For as long as I can remember, water levels in video games have made me feel uncomfortable. While I’m not scared of water, I do find myself… cautious of what lurks in the deep, dark depths just outside of my character’s vision.
Given my fear of the watery unknown, it’s surprising that I’d ever willingly find myself playing a game like Subnautica, a game all about exploring and surviving in a water-covered planet with a seemingly endless depth filled with strange creatures (both big and small, hostile and friendly).
But, after playing through the game’s 3-hour trial on Xbox, I knew I’d be back for more once it had exited Game Preview. Somehow, Unknown Worlds has managed to leverage my curiosity and make me face my fears through a series of smart gameplay decisions, eye-catching biomes, and intriguing story.
Like most survival games, Subnautica has the player focus on juggling various aspects of well… survival— like monitoring their food, water and health, and building suitable shelter and tools. Subnautica excels at ensuring there is a healthy balance of survival mechanics, exploration and crafting to keep you busy while not falling into the trap of a mindless grind.
You’ll have to hunt down fragments of tools, modular building pieces, and gear upgrades to progress in the story, build your own underwater base and outfit yourself with the tools necessary to brave the deeper, more dangerous waters and find out just what you’re sharing the water with.
There are several different game modes to cater to different types of players (survival, freedom, hardcore, and creative). I opted for freedom mode which means not having to worry about monitoring my water and food intake, making it easier to get my sea legs without adding more stress to an already stressful situation.
After all, it’s a bit easier to focus on befriending the denizens of the deep if you’re not worried about dying of thirst.
There is a generous amount of discoverable items/tools, locations, creatures, and bits of lore to be found in Subnautica. It’s difficult to go into detail without spoiling anything, but I’ll say this: fortune favors the bold (and the curious). Striking out and leaving the relative safety of the shallows is a necessary step, and while scary, opens up an entirely new world.
While the overall technical experience has improved leaps and bounds from when it first landed in Xbox’s Game Preview program, I did notice some lingering performance issues while playing on both the original Xbox One and the Xbox One X.
There has already been one patch published since the game released fully that addresses some of the game’s hiccups but the framerate, as well as in-game loading times, have ample room for improvement across the board.
Even with its occasional technical shortcomings, Subnautica is a beautiful game, and while my sense of impending doom grew the deeper I explored it’s dark, watery depths, so did my sense of wonder.
Unknown Worlds has built a watery world filled with bioluminescent foliage, alien creatures and a sense of adventure that kept me swimming forward to find answers even though every fiber of my being wanted to head for the surface as quickly as my flippered feet would take me.
DISCLAIMER: This copy of Subnautica on Xbox One was provided by Unknown Worlds for the purpose of content creation and review. The opinions expressed in the article above have not been affected by, dictated or edited in any way by the provider.
EightBitBlonde 
This game gives me the willies for sure, but it’s addicting!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Is it ever. Each time I think I’ve discovered everything there is to see and build, something else pops up!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome Subnautica review Alicia! The open-world survival-adventure video game has been getting a positive feedback from its players. There is beauty, suspense, exploration, and surprises in it. I guess Unknown Worlds Entertainment really live up to their promise. Its soundtrack is pretty awesome to me too. Anyone up for some water adventure, Subnautica is a great game choice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much! Now is a great time to dive in (I couldn’t resist) with the new Below Zero DLC in early access. I think we’ll continue to see great things from Unknown Worlds!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Gideon's Gaming and commented:
Subnautica is a really good survival game, it has got an expansion in the works and its free on the epic store starting December 14th. Here is a review I like from Eightbitblonde. Check it out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you were able to get over your discomfort of water and explore the game properly :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too! It was so worth it. I guess it just goes to show that games are another great medium to break people out of their comfort zones.
LikeLike
I can understand your feelings towards underwater games; I’m completely fascinated by the idea of exploring the worlds beneath the waves but it still unnerves me. I’m not a great swimmer, and I can’t even going into the deep end of the pool without freaking out. As soon as I can’t touch my feet on the bottom of the floor that’s it, panic sets in and I’m out of there.
I remember playing a very old school fish game back in the 90s which was under water, but you had no ability to move around. There was no exploration element and it was a point and click pretty much. I think having an actual character to move about, to embody and thus be in danger is the problem. I’ve been absolutely fine in MMORPGs like WoW and Guild Wars 2 but I guess death isn’t really permanent there. You just get up, run back to your corpse and carry on. There’s no actual danger.
One day my curiosity will get the better of me and I will pick up a game like Subnutica – but for now my extremely long backlog at least is a very good excuse not to push myself ;)
LikeLike
Whenever I think of underwater games, I think of Bioshock. That’s one of my all time favorite games, this seems really cool though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is VERY embarrassing for me to admit but… I haven’t played Bioshock yet (because of the unsettling, underwatering setting). I don’t have an excuse anymore though, so I’ll have to play it soon!
LikeLike
Definitely not embarrassing. Everyone has that game they haven’t played yet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s strange to me how Subnautica manages to terrify and entrance people at the same time, it’s one Game I really want to play myself rather than just watch. You’ve done it justice here!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t usually like underwater games but I think you’ve convinced me. Lol. I may just have to try this one out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This looks pretty awesome! At first look it totally reminds me of the movie the MEG!
LikeLiked by 1 person
YES. More than once I thought I’d see a giant pair of jaws emerge from the darkness before being swallowed up. So scary!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have seen only a little on Subnautica and I can’t decide if it’s the kind of game I’ll enjoy or not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s not for everyone, but the different game modes available (like creative and freedom) certainly help if you’re turned off by the survival factor.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That looks really intriguing! Also, I like the post title, lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I chuckled because I always hated the water levels in Super Mario 64, especially the one with the giant eel. I got a Steam giftcard form Christmas and I keep eyeing this game trying to decide if I’d like it or not. Thanks for the review
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just started playing this game and while my anxiety sometimes is triggered by looking down and seeing literally nothing under me while floating there (especially since once there was actually a leviathan swimming further down) I still absolutely love the game and the wonderful graphics help with that as well. It is truly a beautiful game
LikeLiked by 1 person