC de la Nasa pero si cuento con algo bastante decente, y por mas que intentaraEl juego en si es bastante chill, un superviviente en un planeta lleno de agua que necesita recolectar recursos para sobrevivir, realmente es una premisa sencilla y la historia tampoco es que sea del todo compleja aunque si interesante, mi principal problema es con la optimizacion del juego, yo no tengo un PC de la Nasa pero si cuento con algo bastante decente, y por mas que intentara configurar el juego para que la renderizacion fuera buena nunca lo logre, cosas que cargan en tu cara, peces y agua que atraviesan estructuras, y bugs con los vehiculos que los vuelve inaccesibles son algunos de los bugs que me hicieron dejar este juego despues de 20 horas, la exploracion es buena, las diversas especies de peces me parecen interesantes al igual que las diversas estructuras, pero sinceramente no se como puede funcionar asquerosamente mal, una lastima. Expand
  20. Dec 25, 2020
    7
    Gioco molto carino, grafica piacevole, crafting e risorse ben gestite con un buon livello di sfida. Bug ovunque.
  21. Mar 17, 2021
    7
    Story: 7.5/10
    The Way story is given: 16/20
    Gameplay: 24/30
    Design: 8.5/10
    Feelings left after playing: 13/20
    Playability(Bugs and optimization): 9/10

    AVARAGE: 78/100
  22. Apr 22, 2021
    7
    New way of open world crafting games. Has its good sides but generally a mediocre game.
  23. Apr 14, 2022
    7
    Игра кривовата во всем, кроме самостоятельного функционирования мира. Да и жанр в целом не мой, видимо.
  24. Nov 16, 2021
    5
    Not very scary. Also gets really boring over time and there is very little to do outside of the story.
  25. Jun 5, 2023
    7
    Great exploration game, especially if you enjoy the sea. It has a beautiful art style and a pleasant mystery story that you have to discover by yourself like a marine detective :D

    Unfortunately the game could have used a lot more polish, as the controls for certain transportation options were very clunky, frequently getting stuck on edges. Fish and other more dangerous creatures
    Great exploration game, especially if you enjoy the sea. It has a beautiful art style and a pleasant mystery story that you have to discover by yourself like a marine detective :D

    Unfortunately the game could have used a lot more polish, as the controls for certain transportation options were very clunky, frequently getting stuck on edges.

    Fish and other more dangerous creatures would oftenly clip through solid objects, which also hurt the overall experience.

    The enemies were also quite derpy and once you get used to them it becomes trivial to avoid them.

    In the second half of the game, especially the end, it did really get excruciatingly dull when it came to gathering materials for the "final ingredients" and components in order to finish.

    Overall this is a fairly enjoyable game if you're a fan of diving and exploring the natural world, with a few caveats.
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  26. Jan 25, 2023
    5
    Gaming:4/10(never know about what l need to do)
    Story:6/10(nothing special at first half of game)
    quality:5/10
    music:?/10
    overall:4.9/10
  27. Jul 14, 2023
    7
    Es entretenido, para ser una primera entrega está muy bien, ojalá saliera una secuela que mejore todo lo que le faltó a este
  28. Jun 21, 2023
    7
    A Great World

    I had slept on Subnautica for the longest time, it had been in my library more or less since release and until now I only had around an hours play-time in it. I viewed it as just a weird underwater survival sandbox but it really is so much more than that. Firstly the game looks great, it's very colourful and the different biomes take on a whole new colour palette
    A Great World

    I had slept on Subnautica for the longest time, it had been in my library more or less since release and until now I only had around an hours play-time in it. I viewed it as just a weird underwater survival sandbox but it really is so much more than that.

    Firstly the game looks great, it's very colourful and the different biomes take on a whole new colour palette whenever you enter them and leave them which makes the world feel more enjoyable to explore.

    The different fauna and fish; the amount of detail and lore they've put into these things just from scanning them is absurd, but in a good way. There's always something to read and learn and eventually you begin to feel one with the surrounding marine life.

    The resources you get are interesting, or at least the way you get them is interesting and fun to me. A bit of mining, a bit of cutting and combining them to make new items so that you can fabricate even more advanced materials and items. It's no different really from most survival crafting games but there's something a lot more satisfying about getting items in this game than it is others. Maybe it's just the sound of the fabricator.

    There is an overarching story, but I won't delve too deep into it, basically you've crashed on an alien planet and need to get off the planet; and some other stuff happens here, there and in-between, but I won't spoil it here.

    My only real criticism is that some resources can be rather difficult to find, Kyranite especially. You can be wandering around for quite a long time in the completely wrong area and have absolutely no idea that you're wasting your time. So you end up basically scanning the entire map to find out where to go, only to need to get an upgrade to go there. Which isn't a problem, getting the upgrades is part of the fun, but it can be rough after searching for a while, finding where you need to go, only to back-track to get the resources to go there. Feels like time wasted.

    Furthermore in order to complete certain tasks, you need certain items which are hidden in deep sea bases, without some of them, it's near impossible to complete the game.

    Sometimes you get a weird frame-stutter bug when entering and exiting a vehicle, it's noticeable but it's not game breaking by any means.

    I enjoyed my time in Subnautica, it's one of those games where you'll be asking. "Where did the time go?" And next thing you know, it's 5am.

    Don't do what I did and sleep on this, it's a phenomenal game. For a first run, just have your goal to be to complete the game and you'll find the magic that's laced throughout this amazing world.

    7/10 - Will likely do another playthrough at some point.
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  29. Jul 19, 2023
    7
    Survival game with the twist that there are no good means of killing most of the dangerous creatures, so they just have to be looked out for and outmaneuvered throughout the biomes. While exploring, there is also an intriguing story found which form interesting developments. The story points to a general direction of where to go next, and what structures to explore. Unfortunately,Survival game with the twist that there are no good means of killing most of the dangerous creatures, so they just have to be looked out for and outmaneuvered throughout the biomes. While exploring, there is also an intriguing story found which form interesting developments. The story points to a general direction of where to go next, and what structures to explore. Unfortunately, attempting to build outposts in new areas is limited to boring circles and cylinders overshadowed by the worldgen(static). Although the endgame was uneventful and tedious, Subnautica was overall fun as a whole. Expand
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. 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.
  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. 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!