tl;dr: If you loved Subnautica, you will like Subnautica: Below Zero.


I must preface this with a fact: Subnautica is one of my favorite games I've played in the past five years. It contains everything I enjoy about survival games, while also blending in elements of marine biology and sci-fi. Somewhere in the endless fabric of time, I created Subnautica so that my present self could enjoy it today.

The dialogue was fine. I haven't seen many reviews, but I can imagine many gamers probably hate the dialogue in this game. At times, it seems forced, but honestly, I didn’t really mind. Some might say it was cringey, but I scoff at that idea.


The quality of life improvements with the Prawn suit were amazing. Going from Subnautica to Below Zero, interacting with the Prawn Suit is night and day—you get in and out almost instantly. When I inevitably return to Subnautica, I suspect I will miss these enhancements from Below Zero.

Leviathans were okay. Subnautica still has the most iconic leviathans, but Below Zero doesn’t hold back either. The Shadow Leviathan and Ventgardens are awesome, especially since they are designed with their biomes in mind. The Shadow Leviathan, resembling a centipede, fits through the tight spaces of the Crystal Caves, which enhances the challenge. The other leviathans, however, were less remarkable.

The giant jellyfish tree, aka Ventgardens, was a true spectacle the first time I saw it. Discovering that you could enter them to gather resources blew me away. Unknown Worlds Entertainment must have some insanely passionate biologists on their team because they consistently excel at creating intriguing creatures.


The Crystal Cave was a phenomenal biome. It’s not only a beautiful biome, but the progression from purple to red crystals as you go deeper is great. The Shadow Leviathan really makes this biome terrifying to navigate. In my first playthrough, these creatures constantly chased me from 600 meters to 950. I always had at least one near me, heightening the tension compared to the end-game biome of Subnautica.

The Sea Monkeys were a creature that kept on giving. Not only adorable, they also gifted you items and their nests contained important blueprints. Being able to visually identify the blueprints in the Sea Monkey nests was a godsend improvement.

Al-an was cool. I really enjoyed the lore dumps from him (I’m not kidding). It was interesting to get more context about the Kharaa Bacterium and to learn at the end that he was the reason it escaped in the first place. The sequence where you finally build his body and travel off of Planet 4546B, presumably to his home planet, left me wanting more.

Marguerit Maida was the second most memorable character, right next to Al-an. If other crew members had survived and been given a body to their voices, perhaps there would have been more impact. But Marguerit is a stone-cold badass, and the first time you enter her base and see the huge reaper leviathan head on her wall, you just KNOW she’s built different. I also have to mention her custom Prawn Suit and how much I wish we, as players, could do what she did with hers. Maybe in the future.

Flora and fauna were obviously amazing—100% blew it out of the park. This is the selling point of every Subnautica game. If they lose sight of that, I think the series will die off. Creating whimsical, yet believable flora and fauna from an alien planet goes hand in hand with Subnautica. Some of my favorites were the Ventgardens, Shadow Leviathans, Sea Monkeys, Lily Paddler, Spinner Fish, Eye Jelly, Grand Cotton Anemone, and Thermal Lily.

If you loved Subnautica like I do, then you will enjoy Below Zero. It still hits many of the same notes that made Subnautica so enjoyable, although not as many as you might expect.

The majority of the land-based gameplay. I’m just not interested in the cold mechanics and traversing the glacial tundra, especially at night. When I think of Subnautica, I think OCEAN, not jogging around a giant glacier.

The Snowfox was a buggy mess. I learned about the Snowfox, gathered all resources for the Snowfox hoverpad and the Snowfox itself, went back to base and built it all. Finally going back to the arctic spires and using the Snowfox, it fell through the floor. I kid you not, this happened three more times throughout my playthrough. The first time, I literally quit the game for a month because I just didn't want to deal with the hassle. The controls for the Snowfox were strange, clunky, and weird. Having this constant worry that unpacking my Snowfox might cause it to glitch through the ground and force me to go back home and make another was just exhausting.

The giant glacier was extremely confusing to traverse (maybe a skill issue). The Arctic Spires and Glacial Bay were extremely confusing for me to navigate. I often got lost, to the point where I just looked up where the key pieces were and went there directly instead of circling around the island another ten times.

For me, the reason why Subnautica: Below Zero doesn’t live up to Subnautica is because of the heavy reliance on land-based gameplay. If they focused more on ocean-related stuff and less on land, I guarantee this game would be better. But I do respect them for branching out and trying something new; I find that to be a refreshing quality of this game.

The Seatruck. Throughout my whole playthrough, I wrestled with the fact that we don’t have a Cyclops anymore. I loved the Cyclops—it was such a cool and giant ship, essentially a moving base. The Seatruck is their evolution of that, but I am unsure if it actually is an evolution or a devolution. The modules that the Seatruck supports are epic. Being able to customize it however you want and put whatever modules you need is great. My setup was the Fabricator, storage, teleport, and docking module. But I still can't shake off the fact that the Cyclops was just so cool. I am all for having more customization, but I want my Cyclops back.

Having a protagonist that talks. A character with a backstory and a purpose for coming to Planet 4546B is good, right? Well, I don’t know. For me personally, unless the character has a genuinely compelling story that can be told, having a faceless, mute protagonist is much more fun. I like being able to transport myself into the world and experience it like I am really there. Having a character just makes it feel a little less immersive, and a little more divisive. It was an alright choice, and obviously necessary for the interactions between Al-an and Marguerit and everything else to happen, but I’m still unsure about it.

Subnautica: Below Zero is a good game. If you loved Subnautica, you will like Below Zero. There will be moments when you love the game and think, "Man, give me more of that!" Then those moments will swiftly end, and you will be met with ham-fisted mechanics that don't really fit into the game you know and love. Ultimately, I respect Unknown Worlds Entertainment for trying something different with their game. Even if it doesn't land properly, they at least have the balls to innovate or die trying.