Subnautica

Aside from a few technical issues, Subnautica is one of the best survival games out there. Not only is the world to explore beautiful but the narrative will keep pulling you along,

I was blown away by Subnautica. What initially appeared to be a knee-high kiddie pool worth of depth, suddenly gives way to a literal ocean of gameplay opportunities.

Subnautica is a perfect example an open world survival game that doesn’t rely on action, horror or combat elements to excite. Whilst these classic gaming features are involved to an extent, they take a back seat compared to the story, crafting and surviving elements. And this is what sets Subnautica apart from other survival experiences out there. Don’t let this be the one that got away.

A gripping story.

A survival game that manages to balance a driving plot without sacrificing player agency. Constantly balanced on the knife edge of life and watery death. Subnautica is a game with hidden depths, both literally and figuratively.

Subnautica is a survival game worthy of competing with the most noble titles of the same genre. The PS4 version has a bunch of technical issues (loading times and frame rate above all), but nothing that can undermine the gaming experience.

The PS4 edition of the brilliant survival game has some performance problems (framerate dropping, environment popping up really badly if you travel fast) and navigating in three dimensions is much less intuitive with a controller than with a mouse, which did cost me my life sometimes. These flaws do not disqualify the console port though, so if you can’t enjoy Subnautica on PC, consider giving it a shot on PS4, as there are very few such games nowadays. [02/2019, p.35]

Few games are this consistently surprising, let alone this well designed. [Issue#158, p.88]

Even after four years of early access limbo, Subnautica remains as one of the quintessential examples of its genre. The uniquely beautiful and terrifying world is fantastic to explore, while the goal based narrative keeps things interesting beyond the usual plate spinning mechanics of other survival games.

Subnautica sees you submerged in a vast and utterly breathtaking underwater world, teeming with secrets and polished off with an unsettling atmosphere that instigates a real sense of thrill as you play. The game has a rewarding crafting system that encourages exploration. Furthermore, the story is full of endearing twists and turns that will take you to the deepest, darkest parts of the alien planet, even against your better judgement. Whether survival adventure is your genre of choice or you’re just a sucker for a gorgeous open world begging to be explored, Subnautica truly is a must-play.

Subnautica is an inspired survival game with a great atmosphere and a surprising narrative. On PS4, however, the game is not as smooth as we had hoped and suffers from sometimes cumbersome controls.

A survival game that isn’t out just to punish its players, but to entertain; with an impressive mix of exploration, crafting, and survival horror.

Performance problems aside, Subnautica will rekindle your faith in the overcrowded survival genre, and scare you senseless.

Subnautica is a title for those who love to explore.

On PlayStation 4, Subnautica has maintained loyalty to its original spirit, but has not corrected some technical limits and issues. In any case, it's an interesting first person survival, with a strong identity and a good balance between exploration and storytelling.

I have rarely seen a game go from being absolutely sublime to absolutely awful, but Subnautica manages to pull it off. The first 25-30 hours are a superb sci-fi survival experience that I would happily recommend to anyone, and I’ll cherish that time under the waves for years to come. But the endgame? It really does ruin a good thing. If the first chunk of the adventure were scored on its own, it would rate much higher. But as a complete experience? The issues are too large to ignore.